Top Lobbyist Promotes Power and Experience

In a recent ad promoting the candidacy of Senator Thad Cochran, former US Senator and person whose hair hasn't moved in 50 years Trent Lott argues that Cochran has the power and experience to deliver for South Mississippi. 

This is odd coming from a man who was once a powerful Senate Majority Leader who resigned his seat so he could make millions of dollars being a lobbyist. It's no secret that Cochran and Lott have never been close, yet Lott's clients prefer Cochran over McDaniel for a host of expensive reasons. 

Follow the money. 

MDT Reminds Us There Are No Good Choices in MSGOP Primary

GOP Primary Offers No Good Option for Mississippi Children 
Mississippi Democratic Trust Press
June 12, 2014

On Thursday, Brandon Jones, Director of the Mississippi Democratic Trust, issued the following statement regarding the Mississippi Republican U.S. Senate Primary:

“The options for Mississippians planning to vote in the Republican Senate Primary are a man who has already proven that he will vote against our children and another man who promises he will.

“On one hand, there is an incumbent senator who has repeatedly voted against C.H.I.P., a program that provides health coverage to nearly 8 million children.  On the other hand, there is a challenger who promises to shut down the Department of Education.

“Pundits have called this race an embarrassment of riches for Mississippi Democrats.  The truth is this is simply an embarrassment for the state of Mississippi.

“Let there be no mistake, when it comes to public policies that give Mississippi children a head start in life, Cochran and McDaniel are both bad options.”

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Background

Cochran votes against C.H.I.P. Program: HR 976 (August 2, 2007); HR 976 (September 27, 2007); HR 3963 (November 1, 2007); and HR 2 (January 29, 2009);

McDaniel statement on DOE: Philip Elliott and Emily Wagster Pettus, Miss. Senate Race: McDaniel’s School Plan Targeted, AP (June 7, 2014).

Election Integrity? Why Won't Delbert's Office Publish Primary Results?

EDIT: UPDATE BELOW

Derek Willis over at The Upshot via The New York Times, has drawn attention to something that has privately annoyed me for a few days now.

Mississippi primary election was six days ago. No results posted on Secretary of State site yet: http://t.co/AInlekUJRG
— Derek Willis (@derekwillis) June 10, 2014

To give you an idea of how stupid this is, Rankin Co. has HTML of results. The state can't tap into this? https://t.co/1rcWqGxpLQ
— Derek Willis (@derekwillis) June 10, 2014

I mean, the Miss. SoS knows the results of the primary, yes? But it can't post even PDFs of unofficial results? Boggles the mind.
— Derek Willis (@derekwillis) June 10, 2014

Much ado has been made regarding protecting the integrity of elections under Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Hosemann even suggested in an Election Day press release that they had not heard any problems relating to Voter ID, despite the fact that I personally called to report 2 (two) of my own.

But the issue here is that we are six days removed from an election and Hosemann's office has absolutely dropped the ball in reporting its data. Not only does this cause trouble for nerds like myself interested in checking out precincts in depth, it means that nobody really knows how close the election was, including the media.

In fact, without official announcement or certification from Delbert Hosemann's office, how do we even know that a runoff was necessary?

This is a wee bit troubling as Hosemann publicly endorsed Cochran after flirting with the idea of running himself.

Why are we waiting? I've done enough data parsing to know that the Secretary's office doesn't even digitize the returns. They merely scan them and publish.

Something's got to give. You know, for integrity's sake. 

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UPDATE: Derek Willis from The Upshot as well as comments below have an update regarding this issue.

“We don’t even certify the results,” said Pam Weaver, communications director for the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office. “But as soon as the parties send the results to us, we post them.” A similar process is in place in Alabama. Under state law, the parties have until June 13 to send the results to state officials.