A Note on The Election

Surely this will not go unnoticed, but I saw the map on the CL website and did some research.

Adams

Clay

Copiah

Issaquena

Jasper

Jeff Davis

Kemper

Pike

Quitman

Sharkey

Tallahatchie 

Yazoo 

Leake

Neshoba 

Panola 

All these counties were won by Bryant.  Some by fairly large margins.

What do these have in common?  They are majority African-American (or in the case of the last three, have no majority race).  I may have missed some more in my haphazard research.

I know that turnout was probably down due to a weak Democrat candidate.  I also read the map as Noxubee County, home of our old friend Ike Brown, being the only county in the eastern 2/3 of the state to go Democrat (well done, Ike!).  But, possibly, could it be that the residents of these counties voted for...Low taxes?  An environment that allows for job creation?  *Gasp*...against expanding government?  

I might be the only one pondering this.  I'm sure there will be a lot of scholarly articles written about it.  Or, the CL map could be wrong.  Or ignored.  Or whatever.  All of those are possibilities.  

The map is found...here.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

"You do not have to have $100,000 to get elected to the Mississippi Legislature, and it shouldn't cost that much to win in the Legislature," Ricky Cole said in an interview regarding the Dems holding off a supermajority in the House. 

Well...I mean, some people have to spend that much to get elected, right?  But nobody you'd really want in office, right?

Oh...wait...who was one of the first to put that much money into a legislative race?

Momma Always Said There'd Be Days Like These

I have watched the ongoing circus that the Democrat Party has engaged in the last few weeks with the kind of morbid curiosity that you might have when passing a particularly nasty looking wreck on the highway. And I have enjoyed every minute of it.

Putting aside the absurdity of racial, gender, and various other set-asides, the fact that they allowed themselves to get into this situation is proof enough that the entire carload lot of the Democrat party in this state isn't fit to run itself, much less steer the ship of state. When you have the trifecta of the somewhat combative Golden Boy (which is kind of like saying that a lion will kind of eat you), the perpetually nutty Barbara Blackmon, and the criminally corrupt Ike Brown anywhere in the leadership apparatus of the party, how do you not see this train wreck coming?

Really, was Sam Hall (and I Hate You One and All, Damn Your Eyes!) the hill they wanted to die on?

Like I said, how do you not see this coming? Jamie Franks' friends couldn't fill up a phone booth, mostly because he's threatened to whip every ass between Mooreville and Fondren. People who vote for him tend to not know him. Barbara Blackmon's run for Lt. Governor was frought with strangeness, and Ike Brown is a racialist criminal. Only a nut would want to make a cocktail with those ingredients.

Then again, look who we're talking about.

I Must Be Experiencing What They Call A Disconnect

Let me see if I understand this correctly after reading this morning's Clarion-Ledger story on potential voting problems.

Jamie Franks Jr, the Golden Boy himself, spent twelve years in the state legislature. During that time, he was responsible, according to him, for everything that came down the pike. But during this time, he never once thought about working on the labyrinth that is our state elections system?

Per Chairman Jamie this morning:

"The cavalcade of confusing and conflicting statements from state officials would baffle every lawyer from Matlock to Perry Mason and could lead to a frustrating experience Tuesday for many Mississippi voters," said Jamie Franks, chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Twelve years in public office, ladies and gentlemen, and this year it became a problem.

Remember that post I made about the Democrat strategy for Mississippi this year? That quote is the first shot being fired. The ground is being prepared to lay every bit of the blame on Secretary of State Hosemann when the whole thing plays out Tuesday. Let's be 100% clear: the "state officials" are all going to be in the Secretary of State's office, not the AG's. The prediction of a "frustrating experience...for many Mississippi voters" probably won't apply in Madison, Rankin, or DeSoto counties.

I called it last week. This is the shot across the bow by the Golden Boy.

Just to Get You Ready...

McCain is going to lose Ohio. How can I tell this now, a month out? What poll has given me this insight?

http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/oct/01/oh-sos-rejecting-election-observers/

As Stalin is supposed to have said, It's not who votes that counts, its who counts the votes.

Hob Bryan speaks Truth to Power

"These characterizations of the assessment as a 'patient tax' are nothing more than propaganda designed to induce fear."

