A reader sends this:

I’ve been emailing back and forth with my dad all morning about the possibility of Gov. Barbour appointing himself to fill the seat. Possible contributing factors: 1) Having just won a statewide election a few weeks ago, Barbour enjoys high visibility and high popularity. 2) He’s term-limited and barred from running for another term in four years. 3) The incoming LG, Phil Bryant, would ascend to the governorship immediately, giving him four years to establish himself as Gov and gird for battle in 2011 (possibly against AG Jim Hood, who just won re-election by an even wider margin than Barbour). 4) Nothing (that I could find) in the U.S. or Mississippi Constitutions forbids him from doing so.

He goes on to make a case against it as well, but let me give the case-study demonstrating why this is simply not done. To wit, it has been done, and in 1977 it ruined the promising political career of Minnesota Gov. Wendell Anderson (DFL-Minn.).

Anderson was a young and handsome politician who had played hockey in the 1956 Olympics. First elected in 1970, he had won a landslide re-election in 1974. He had tangible successes as governor, and his state enjoyed a strong economy. Only in his mid-forties, Anderson already had a successful career and a bright future ahead.

Then he decided to appoint himself to the Senate. Of course, Anderson did not officially appoint himself — he resigned as governor, and his lieutenat governor, Rudy Perpich (DFL), appointed him to the seat that had just been vacated by Walter Mondale (DFL) as he became Vice President. But voters weren’t fooled.

In the 1978 election, the one immediately after this “double play,” the Democratic Farmer-Labor ticket was completely destroyed. They called it the “Minnesota Massacre.” Both Senate seats, held by Democrats, were up in special elections — both were lost. Perpich lost the governor’s mansion. Republicans suddenly became competitive in Minnesota politics.

So if you ask me, that’s why governors don’t appoint themselves to the Senate. Don’t think they wouldn’t like to do it otherwise!