On the radar

I've been busier than a one-eyed cat watching nine mouse holes lately, but things are about to become more manageable, which means more blogging. Here's what's on the radar:

Rep. Brandon Jones (D - Pascagoula) is having a fundraiser this week in his race for reelection in District 111. Word from my GOP sources is that Republicans are planning to dump a ton of money into this race late. Rep. Jones' fundraising success thus far means Republicans are going to need to pull money from other races to accomplish that. And from the looks of Rep. Jones' support, that may well be a lost cause. I'll post the fundraising invite soon, but suffice it to say that Rep. Jones will once again have the support of people in both parties in District 111. The late U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill put it best when he famously said "All politics is local." This race is not an exception to that rule, and Rep. Jones is very well thought of in his District.

Such somewhat brings me to the next item, the Republican primary in Senate District 25. This battle between Will Longwitz and Charles Barbour has provided a preview for what I believe will be the Republican strategy this fall. Over the last two weeks, the Barbour camp has rolled out some of the least factually based attack mail I've ever seen. This has been covered on other blogs in depth, so I'm not going to repost those things here. With the Barbours behind these mailings, one can't help but think this is what other Republicans will model their final two-week push after this year.

Speaking of the Barbours, has Haley lost a step? David Hampton asked this in a Clarion-Ledger editorial recently about Gov. Barbour's decision to form a group to study possible cuts to the Public Employees Retirement System. If anyone thinks for one second that this is playing well amongst the populace, they're gravely mistaken. I've heard about this from every corner of Mississippi, and what I'm hearing isn't good for anyone running as a "Barbour" Republican. For someone as politically talented as Gov. Barbour, this move is quite a surprise in an election year.

Of course there's the primary runoffs tomorrow, and those will bear close watching, from Luckett-DuPree to Ross-Harkins to Houston-Tucker. (Okay, maybe I care more about the Madison SO race than most because of my line of work, but hey.)

I'll check back in with y'all shortly.