Once again, Partisan Liberal Democrat Hob Bryan gets it, and basically sums up the House Dems' position and only hope in this debate-and frankly, the absurdity of the taxation party opposing a tax.

My bone to pick with Hob is that "Barbour tried to get them beat" in last year's elections. Um, yeah, Hob, that whole election thing? The whole point is to try to win and help your party win. And interfering in elections? Lest we forget in 2003 the challenge in the Republican Primary by Lee Tyner, he of plantiff's attorney fame, ran against Barbour. And we know how those trial lawyers feel about the GOP.

I Guess the Reaper was Right

A week ago Steve Holland told us this was gonna happen-the scorched earth policy that the Cholesterol Crew has put forth in the past is going to continue. Today we find out that he wasn't kidding. The crew that attempted to put the Memphis suburbs and Tupelo in a Congressional District with Madison county (hope all of you First District voters remember that when the Reaper comes calling for votes) has struck again. I guess there'll be four more years of bottled-up legislation and pidgeonholeing. Congrats to us: Fiftieth with a bullet and we haven't figured out that the problem is the fossils we keep filling our legislature with.

Scenes from a Funeral Parlor (A Parody)

The place: A funeral home in Lee County.

The young man walks into the office of the Funeral Director. He's very chipper about seeing his old friend. "Hi, buddy, how ya doin'?" He asks, pulling up a chair, and getting his behind about halfway down when he's stopped by the Director, a much larger older man.

"Don't bother sittin' down, Junior, this ain't gonna take long." The big man is now looking up through his glasses, at what appears to be a list of names and phone numbers. He puts the list down, and lights a cigar.

"You called me here," the younger man says, confused.

"You're darn tootin' I did. We need to talk about these folks you've been callin' here lately. I don't like it, don't like it one bit. This foolishness has got to stop, you understand me? All the boys agree with me, too." The big man leans back in his chair, putting his hands across his girth.

"What? I'm just talking to my old donors, trying to put up some cash for-" he began, but is cut off by the Director.

"You ain't doin' nothin', kid. Not a blessed thing. These folks here-" he holds up the list with names, addresses, and more, "ain't givin' you a thing. Do you know why they ain't gonna give you nothin', boy?" The young man shrugs. "They don't like losers, and you're a loser. Worse, you're a big loser. You're like Ohio State. Nobody wants to associate with you. You ain't gettin' no money, and I've seen to that."

"Why are you doing this?"

The director laughs. "Because, you're old news. You're a joke. Did you really think anyone would be lining up to help you after you lost your own home county? There's another reason you won't be getting their money, of course." The big man pauses, then continues. "It's all coming to me, anyway."

He lets the news sink in, then proceeds. "It was never about you, boy. You ain't gonna have a dime in this race unless you spend all that money you snookered out of folks. You better just forget about this whole thing now, and tell 'em you're out, 'cause you are. You just found out from me. You can tell 'em its about the job, you can say you're tired, and of course you can use your kids-that's always popular. But you're out. I just wanted you to hear it from me."

Mike Moore Won't Run

The Godfather Mike Moore has decided not to run for the US Senate in the next election. Count me as one who's not surprised.

Moore could have easily had the nomination for governor in 2007, but chose to allow John Eaves-or John Arthur Eaves, or JA Eaves, or John Arthur Eaves Jr or John Eaves Jr or John Arthur or Skippy the Wonder Dog whatever he decided to call himself during the campaign-to self-fund a campaign that managed to garner 41% of the vote. He could have run in 2008 to replace the retiring Senator Lott, but he's chosen not to.

Now, some could interpret this as a sign he's waiting out the Scruggs fiasco (after all, having your buddies and major source of campaign funds potentially staying in the county jail while you're running can't be good), but here's something that people might miss.

Mike Moore would have to run against an incumbent-though not Senator Lott-in a Senate race in 2008. And he's not going to chance that perfect Mike Moore record against an incumbent. That makes him next years candidate-and it always will. It keeps Mike Moore in the public eye, and lets him continue to be a power broker, even though he's not running. He gets to continue to have lucrative work thrown his way-thanks, MCI-and all the right people flatter him.

That's not to say he won't run again. The governor's mansion will be open in 2011, and Thad Cochran can't stay in Washington forever. But why hurry and jump into a race where he has a greater chance at losing? After all, there's no money in that.