  The distribution of times $\Delta t$ between coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in
the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) CME catalog for the years
1996-2001 is examined. The distribution exhibits a power-law tail $\propto
(\Delta t)^{\gamma}$ with an index $\gamma\approx -2.36\pm 0.11$ for large
waiting times ($\Delta t>10 {\rm hours}$). The power-law index of the
waiting-time distribution varies with the solar cycle: for the years 1996-1998
(a period of low activity), the power-law index is $\gamma\approx-1.86\pm
0.14$, and for the years 1999-2001 (a period of higher activity), the index is
$\gamma\approx-2.98\pm 0.20$. The observed CME waiting-time distribution, and
its variation with the cycle, may be understood in terms of CMEs occurring as a
time-dependent Poisson process. The CME waiting-time distribution is compared
with that for greater than C1 class solar flares in the Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) catalog for the same years. The
flare and CME waiting-time distributions exhibit power-law tails with very
similar indices and time variation.
