[deport]

A likely strategy all along was that Cochran wins, then steps down, then the GOP
appoints Barbour to run in the general election without having had to run in a bruising primary.

***********

That’s been my thought all along except I was thinking the resignation would come
in the first six months of the new term and the appointee would 18 months or so
before the election to fill the remainder of the term.

[Political Junkie Too]

Me, too. This botched primary run upset the plan and they are now improvising.

Before, they probably could have kept Cochran in the background to cruise through to reelection. Not now. Cochran won't stand a chance against a serious Democrat challenger, so they need to swap him out now.

-PJ