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Election
Day Statewide, major party nominees for Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, and Insurance Commissioner are effectively decided. Though both Ronnie Musgrove and Haley Barbour have opposition in their respective primaries, their nominations are all but foregone conclusions. The most high-profile statewide primary is the Democratic Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor. Though it is a three person race, the contest is essentially between State Senator Barbara Blackmon and former Judge Jim Roberts to see who will face GOP incumbent Amy Tuck in the fall. The other African American candidate in the race, Troy Brown, could play the spoiler for Blackmon if she’s close to getting 50 percent on August 5th. Three Democrats and three Republicans are fighting for their respective party nominations for Treasurer. The Democrats are almost certainly heading for a run-off, and it is probable that the Republicans will too. On the Democrat side, former State Fiscal Officer Gary Anderson appears to be leading the pack. He’s being challenged by State Senator Rob Smith and Jackson banker Cindy Ayers-Elliott. Other than signs dotting highways from one end of the state to the other, Smith hasn’t had much campaign presence. Anderson and Ayers-Elliott have both out raised and spent more than Smith, but since both are African American, they may split the black vote, allowing Smith to sneak into a run-off. The Republican candidates in the race for Treasurer are former Transportation Commissioner Wayne Burkes, State Representative Andrew Ketchings and Trustmark banker Tate Reeves. Reeves has out raised the other five candidates in the race combined, and has spent heavily on TV, radio and direct mail. He also has deep roots in GOP vote-rich Rankin County. Reeves should be the favorite to lead the ticket Tuesday, but whether he can get over 50 percent remains to be seen. Both other candidates have their relative
strengths. Burkes has a lot of name ID and goodwill left over from his
30 years in public office. Ketchings is well-liked among Republican Party
activists for his solid GOP voting record in the House, but the Natchez
native suffers from not having a large primary base to draw from. Look to the last two statewide elections as benchmarks for Tuesday night. In 1995, a year in which Governor Kirk Fordice had only token opposition, 130,925 Republicans turned out to vote while 514,649 Democrats voted. In a large gubernatorial field four years later, 153,142 GOP voters went to the polls and 545,555 Democrats turned-out.
The Mississippi Supreme Court voted 7-1 to give Diaz paid leave and the case is ongoing. Justice Chuck McRae was the lone dissenter. According to newspaper sources, more indictments,
possibly centering on illegalities stemming from lawsuits in Jefferson
County, may be handed down in the case. State and national Democrats are crying foul at the move, claiming it is a Bush Administration attempt to chill trial lawyer contributions to their candidates. However, Lampton is sticking to his guns. His 34 page indictment spelled out a compelling case that could mean stiff fines and long jail times for those involved.
The DSU story greatly overshadowed Musgrove’s announcement, so he took another bite at the apple in the final weeks of July. Though he cited accomplishments such as the recently opened Nissan plant in Canton and the teacher pay raise package passed three years ago, Musgrove wasted no time in attacking probable GOP opponent Haley Barbour during his “official” campaign announcement tour. In stops in Batesville, Greenville, DeSoto County, Tupelo, Meridian, Natchez, Gulfport, Hattiesburg and Jackson, Musgrove charged that Barbour, who has worked in Washington as a lobbyist and President Reagan’s Political Director, is out of touch with Mississippi. Barbour’s camp countered with a
one sentence statement about Musgrove’s charges: “It says
a lot about Governor Musgrove’s record that he starts his campaign
with negative personal attacks on Haley Barbour and offers no proposals
for Mississippi’s future.” Dueling
Mascots Heat it Up in Neshoba GOP gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour was shadowed at his Fair speech last Wednesday by someone in a cat outfit carrying a Washingtonfatcat.com sign. The sign refers to a web site set up by Barbour’s opponent, Jackson lawyer Mitch Tyner, detailing some of Barbour’s alleged work as a lobbyist. Not to be outdone, the next day, a knock-off of the Delta State University mascot – the Fighting Okra – showed up at the Fair pavilion just as Governor Musgrove took the stage for his Thursday speech. The sign the mascot carried, a knock-off of the popular MasterCard ad campaign, was one of the best of the day: Governor: $101,800. DSU President: $200,000. Losing both: priceless.
Referring to Sun Herald editor Stan Tyner, Scruggs charges in his ad that “Mississippians have every right to be concerned about Tiner’s Sun Herald and to expect and demand honest and objective journalism from the Sun Herald.” The same day, the Sun Herald editorialized that it had done nothing wrong. Scruggs struck back Sunday by again running full page ads in the Sun Herald and Clarion Ledger. This time, Scruggs took an even harder shot at Tiner in an ad headlined “Why is ‘Truth’ a Four Letter Word Where Stan Tiner Comes From?” Toward the end of the ad, Scruggs alleges Tyner was fired from his previous job after only seven months. Tantalizingly, the ad leaves readers with “Stay tuned for the TRUTH about that.” We will.
Click here for pictures from the rally
Coleman, like many House and Senate candidates, has been wearing out shoe leather from door-to-door campaigning in his district. Recently, during a stop in Meridian, Coleman had an encounter with a dog that he won’t soon forget. Standing on a front door step after knocking, Coleman heard a woman inside the house tell him not to panic or move. About that time, according to Coleman, a huge dog came running around the corner. Coleman beat the dog to his car, but unfortunately his back window was rolled down. As the dog clawed its way through the window, Coleman unloaded a .22 pistol on him. The dog and the rest of the story are pure Mississippi political history.
Should there be a gubernatorial
debate this year at the Neshoba County Fair? Are you against candidates taking
casino money? Do you believe Olivar Diaz and
Paul Minor will be convicted?
“I also want to introduce y’all to one of my new friends who is attending his first Fair. So far, I’ve campaigned in 75 counties, and traveled over 40,000 miles. And Governor Musgrove and the State Democrat Party have paid this young man to follow me almost the entire way, videotaping everything I say. Apparently, honesty is something they think is worth filming. His name is Jordan Foster, he’s from Austin, Texas, and he went to school in Colorado. As usual, he’s right down here in front of me, and I want y’all to give Jordan a warm Neshoba County Fair welcome.”
Walden is carrying on with his campaign, despite his diagnosis. According to Walden, he has beaten cancer before and fully intends to beat it again.
An independent review of the actual source of the Diebold voting machines brings to light some surprising vulnerabilities. The analysis shows that the voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards applicable in other contexts. Highlighted are several issues including unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes. For example, common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal. We may have a lot to fear from these new voting machines.
Musgrove
gets MS Gay and Lesbian Endorsement
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Oliver
Diaz, his wife Jennifer, former Circuit Court Judge John Whitfield and
former Chancery Court Judge Wes Teel. Gulf Coast lawyer Paul Minor, the
son
of columnist Bill Minor, was also indicted. Much of the allegations center
around supposed payments Minor made to the judges to influence their decisions
from the bench.
The
silly season for Mississippi politics officially began last week at the
Neshoba County
Fair in the guise of a fat cat and a Fighting Okra. 
Jordan
Foster, a Musgrove Staffer, was publicly introduced to Neshoba County
Fair crowd last week by 
Republican
candidate Haley Barbour. The introduction was as followed:
