Posted on 08/17/2007 8:29:55 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Republicans are likely to retain the Mississippi Congressional District being left open because of the retirement of Rep. Chip Pickering, but that doesn’t mean that Mississippi 3rd District voters won't see a competitive campaign.
Contrary to initial reports, Pickering will not resign his seat. Instead, he will serve out his term but not seek reelection. GOP insiders describe the district as overflowing with potential Republican candidates and expect a multi-candidate primary.
Atop the list are two statewide names: Tate Reeves and Amy Tuck.
Reeves is Mississippi's 32 year old state Treasurer, the first Republican to hold the office since Reconstruction. Elected in 2003, he is a strong fundraiser and has been a high profile state official. While some insiders have already assumed that he will be a candidate for governor in 2011, the Congressional open seat could have appeal for him.
Tuck, 44, is finishing her second term as Lieutenant Governor. She is term limited and cannot seek reelection. A former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2002, she is widely regarded as a strong campaigner. "Nobody works the crowd better than Amy," says one savvy Republican about the woman everyone describes as "a political animal."
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalwire.com ...
Tate Reeves has a bright future in statewide office. I’d say that Amy Tuck, who is term-limited, is the best choice for Congress.
As I mentioned the other night, Mississippi in its history has never had either an elected nor appointed woman in federal office. Only Delaware, Iowa and Vermont share that distinction. I’m sure Amy Tuck would like to break that male-only streak in MS.
Shows’s showing in 2002 was a fiasco, as he lost by a 2-to-1 margin to Pickering.
Looks like Amy is staying in Mississippi.
Well, it wouldn’t harm her to serve a term or two in DC. The real battle is going to be in 2011 for Haley’s office, and hopefully our growing number of officeholders doesn’t turn into an ugly internecine battle royale that allows the rodents to take it back again.
We control redistricting in 2011 for the most part.
4 seats isn’t going to particularly matter a whole lot. 2 are almost givens, but we need to sack the nutty Gene Taylor, and we have no control over getting rid of the horrible Bennie Thompson, since the Justice Department states that non-Whites (but not non-White Republicans) are given special protection (and the Thompson/Espy seat sent a Republican in the mid ‘80s). So much for equal protection under the law.
Did this get pinged to the MS folks?
Per WLOX TV article here http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=6948191&nav=menu40_3
Leading candidates are:
Republican state Sen. Charlie Ross, who was defeated in the Aug. 7 GOP primary for lieutenant governor.
Gregg Harper, an attorney who has served as Rankin County Republican chairman.
Joe Nosef, who had worked as a staff attorney for Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and is now Barbour’s campaign manager. “But I have to tell you that right now all I am focused on is getting the Governor re-elected,” Nosef said.
Heath Hall, who worked as spokesman for Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice during the 1990s and is now vice president of the Mississippi Technology Alliance.
Nick Walters, who worked from 2001-06 as state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development.
Notably missing from this list is former Columbus Mayor Jeffrey Rupp. I wonder if the spanking he got in the Secretary of State primary this month has changed his mind about higher office.
Amy Tuck announced that she won’t be a candidate:
http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/08/17/local_news/local04.txt
I have no use for people who switch parties so that they can get elected. Bloomberg may be the exception but N.Y. is blue. Mississippi? Let me just say that she’s a two bagger and we need hotties like the Alaska Gov.
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