A close examination of the journalistic timeline following Sen. Trent Lott’s comments about then-Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign, combined with studies regarding journalists’ use of the Internet, strongly suggests that online coverage and criticism of the senator pushed the story’s momentum until it broke out into the open following Lott’s apology Monday, Dec. 9. The apology, which may not have even been necessary were it not for rampant blogging all weekend by prominent, diverse online journalists such as Glenn Reynolds, Josh Marshall, and Andrew Sullivan, gave the mainstream media a hook with which to push the story into the headlines (otherwise, the press would have been forced to use five-day-old news as its lead, or simply lead with Al Gore’s criticism of Lott). The Lott story then became a front-burner issue both online and off, with more and more of the senator’s questionable past unearthed (some by bloggers), drawing scathing criticism from politicians of all stripes, including the president, and eventually forcing Lott to resign as majority leader.