TUPELO, Miss., May 13, 2008
Will House GOP Lose Deep South Seat?
Politico: Tight Special Election In Mississippi Could Be The Latest Sign That Republicans Are In Trouble In November
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Democrat Travis Childers, the chancery clerk of northeast Mississippi's Prentiss County in Booneville, Miss. Childers will face Southaven, Miss., Mayor Greg Davis, who is a Republican, in a May 13 runoff to decide who will fill north Mississippi's vacant congressional seat for a few months. (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Travis Childers Ad This ad for Travis Childers, a candidate in Mississippi's first Congressional district, aims to rebut claims by Republican Greg Davis that Childers has taken Barack Obama's endorsement.
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Davis is also still suffering the aftereffects of a bitter primary against former Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough, in which Davis accused his rival of unethical behavior when heading the Tennessee Valley Authority. McCullough has not actively supported Davis, and the negative primary campaign appears to have given voters pause.
"I'm a Republican from the governor on down, but I would write someone else's name in before I would vote for Davis," said Curtis Ryan, a businessman from Tupelo. "It's a proven fact that Glenn McCullough let him get away with these negative attacks."
The stylistic differences between the two candidates are apparent. Davis hasn't spoken in any of his commercials since winning the nomination, instead relying on a narrator and his wife to deliver his campaign's message.
Childers, with his down-home Southern drawl, is front and center in his ads, with a populist message of speaking out against "Big Oil" and free trade agreements.
"We've got the perfect candidate for the district. Whenever Democrats win a district this tough, it's usually when you get the right kind of guy," said Democratic consultant John Rowley, who has handled Childers' media. "He's the right guy at the right time."
Still, Childers, a self-described "pro-life, pro-gun Democrat," has to face the hurdles of being associated with a national party that is well out of step with the conservative culture of Mississippi. To wit: Childers stopped by a gun show and found himself peppered with questions about his views on gun control.
Childers stayed at the gun show for only about 15 minutes after receiving a less than enthusiastic reception from the dealers, who included Wicker's uncle and the DeSoto County Republican Party chairman, an enthusiastic backer of Davis.
"They think that just because you're a Democrat, you're anti-gun," he lamented to Melancon after the event.
The NRCC has spent more than $1.27 million in this district to raise exactly those kinds of questions, saturating the airwaves with ads. The committee has been aided by Freedom's Watch, the conservative advocacy group, which aired an ad accusing Childers of supporting higher taxes.
For its part, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent more than $1.82 million, and leading Blue Dog Democrats have been campaigning with Childers in the final week.
But the influx of advertising has hardly dented Childers' standing, according to polling from both parties, and the race remains neck-and-neck.
One potential reason for Childers' consistent standing: Despite the district's conservative nature, Democrats hold the vast majority of countywide elected positions in much of northeast Mississippi.
"He's an old-time Southern Democrat, ... an old-time Southern Democrat is a moderate Republican," said Hayden Ables, the former chancery clerk in Tishomingo County.
"People in the South have a tendency to vote the individual, not the party. That's the reason that a Democratic county will vote Republican on national issues, when it comes to Gov. Barbour, but also vote for Travis. Because it's the individual, not the party."
By Josh Kraushaar
Copyright 2008 POLITICO
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Posted by jack3213 at 06:40 PM : May 13, 2008
+ report abuse
Oh PLEASE! Everyone knows who supports those trade agreements. It was McSame HIMSELF who told the good people of Michigan to get over it, the jobs were gone. It''s one thing to make a mistake, to negotiate a bad deal.. it''s altogether another to refuse to fix that mistake. Obama WILL renegotiate those agreements that has resulted in MILLIONS of American''s getting stabbed in the Back. McSame WILL NOT!
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Yeah, that ought to help a lot. Send down the vice-liar-in-chief to campaign for that poor schmuck. You would have had to be in a coma for that last eight years not to know how corrupt, evil, and dispicable, that the Republican party has become.
oh wait..... 8 years of this already!!
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Posted by jack3213 at 12:23 PM : May 13, 2008
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You know what is bad for the economy?? Shipping MILLIONS of American Jobs to OTHER Countries and forcing American Workers to compete with 30 Cents a day in wages! I''ll bet the family farm if American''s were given the choice of having those good paying jobs returned in exchange for paying taxes to balance our budget they jump at the chance. What do you think???
but more troubling perhaps will be his Irish Momma, who is an atheist and also a bed-hopper.
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Posted by phillysage at 04:01 PM : May 13, 2008
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So you think we should go along with 4 more years of failure and bankruptcy because YOU don''t like Obama''s Parents? You know if you held people in the united states to the standards you hold Obama we''d have NO ONE qualified... well except the Toe Tappers and who wants to vote for them.
but more troubling perhaps will be his Irish Momma, who is an atheist and also a bed-hopper.
Posted by phillysage at 04:01 PM : May 13, 2008
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So your point is what, even though Obama is from a "bad" family he has made something of himself? The president we have now is from a "good" family but he''s a complete failure and a blithering idiot. Would you vote for him again?
Posted by ccfsdca at 12:11 PM : May 13, 2008"
You might know the answer to your own question if you had read the article.
"This special election comes one week after Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.) picked up a House seat in the Baton Rouge area that Republicans had held for three decades."
"In the first round of balloting last month, Childers came within 410 votes of winning the seat outright, leading Davis 49 percent to 46 percent."
Looks to me like a Dem is doing awfully well in Ol'' Miss. After the blowout in Baton Rouge, your "incredulous" statement is a fair bit misplaced. You need to talk to those voters in Miss and LA, they don''t seem to share your sentiment that a Dem can''t win in the south.
- by Gary Kempf May 13, 2008 1:59 PM EDT
- After losing two special elections in conservative-minded districts over the past two months, the GOP is now at risk of losing a seat in the heart of the Deep South - and is pouring all its resources into hanging on to it, including a rare campaign trail appearance by Vice President Cheney on Monday.
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See all 14 CommentsYea, Cheney to gather support, That is pure lame desperation. The poster child of corporate corruption, seven years of scr*wing the Working class of Ole Miss. Sent in to rally the ole Republican votes. If that doesn''t convince the people to bale on the Republican party. Nothing will.....