Free Republic

-snip- Until 2008, Barbour had been stingy with the pardon. In 2006, I wrote a story for Reason magazine about Cory Maye, a black man in Jefferson Davis County, Miss., convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for shooting and killing a white cop during a botched drug raid. My reporting spawned an outpouring of support for Maye, including from gun rights and home defense advocates on the right, who were outraged over a death sentence for a man who by all appearances thought he was defending his home from apparent intruders. -snip- Over the last two years, as...

Eric Cantor (R) dodges question on Palin's qualification (He's scared of Palin)

(To be clear, that is a relatively low bar. Republicans went into the political wilderness in a major way following Bush's re-election as he grew increasingly less popular and it became increasingly more clear that the party was either unable or unwilling to break with the chief executive in any major way. Polls suggest that the Republican brand remains badly damaged in the eyes of the American public with most people still trusting Obama far more than Republicans in Congress to solve the major issues of the day.) With 2010 right around the corner, there is significant movement in this...

Cedar Creek, Texas (CNN)– Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday that he hopes Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison remains in the Senate and acknowledged that he has spoken with her about challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP primary. Barbour, head of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), would not elaborate on his conversation with Hutchison, but did say he personally hopes Perry wins another term. "I would just hate to lose Kay Bailey in the Senate," Barbour said at a news conference during the RGA's annual meeting. "She has been a great senator. I would just hate to lose a great...

AUSTIN – Here's what I did not hear at the annual confab of Republican governors held here this week: The words socialist, extremist, or government takeover. With the focus on jobs, jobs and jobs, the only red meat was the Texas barbecue. And by design, there was no Obama-bashing. [snip] Barbour cautioned Republican candidates to refrain from attacking the president, period: "People want the president to succeed; good Lord, they want the country to succeed, and particularly the first African-American president has a lot of goodwill. . . . We need to be careful, we need to treat the president...

Thrilled with twin victories this month, Republican governors are looking to lead a party-wide resurgence in 2010 and shape the GOP for years to come. Republicans boast of a strong crop of gubernatorial candidates who could be future party leaders, $25 million in the bank a year before the elections and a difficult environment for Democrats, particularly in financially ailing swing-voting states like Ohio and Iowa. "Next year's going to be a good year for Republican governors," predicted Haley Barbour, Mississippi's governor and chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "In states where there are Republican governors, people can see if...

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says the decision by seven Simpson County elected officials to switch from Democrat to Republican comes at the right time.

The Talk Shows Sunday, November 8th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell; Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent; Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Govs. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.THIS WEEK (ABC): Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine and Republican National Chairman Michael Steele; Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Army chief of staff Casey; Virginia...

The Talk Shows Sunday, November 1st, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Rush Limbaugh, conservative radio talk show host.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner; David Plouffe, former Obama presidential campaign manager; author Jon Krakauer.FACE THE NATION (CBS): White House senior adviser David Axelrod; Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.THIS WEEK (ABC): White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio; Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.

<p>Republicans rallying this morning in Springfield had a new prop: A broom that read "McBolliNelli" on the handle.</p> <p>The Republican ticket is stumping throughout the state Saturday but began with a traditional GOP pep rally at Interstate Van Lines in Springfield. Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell was joined by ticket mates Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, attorney general candidate Sen. Ken Cuccinelli and a variety for Republican luminaries, including Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association.</p>

Tea Party Patriots 2012 Presidential Poll Who do you think would make a great conservative president? (Consider only their commitment to the constitution, charisma and personal integrity. Do NOT consider their ability to win.)

Leading Republican governors seemed to downplay the statements from Sarah Palin while embracing to an extent the passion of town hall participants who have been vocal in their opposition to health care reform. Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.), chair of the Republican Governors Association, told reporters this afternoon that one reason people are reacting so strongly around the country is because they think the White House is moving far too quickly on an issue of tremendous concern. "The Obamas took six months to pick a dog. How come they [had] to pass a health care bill before the August recess?" he...

