Sen. Trent Lott pulled an intriguing gambit during a recent hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee. He tried to drive a wedge within the insurance industry's lobby on his call to revoke McCarran-Ferguson's limited antitrust exemption by offering small carriers a "safe harbor" that would allow them to keep sharing data. Will it work?

Our Washington office reported that Sen. Lott accused major insurers of "hiding behind" small carriers to protect their antitrust immunity. So he graciously proposed making a non-issue out of concerns over how small companies could survive the loss of their antitrust shield.

The Mississippi Republican–who has an ax to grind with insurers after his own Hurricane Katrina claim was denied–failed to detail how he would define "small" insurer. He mentioned something about a $2 billion ceiling, but it's not clear whether that means exposure, policyholder surplus, reserves or some other factor. He probably doesn't know himself.