This election easy for incumbents

Editorials

October 15, 2012

This election easy for incumbents

AP Analysis

Associated Press Associated Press Mon Oct 15, 2012, 07:11 PM CDT

JACKSON, Miss. — This is a comfortable election year to be a sitting U.S. representative, U.S. senator or appellate judge in Mississippi.

Incumbents have raised far more campaign cash than challengers, adding to their built-in advantage of name recognition. Judicial candidates are extremely limited in what they’re allowed to say, so it’s tough for a challenger to pick apart an incumbent’s record and promise to do things differently. Mississippi has been predictably Republican in presidential elections for three decades, and Barack Obama and Mitt Romney aren’t wasting much money on advertising here.

All of this makes for a relatively lethargic electorate leading into the Nov. 6 election. When voters aren’t agitating for change, incumbents can expect an easy time.

One of Mississippi’s two U.S. Senate seats is on the ballot. Republican incumbent Roger Wicker is challenged by three candidates running low-key campaigns, including Democrat Albert N. Gore Jr. of Starkville.

Wicker, now 61, was appointed to the Senate in December 2007 by then-Gov. Haley Barbour, after Republican Trent Lott resigned. Wicker then won a November 2008 special election to fill the final four years of the term Lott started. The 2008 race was bare-knuckles politics, with Wicker defeating Democratic former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a man who had been one of his closest friends when the two were state lawmakers from north Mississippi.

Gore, 82, is a retired United Methodist minister and retired chaplain for the U.S. Army Special Forces.

“My travel budget is my back pocket,” Gore told The Associated Press. “I think I’ve been given about $3,200. The rest of it has been out of my pocket.”

Wicker had $2.3 million in his campaign fund, according to his most recent disclosure. Still, Wicker said last week that he’s traveling and asking for support: “I’m not taking it for granted.”

Mississippi has a history of keeping incumbents in Congress for decades, so it was unusual in 2010 when voters turned out two of the four U.S. House members. Republican challengers used the same tactic of tying the local Democratic incumbent to Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California, who was then speaker of the House. The technique — vote Republican to unseat Pelosi — worked. In the northern 1st District, Travis Childers lost to Alan Nunnelee. In the southern 4th District, Gene Taylor lost to Steven Palazzo.

Now, Nunnelee is challenged by four candidates, including Democrat Brad Morris, an Oxford attorney who was Childers’ chief of staff. Palazzo faces three challengers, including Democrat Matthew Moore, a community college student who entered the race in early September after the original nominee withdrew for family and business reasons. Neither incumbent appears in danger of being a one-termer.

Democrats aren’t even trying to unseat Republican Rep. Gregg Harper in the central 3rd Congressional District. His only opponent is a Reform Party candidate who’s doing little, if any, campaigning.

In the 2nd District, which stretches through the Delta and into most of Jackson, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson faces three challengers, including the same Republican he defeated in 2010, Bill Marcy of Vicksburg.

Supreme Court races will be decided in all parts of the state, and a Court of Appeals race will be decided in the Delta and parts of Jackson.

The most competitive Supreme Court race is in the northern one-third of the state, to succeed Justice George Carlson of Batesville, who has served since 2001 and didn’t seek re-election. The candidates are Josiah Dennis Coleman of Toccopola and Richard “Flip” Phillips of Batesville. Finance reports filed last week show Phillips has raised $244,356 this year to Coleman’s $182,329.

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Editorials

Bryant tantrum on education major standards was misguided
By the (McComb) Enterprise-Journal:
That was quite a tantrum Gov. Phil Bryant pitched at the College Board recently, criticizing its members for voicing concerns about his effort to increase standards for education majors.

March 29, 2013
Legislature to City Hall not sure move
Five Mississippi House members are running for mayor this year, and while name recognition might provide some advantage, lawmakers have had a mixed record in trying to go from the Capitol to City Hall.

March 27, 2013
Nation’s economy improving, but state’s still lagging
By The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger
It’s been a long time coming, but finally there are bright economic signs nationally that seem here to stay a while.

March 23, 2013
Armed teachers dangerous idea for school safety
By (Columbus) The Commercial Dispatch:
The Mississippi House of Representatives sent back to the Senate a bill that would arm teachers.
Before sending it over, the House, by a 70-46 vote, amended the Senate’s bill in two major ways. Actually, the House did more than amend it. They neutered it.

March 22, 2013
Not every bill grabs headlines
The first two bills that Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed during the 2013 legislative session dealt with money.
House Bill 19 gave more cash to the agency that coordinates a program to put all emergency offices under the same digital communications system. House Bill 20 moved money from the car tag reduction fund to the Budget Contingency Fund. Lawmakers use the contingency fund to cobble together cash for the overall state budget.

March 20, 2013
Transparency key to ‘best watchdogs’ oversight
By The (Tupelo) Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal:
Rep. Jerry Turner’s effort to require open meetings of water associations and notice of meetings in which members of boards of directors will be elected remains alive in the Legislature. It should be enacted in the interests of transparency in the running of the nonprofit associations providing water for a significant percentage of Mississippi’s population.

March 16, 2013
Miss. makes news, good news, this time
By The (Columbus) Commercial Dispatch:
Generally, when Mississippi makes national news — especially of late — it is not the sort of notoriety we welcome. ...
So March 3, when Mississippi again made national news, we braced ourselves for the embarrassment that was sure to follow.
Only this time, it wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about.
Imagine that.

March 15, 2013
Ag’s legal expenses top $2.4M for year
An ongoing lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s foster care system has cost the state at least $4.4 million in legal expenses and fees since 2008.
Expenses continue to rise as the plaintiffs and the state work toward a telephone status conference scheduled for April 25 with U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee. The price tag this year is $1.35 million.

March 13, 2013
Ag’s legal expenses top $2.4M for year
An ongoing lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s foster care system has cost the state at least $4.4 million in legal expenses and fees since 2008.

March 13, 2013
Higher pay best way to recruit better teachers
By The (McComb) Enterprise-Journal:
A centerpiece of Gov. Phil Bryant’s proposals to improve education in Mississippi is raising the requirements for college students to major in the education field.

March 9, 2013
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