More than two dozen Republican gubernatorial candidates converged Friday at an Idaho resort for a three-day session organized by the Republican Governors Association to lay out a strategy to rebuild the GOP for the 2010 election cycle. The Sun Valley event will feature sessions led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Michigan Gov. John Engler and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. It was the latest sign that the governors association and its chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, were emerging as influential players in shaping a Republican comeback bid from disastrous losses in the past two election cycles. Mr. Barbour...

About a month ago, I talked about the prospect of Haley Barbour breaking the Mississippi legislature. Mission accomplished. You don't believe me? OK, let's ask David Hampton and Jere Nash. Certainly, they'll have a different spin on events. Hampton's July 12 column stated . . . It was apparent Barbour called the shots throughout, to the point that House negotiators were complaining that struck deals and compromises with senators didn't mean anything without daddy Barbour's approval. That's pretty harsh. But certainly my friend Jere Nash will come to the Democrat rescue in this PR and governing nightmare that Haley Barbour...

BILOXI — President Barack Obama and two big name governors — one involved in a recent sex scandal and another who announced her resignation — may not attend the National Governors Association meetings here this week. But as several states are still without a 2010 budget, many will come seeking strategies for infrastructure, education, energy and information about the federal stimulus funds, emergency management and other issues, all of which will be highlighted at the conference. The convention begins Friday, but at the end of last week, NGA officials said they weren’t expecting Obama to attend. The commander-in-chief is always...

Haley Barbour emerged victorious this past week. While states nationwide were issuing IOUs, the Mississippi legislature actually passed a balanced budget albeit kicking and screaming from the pressure levied on them by Governor Barbour. This may be viewed historically as Governor Barbour's second greatest accomplishment of his term (the first being of course the response to Katrina). It will likely further serve to raise his stock among conservatives in the 2012 Presidential conversation. Remember where we came from before the Special Session. The Billy McCoy-led House wanted $0 hospital assessment on Medicaid. Governor Barbour got $60M that will increase to...

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is second only to Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate Republican voters say they’ll vote for in 2012 state GOP primaries, but she’s also one of two candidates they least hope wins the party’s nomination.

BEDFORD – The Republican party needs to rebuild itself from the bottom up, said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour last night before addressing a gathering at a New Hampshire State Republican Committee reception. "You're in the White House for eight or 12 years, you become a top-down party, I don't care if these are Republicans or Democrats. When you get out, you're liberated to rebuild your party from the bottom up," he told reporters before a reception at at C.R. Sparks, which was closed to the press. Barbour assumed chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association yesterday, following South Carolina Gov. Mark...

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has assumed the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association, CNN has learned. Barbour immediately takes over as head of the national Republican campaign organization following South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s announcement he was leaving the post. Sanford acknowledged Wednesday that he had an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina. “The news revealed today hurts all of us who have gotten to know Governor Sanford over the years and so it is with regret that the RGA accepted Governor Sanford’s resignation as chairman,” Barbour said in a statement obtained by CNN that will be distributed Wednesday...

JACKSON, Miss. | If the Republican Party is in danger of being marginalized as a conservative, white-male Southern enclave, is Haley Barbour - the longtime Washington power broker and current Mississippi governor - the best person to turn things around? Many rank-and-file Republicans and party leaders say yes as the 61-year-old Mr. Barbour prepares to ramp up his national profile this month with back-to-back trips to the early presidential voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Mr. Barbour will headline fundraisers in both states but says the visits are part of his duties as incoming chairman of the Republican Governors...

I'm not sure about posting Fox/AP, so I'll leave this blank.

2012 Watch: Barbour to N.H. @ 1:46 pm by Jeremy P. Jacobs A day after we learned the Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is heading to Iowa at the end of June, we find out that he also plans to head to New Hampshire. Barbour will headline an event for the New Hampshire Republican Party on June 24, one day before he's in Iowa. There shouldn't be any doubt that Barbour is at least considering a run in 2012.

Governors across the country are clamoring for a piece of the stimulus, eager to avoid laying off state employees, hoping to put their unemployed citizens back to work and trying to avoid widespread furloughs as budgets bleed red ink. They know that their citizens want to keep libraries open, teachers in the classroom, cops on the beat and firefighters ready to protect people and property. Except in the South. Southern governors--Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Haley Barbour of Mississippi--have been pressing the case that the federal stimulus bill is a mistake; they argue the emerging Republican...

