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Democrats hope to stem GOP tide in Mississippi
The Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 11/08/2010 | Shelia Byrd

Posted on 11/08/2010 7:03:37 AM PST by Sybeck1

Democrats hope to stem GOP tide in Mississippi After election slap, party plots to regain its relevance

Calls to "take back America" preceded last week's remodeling of the congressional makeup, and Mississippi residents can expect to hear a similar refrain during the 2011 statewide and legislative races -- this time from a different political party.

Jamie Franks, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said part of the Democrats' strategy to win offices next year will include reminding voters that Republicans have been leading the state for the last eight years. Nearly all the statewide offices, including the governor's office, are held by Republicans. Attorney General Jim Hood is the lone Democrat.

"We've seen they have not been very good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars. The budget is in shambles. Unemployment is in double digits. Education is not being funded," Franks said.

His comments came days after the Nov. 2 general election, when the GOP swept to power in the U.S. House, taking at least 60 seats from Democrats. Two of Mississippi's congressmen -- U.S. Reps. Gene Taylor in the 4th District and Travis Childers in the 1st District -- were among those defeated.

Taylor was defeated by Steven Palazzo, a state representative from Biloxi. Alan Nunnelee, a state senator from Tupelo, defeated Childers.

Nunnelee, like other Republican candidates across the country, regularly talked about pulling the country out of Democrats' hands. In one of his blogs, Nunnelee said "On Tuesday, we take back America for those commonsense values."

It remains to be seen whether Democrats in the state can be successful with a similar campaign strategy in Mississippi. Franks acknowledged his party must first find common ground. In recent years, squabbles among Democratic leaders have crept into public view.

"We have people who are conservative and we have people who are liberals. We've got to get together on the same page and make sure we're going to bring the change that's needed at the ballot box next year," Franks said.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour will be finishing up his second and final term in office in 2011 so the field is wide open. Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant is among those preparing to run for the seat. Others lining up include Republican Gulf Coast businessman Dave Dennis and Democratic candidates Bill Luckett, a Clarksdale lawyer, and Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree.

The fundraising focus for the political parties, however, will be the legislative races. Both Franks and Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Brad White say they've started raising money for those elections.

But Republicans have also identified the districts they'll target, and in some cases, have a candidate being groomed. White said the GOP is going after the legislative seats in congressional districts where Taylor and Childers were ousted.

"Democrats who are serving in Republican districts that normally vote with Republicans, those people need to come over to us," White said. "In areas where the districts lean Republican and are conservative, we're going to make sure we have a candidate there."

White shrugs off talk about Republicans being the cause of the state's financial troubles. He said Barbour's refusal to tap deeply into the state's multimillion-dollar rainy day fund to shore up some agency budgets was a good policy decision.

"Had Haley Barbour not stood in the gap, the rainy day fund would be empty. We would have already experienced tax increases if Republicans hadn't stood in the gap," White said. "Things would be much worse if the Democrats were involved."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: bluedogs; election2011; mississippi; ms
With Pelosi minority leader, new blue dogs will surely be oddities of a past era.
1 posted on 11/08/2010 7:03:41 AM PST by Sybeck1
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To: WKB

Ping.


2 posted on 11/08/2010 7:05:03 AM PST by Graybeard58
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To: WKB; Tupelo; mstar; jdirt; Vietnam Vet From New Mexico; wardaddy; KLT; montesquiue; Downsouth55; ...

ping


3 posted on 11/08/2010 7:06:13 AM PST by Sybeck1 (Conservative yes, Republican no.)
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To: Sybeck1

I expect the GOP to take over the Mississippi statehouse and statewide offices. The Democrats are swimming in a toxic political environment.


4 posted on 11/08/2010 7:06:38 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Sybeck1; Tupelo; mstar; jdirt; Vietnam Vet From New Mexico; wardaddy; KLT; montesquiue; ...

Mississippi ping


5 posted on 11/08/2010 7:08:31 AM PST by WKB
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To: goldstategop; WKB

Are there any black Republicans in Mississippi who now hold office, or are ready to run..


6 posted on 11/08/2010 7:09:48 AM PST by ken5050 (I don't need sex.....the government screws me every day..)
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To: Sybeck1

Haley’s last year in office is 2011. They need to put him back in as Chairman of the RNC to guide the 2012 elections.


7 posted on 11/08/2010 7:13:05 AM PST by Old Retired Army Guy (tHE)
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To: ken5050

There may be some but I can’t think of any at the moment.


8 posted on 11/08/2010 7:13:30 AM PST by WKB
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To: Old Retired Army Guy

AMEM!


9 posted on 11/08/2010 7:15:48 AM PST by Dr. Ursus
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To: Dr. Ursus

AMEN-sorry,stupid cat can’t spell!


10 posted on 11/08/2010 7:17:50 AM PST by Dr. Ursus
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To: Sybeck1

I live here... ain’t no way. The vast majority of Mississippi HATES dims these days... ALL dims.

LLS


11 posted on 11/08/2010 7:20:32 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (WOLVERINES!)
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To: Sybeck1

If the dems are going to try to establish a political beachhead, I doubt Mississippi is the best place for them to do it. But, hey... let ‘em meet with a big, fat EPIC FAIL again.


12 posted on 11/08/2010 7:29:35 AM PST by ScottinVA (The West needs to act NOW to aggressively treat its metastasizing islaminoma!)
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To: Sybeck1; WKB; dixiechick2000; Travis McGee; Pelham; Black Agnes

it’s basically down to this with a few exceptions each way in Mississippi:

white =GOP

black =Democrat

if whites don’t keep the right wing faith there and support GOP in numbers of nearly 90% with decent turnout as well they will be swamped by a tide of near monolithic black voting lock for the left

in a state with almost 40% black vote

the segregationists knew this ..

freedom is nice but the unintended consequences can be a real bitch

show me another state in the Union besides Alabama where whites vote so dependably....they hear that train a coming trust me

in the North...say take a silly state like Connecticut (which thinks it’s so morally superior to whites in Mississippi) folks there don’t even have the sense to not take days and days to determine if a maniac who brutalized and burned alive a mother and her two girls in their homes should be executed and they elected a proven multiple war liar to the Senate.

so tell me who’s morally superior or which group you’d like to depend on for voting?

does anyone think that jury in Texas or even Virginia would need days?...or even hours?


13 posted on 11/08/2010 8:55:09 AM PST by wardaddy (diversity is only good if you are young and unmarried and chasing women)
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To: wardaddy

I have been here all my life, I can honestly say the minorities in Ms have a lot more problems with the race card than the white folks do. That being said,I know a lot blacks I would rather been seen eating out with than some of my own kin.


14 posted on 11/08/2010 9:02:30 AM PST by WKB
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To: WKB

while you have them at dinner you can work on that 98% Democrat voting habit

my only kin I’d prefer not around me are the few lib ones...out of 100s


15 posted on 11/08/2010 9:11:27 AM PST by wardaddy (diversity is only good if you are young and unmarried and chasing women)
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To: Sybeck1

Bill Luckett from Clarksdale is the one who has the restaurant there with actor Morgan Freeman, correct?


16 posted on 11/08/2010 7:31:47 PM PST by Cedar
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To: WKB; wardaddy; Sybeck1

“I can honestly say the minorities in Ms have a lot more problems with the race card than the white folks do.”

Just in my visits to Meridian, I can believe that is very true.

“That being said,I know a lot blacks I would rather been seen eating out with than some of my own kin.”

Amen...


17 posted on 11/17/2010 12:13:41 AM PST by dixiechick2000 ("First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." - Gandhi)
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