Haley Barbour winning in Miss. isn't a Democratic Failure!

Voters of Miss. figured they would go with someone who can do them some good in their state. Who better than the most connected, crony, partisan candidate they could find: Haley Barbour. Haley's connections should bring jobs to Mississippi, and bags of money given his long time ties to the Repugs. In these hard times of job losses the people of Miss. went for the person who was Connected Big Time. Haley Barbour is to Miss. what Schwartzenneger is to California. Someone with Visibility and Connections. If you ever listened to Barbour you could see he has "presence." Is there anyone the Democrats could have run who could possibly compete with Barbour?

I don't know about Kentucky. Maybe one of our Kentucky DU'ers can explain that one. But, Miss. is defintely nothing to wail and knash teeth over. What is the economy like? Maybe there is a good reason the Repug won there and maybe it's jobs and the economy and connections, again?


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GOP Picks Up 2 Governorships in South
ROBERT TANNER, AP National Writer

With a presidential campaign only months away, Republicans picked up two governorships in the South, ousting Mississippi's Democratic incumbent and seizing Kentucky's top job for the first time in 32 years.


GOP Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour unseated one-term Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, while in Kentucky, three-term Republican Rep. Ernie Fletcher defeated Democratic Attorney General Ben Chandler.

President Bush (news - web sites) loomed large in both campaigns, and he's sure to claim a boost from the victories. He stumped for both GOP candidates, while Democrats in Kentucky tied their opponent to Bush's economic policies and Musgrove dismissed his challenger as a "Washington insider."

Barbour, a former head of the Republican National Committee (news - web sites) who said his connections would help Mississippi, told a crowd of supporters: "Get ready to accentuate the positive."

With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Barbour got 53 percent, or 449,041 votes, to Musgrove's 45 percent, or 384,693 votes. With 100 percent of precincts reporting in Kentucky, Fletcher, a three-term congressman, defeated Chandler, polling 55 percent, or 593,489 votes, to the Democrat's 45 percent, or 484,931 votes.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031105/ap_on_el_ge/election_rdp_49

There are always more of us than there are of them, but they vote, we don't. End of story.

I volunteered for both The Musgrove campaign and local party and the local Dem candidate (he won but boy was his candidate unlikeable) so where did they think I was most vital outside my local polling place holding signs and not going down lists of registered voters and seeing if they needed rides . I am beyond fed up with the local democratic apperatus.:mad:

This vote was primarily payback because Ronnie Musgrove tried to satisfy black demands for a new state flag. This proved extremely unpopular in rural areas (including districts that were majority black! Go figure). This was payback from angry rural voters.

He has done an excellent job as governor in extendoing medical coverage, improving public schools, greatly raising teacher pay, and fighting off most demands for "tort reform".

Now we get a Bush clone. You wanna see the future of Mississippi? Look to Texas (huge deficits due to enormous tax cuts) or Florida (huge deficits due to enormous tax cuts). The Bush virus is spreading infection whereever it goes.

The hell with it. It before 9am and I'm so depressed I need a drink.

Sorry to take my frustration out on you.

the Repug machine? I can understand your frustration, but I'm trying to look behind the obvious to try to see if there's something else that we can see as an answer. The answer being that people felt powerless and are going with the bullies or the Cronies of Bush looking for money and connections. Barbour's connections could make the "rural folks" feel connected to a power base? Did the cities go for Musgrove and rural was strictly Barbour....or was it mixed?

It's only a theory, and since you live there, you would know better than I. If the flag issue is that important in the South and many Blacks don't have a problem with the flag as opposed to the many which do, then Howard Dean is definitely on to something by bringing the issue up, it seems.

That was very interesting your observation that heavily black areas voted for Barbour.

The flag has become a Strawman argument in some way that we don't quite know yet how it will play out. But, its putting Repugs into office by defelecting folks from the important issues. With rural Southerners it's the only pride they have, because of the economy and the loss of pride they had from farming and their ability to have an identity of their own, maybe.

The flag is even controversial here on DU and is divisive.

the Repug machine? I can understand your frustration, but I'm trying to look behind the obvious to try to see if there's something else that we can see as an answer. The answer being that people felt powerless and are going with the bullies or the Cronies of Bush looking for money and connections. Barbour's connections could make the "rural folks" feel connected to a power base? Did the cities go for Musgrove and rural was strictly Barbour....or was it mixed?

It's only a theory, and since you live there, you would know better than I. If the flag issue is that important in the South and many Blacks don't have a problem with the flag as opposed to the many which do, then Howard Dean is definitely on to something by bringing the issue up, it seems.

That was very interesting your observation that heavily black areas voted for Barbour.

The flag has become a Strawman argument in some way that we don't quite know yet how it will play out. But, its putting Repugs into office by defelecting folks from the important issues. With rural Southerners it's the only pride they have, because of the economy and the loss of pride they had from farming and their ability to have an identity of their own, maybe.

The flag is even controversial here on DU and is divisive.

the Repug machine? I can understand your frustration, but I'm trying to look behind the obvious to try to see if there's something else that we can see as an answer. The answer being that people felt powerless and are going with the bullies or the Cronies of Bush looking for money and connections. Barbour's connections could make the "rural folks" feel connected to a power base? Did the cities go for Musgrove and rural was strictly Barbour....or was it mixed?

It's only a theory, and since you live there, you would know better than I. If the flag issue is that important in the South and many Blacks don't have a problem with the flag as opposed to the many which do, then Howard Dean is definitely on to something by bringing the issue up, it seems.

That was very interesting your observation that heavily black areas voted for Barbour.

The flag has become a Strawman argument in some way that we don't quite know yet how it will play out. But, its putting Repugs into office by defelecting folks from the important issues. With rural Southerners it's the only pride they have, because of the economy and the loss of pride they had from farming and their ability to have an identity of their own, maybe.

The flag is even controversial here on DU and is divisive.

Tell me who was looking for a Democratic upset in Mississippi??

Get real.