PHOENIX (AP) - Sixty thousand people are expected to attend the National Rifle Association's annual convention that starts Friday in Phoenix. Organizers say the 3-day event is a celebration of America's Second Amendment rights and a gathering point for opponents of efforts to limit those rights. Friday's speakers include Sen. John McCain, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

Since the Supreme Court's notorious 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which allowed that municipality to seize private property on behalf of the Pfizer Corporation, 43 states have passed laws protecting property rights against Kelo-style eminent domain abuse. Mississippi is not one of those states. But that nearly changed in March 2009 when the Mississippi legislature voted overwhelmingly in support of a proposed law which would have guaranteed that "the right of eminent domain shall not be exercised for the purpose of taking or damaging privately owned real property for private development or for a private purpose;...

The former RNC chairman says the party will again have to sell ideas, not access. BY STEVE MOOREThe Wall Street Journal Haley Barbour has a message for Republicans still dispirited by the November elections: "We've been in a lot worse shape than this. . . . When I first started working in politics during the Watergate era only 16% of Americans identified themselves as Republicans." He recalls one incident in the mid 1970s when "Mary Louise Smith, the chairman of the party, appointed a committee to change the name of the party. You can't get much lower than that." That...

This morning I listened in on Eric Cantor's conference call concerning the launch of the National Council for a New America (NCNA) hosted by Congressman Cantor and Senator John McCain. One of the main points that the two men stressed is that this is "not a contract with America," but a "conversation" with her. The GOP leaders also stressed that this is an "inclusive" effort with which they want to hear from all manner of Americans adhering to a variety opinions on today's most pressing Issues. The two also said that this is not an attempt to "re-brand" the GOP....

Governors’ Fight Over Stimulus May Define G.O.P. By ROBERT PEAR and J. DAVID GOODMAN Published: February 22, 2009 WASHINGTON — Republican governors split sharply over the weekend over how to respond to the economic crisis, a debate whose outcome will go a long way toward shaping how the national party redefines itself in the wake of its election defeats of recent years.While the $787 billion stimulus bill might help avert draconian budget cuts by deeply stressed states, Republican governors clashed over just how much of the stimulus money to accept. And governors of both parties said that they did not...

WASHINGTON (AP) — With an eye toward the 2012 presidential contest, leading Republicans used this weekend's meeting of the National Governors Association to lay out divergent views of President Obama's stimulus plan — and competing visions of their party's future. On one side were southern governors including Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, and Mark Sanford of South Carolina. All three are outspoken critics of Obama's $787 billion plan to jolt the economy through investment in education, health care and transportation, and have said they are likely to reject some of the stimulus funding. Jindal and Sanford are...

Republican governors agree that they’ll be the ones to revive the party. But those mentioned as White House hopefuls are split over whether the next great GOP leader will come from the centrist wing or conservative wing. The GOP comeback can start with major victories in the 38 gubernatorial elections over the next two years, said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington this weekend. Unexpected wins by statewide GOP candidates in the early 1990s, including in New Jersey and Massachusetts, foretold the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, noted Barbour, a former Republican National...

By Friday afternoon, Gov. Sarah Palin had already left sunny and warm Miami, as well as the cold shoulder she got from at least one governor running for president, to return to freezing but politically warmer Alaska. Palin skipped the governors’ vote this morning that elected, HUMAN EVENTS has just learned, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford the new chair of the Republican Governors Association, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour vice-chair, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist chair of the RGA’s February 2009 Annual Gala in Washington, D.C. HUMAN EVENTS was first to report yesterday that RGA Chair, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, remarkably...

STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR HALEY BARBOUR “On Friday the Division of Medicaid (DOM) received verification of a major financial issue it has been discussing with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services........ In October 2003, the Musgrove Administration adjusted the State’s formula for paying the state share of Medicare Part B premiums......... ---snip As a result CMS.....is giving us a refund. Today, CMS refunded approximately $58.9 million to the State, which reduces the Medicaid deficit for FY09 by a like amount. A partial refund of $33.2 million was made by CMS on August 20th and used to repay a FY08 line...

(1) Gets Bush out of St. Paul, where he would have given a speech that the media and the Democrats would have pounced on, and puts him in the eye of the storm, doing the nation's business, where he will be welcomed and greeted by friendly Republican governors. (2) Puts the spotlight on those friendly Republican governors--Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist, and most of all, Bobby Jindal, (the male Sarah Palin)--who will do their jobs competently, in contrast with the mess made three years ago by the Democratic governor of Louisiana, whose performance even at the time was compared unfavorably to...

Likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are traveling to Mississippi on Sunday to check on people getting prepared for Hurricane Gustav. Their trip comes just as delegates are preparing for the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday. Aides say McCain and his wife Cindy will join Palin in traveling to Jackson, Miss., Sunday at the invitation of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour because of concerns about people threatened by the storm, which was heading into the Gulf of Mexico and menacing the same area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina three years ago. The storm...

ST. PAUL, Minn. — President Bush is unlikely to make it to the Republican National Convention, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) may deliver his acceptance speech via satellite because of the historically huge hurricane threatening New Orleans, top officials said. Late Saturday night, the RNC was planning to issue a release announcing the formation of a "working group of representatives from each of the states in Hurricane Gustav's path. The group will ensure that all affected delegates have information and assistance in real time. "The Affected States Working Group is led by all five state party chairs from the affected...

(AP Content not allowed: click on link to view original article) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080831/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_mccain_gustav

McCain: I may postpone convention By: Mike Allen August 30, 2008 05:03 PM EST John McCain said the Republican National Convention may be postponed as federal officials said Hurricane Gustav was gathering to a devastating Category 5 as it headed toward star-crossed New Orleans. “It just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain told Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday,” in an interview taped for tomorrow. “So we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers, too.” McCain...

PARCHMAN - One of Marcus Gentry's killers is dead. "The Mississippi Department of Corrections today conducted the mandated execution of inmate Dale Leo Bishop," Commissioner Christopher Epps said Wednesday. "This evening closed the final phase of the Dale Leo Bishop case, which began on Dec. 10, 1998, with the kidnapping and murder of Marcus James Gentry." The death by lethal injection was carried out, he said, "with dignity and decorum." Bishop wore a goatee and a red prison jumpsuit with flip-flops to his execution by lethal injection at 6 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. A couple of...

TICKET CHOICE SEARCH With the nomination for the Republican solidifying mightily, Sen. John McCain has asked his senior advisers to begin pulling together short lists for Vice Presidential choices. At the top of list, according to one senior adviser: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. "There are others that need to be on that list, but you have to believe the Haley is a frontrunner," says the adviser, who knows both McCain and Barbour well. Barbour would be one name that puts many conservatives at a bit more ease, one of the criteria McCain understands he must meet, according to another adviser:...

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour yesterday said that he is too conservative to be John McCain's running mate but that the Arizona senator's maverick reputation will help him in an election in which moderates and independents will be more important than in recent years. Mr. Barbour also urged Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, not to name his pick for vice president until after the Democrats' convention, when he can draw the sharpest distinction between the parties. Mr. McCain will depend on "persuasion" to snare independents and disgruntled Democrats on Nov. 4, unlike George W. Bush in the 2000 and...

JACKSON – Legislation designed to crack down on illegal immigrants and the businesses that hire them was signed into law Monday by Gov. Haley Barbour, but not without reservations. In signing the legislation late Monday, Barbour released a statement asking the Legislature to modify the law he had just signed. Under the bill and now law, employers are required to check with the federal Electronic-Verification system to ensure potential employees are legal. Failure to do so could result in a business losing its license to operate in the state. Barbour said there are possible flaws in the e-verify system. "Mississippi's...

JACKSON, Miss. --Mississippi's Republican governor campaigned last year on minimizing government regulation of business, but he signed bill Monday that he said will require employers to use an unproven federal system to check immigrants' status. Haley Barbour said he has "serious concerns about specific provisions of the bill that could have unintended negative consequences." The bill becomes law Jan. 1. It will require employers to use the U.S. Homeland Security electronic verification system to check whether new hires are legal residents. Employers who hire illegal immigrants could lose their business license for a year and any state contract work for...

Tell Gov. Barbour to sign immigration enforcement bill! This is a special message for NumbersUSA members in Mississippi. Dear Mississippi friends, Last week, the Mississippi state legislature passed SB 2988, a bill requiring all employers in the state to use E-Verify to determine their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States. The bill, which passed the Senate 52-0 and passed the House 112-8, was sent to Governor Hayley Barbour (R) for signature. Today is the deadline for signing the bill. While campaigning for reelection in 2007, Governor Barbour ran on a platform that advocated cracking down on illegal immigration....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE 020607-01 CONTACT: Joshua W. Jones Draft Haley Barbour for Vice President (678) 207-6723 (mobile) josh@drafthaley.com SUPER TUESDAY SHOWS NEED FOR SOUTHERN CONSERVATIVE ON TICKET Committee launches formal campaign to gain VP nod for beloved Mississippi Governor ATLANTA – With John McCain as the predicted GOP front-runner, people are beginning to speculate on his running mate. Pundits agree that if McCain secures the nomination, he will need a strong conservative in the Deep South. Draft Haley Barbour for Vice President, an Atlanta-based committee, has launched an online petition to engage conservative Americans in a push for the...

JACKSON, Miss. -- The dispute over an election to fill the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Republican Trent Lott is now headed to court. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood on Wednesday filed a complaint in Hinds County Circuit Court against the Nov. 4 election date set by Gov. Haley Barbour. The two have been at odds over when the election should be held. "We also filed a motion for preliminary injunction in hopes of expediting the matter. We have asked the court for a hearing next week," Hood said in statement on Wednesday. Barbour, a Republican, said he has...

JACKSON, Miss, - Gov. Haley Barbour on Monday announced his choice for Trent Lott's replacement in the Senate: Rep. Roger Wicker, a conservative congressman. Barbour said it was important to select a person with Lott's "conservative values" and who would be able to work with Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, also a Republican. "I am a mainstream conservative in the mold of Trent Lott, Thad Cochran, Haley Barbour and (U.S. Rep.) Chip Pickering and I believe the vast majority of Mississipians share this philosophy," Wicker said at a news conference. "At the same time, I hope my constituents and colleagues view...

BARBOUR PICKS WICKER 12/31/2007 11:16:36 AM Daily Journal JACKSON – It’s official: U.S. Rep. Roger Wicker, R-Tupelo, is Mississippi’s new junior senator. Gov. Haley Barbour announced his choice today at an 11 a.m. news conference in Jackson. The governor is authorized to appoint an interim senator until a special statewide election to fill the remaining five years on the term. Wicker, a Pontotoc native, has represented Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District since 1994. Before that, he was a two-term state senator. Barbour will introduce South Mississippians to Wicker at an afternoon news conference.

The latest word out of the Magnolia State is that Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is likely to pick either US Rep. Chip Pickering (R) or US Rep. Roger Wicker (R) to succeed Minority Whip Trent Lott (R) as the next US Senator from Mississippi. On the Democratic side, the scuttlebutt is that former Attorney General Mike Moore, probably the most electable politico among the state’s beleaguered Democrats, has decided that he will run, setting up what is likely to be a fierce, well-funded competition that is sure to receive national attention. Whether Barbour will choose Pickering or Wicker is still...

Who is on Jesus' side in Mississippi? That's the question John Arthur Eaves Jr. posed to voters during his recent campaign for Mississippi governor. The 41-year-old attorney and evangelical Christian ran his campaign on themes familiar in the Bible Belt: Eaves is pro-life, opposes gay marriage, and favors teaching creationism in public schools. But one thing about Eaves' overtly Christian-themed candidacy threw Mississippi voters for a loop: Eaves is a Democrat. Eaves did not prevail against Republican incumbent Gov. Haley Barbour in the Nov. 6 elections, but the candidate did manage to make a point in the Republican stronghold: Democrats...

Results of the State wide election for Mississippi's General Election