The Atlantic Covers Blue Tuesday: "Can Democrats Win Back the Deep South?"

ICYMI:
For your Sunday leisurely read, Molly Ball over at The Atlantic has a really incredible article covering Blue Tuesday and the Democratic movement to win back the Deep South.

As always, the whole article is worth a read, but Ball has some very good insight on the Mississippian municipal candidates that won the Blue Tuesday blowout. Here are some highlights:

Percy Bland, on his election as Mayor of Meridian:

"It's been a long time coming," Percy Bland, the 42-year-old mayor-elect of Meridian, told me. "We haven't had a Democratic mayor in Meridian since '76. And we won it running away, when people thought it would be very close." To win 54 percent of the vote, he said, he had to attract support from blacks and whites, Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

Mayor Moran, on her blow-out victory:

Moran didn't apologize for her progressive views: "I made my campaign about our people, our businesses, our schools, how much we've progressed and how much we need to continue," she said. "That word, progress, is not a dirty word." To charges that she was a tax-and-spend socialist, she responded by touting the public works she'd funded with tax dollars. "People want quality services, and they are willing to pay for that," she said. She won with 62 percent of the vote.

 There's a ton more in this article, and it is truly a great read from a national perspective, but our goal at Cottonmouth is to remain a state blog, so I suggest you hop on over to The Atlantic and read the rest for yourself.

With all of this coverage, though, it really makes you wonder if the Mississippian Republican leadership is starting to develop a distaste for apples.

Here is the text of Rep. Bryant Clark's Response to the State of the State

You can find it over at the Mississippi Democratic Trust website by clicking here.

Rickey Cole becomes new Executive Director of the MS Democratic Party

Former state party chairman Rickey Cole has been named the new Executive Director of the Mississippi Democratic Party. He is replacing outgoing executive director Travis Brock. Cole has recently stated that he will seek to replace current Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Jamie Franks when that spot comes open.

Secretary of State Hosemann flubs press release on redistricting appeal

As you probably know by now, the NAACP has filed its Notice of Appeal in the legislative redistricting case of NAACP v. Haley Barbour, et al. Accordingly, Secretary of State Hosemann emailed a press release condemning the NAACP's stance on the issue. The email contains the following line:

Now, the NAACP and the Mississippi Democratic Party have appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court.

The problem is, of course, that the Mississippi Democratic Party hasn't appealed anything.

Clarion-Ledger's David Hampton: GOP talk radio attacks on Speaker McCoy "laughable"

Clarion-Ledger Editorial Director David Hampton has a column out today about Speaker Billy McCoy's retirement.  Here's the highlight:

(McCoy's) counter to Barbour's power has been beneficial for the state, especially in protecting funding for education.

That has resulted in some brutal, partisan attacks on McCoy, especially on GOP-dominated talk radio. He has been characterized as a wild, free-spending liberal obstructionist. That is not only inaccurate, but laughably so.

Make no mistake, McCoy is a Northeast Mississippi populist Democrat. He is a fiscal conservative, but is attuned to the concerns of working-class voters. He was a key player in creation of the state's four-lane highway program, one of the most important economic development projects in decades. But he also has been a committed supporter of public education and health care.

Hampton's characterization of McCoy's politics is dead-on, and would fairly summarize the difference between Mississippi Democrats and Republicans. Both are fiscally conservative, but Democrats are far more concerned with the economic and educational interests of working and middle class Mississippians than Republicans, who continue to be the party of big business (just take a look at BIPEC ratings and the Mississippi Manufacturers Association's efforts to control the House Speaker's race).

MS Democratic Party, Hinds Election Commission Chairwoman Connie Cochran respond to Hosemann's Motion to Dismiss

Here are the responses to Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's Motion to Dismiss filed by the Mississippi Democratic Party and Hinds County Election Commission Chairwoman Connie Cochran:

Mississippi Democratic Party's Response

Connie Cochran's Response

Cochran's response is short and sweet, just stating that the case is ripe. The Democratic Party's response is much more in depth, and gives a detailed timeline of what just happened in the Legislature's redistricting process.

Why Republican control of both houses is dangerous

If you need a reason to care about the redistricting battle going on at the Capitol right now, here's one: Republican control of both houses of our state legislature would remove any check on that party's power.  And why would that be a bad thing?

Well, just the other day, the Republican-led Senate defunded PERS.  Yes, you read that correctly, they passed legislation that would shut down our state retirement system rather than increase its funding.  Not only would that be devastating to state retirees and greatly damage the state's bond rating, it would remove approximately $1 BILLION from Mississippi's economy.

But because we have a Democratic House, the Senate Republicans will be held in check.  Imagine what would happen if the House was just a rubber stamp for Republicans?

Very interesting numbers from the counties, or "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"

Mississippi Republicans have been planning on getting local officials, particularly rural white Democrats, (the folks they deem "the courthouse crowd") to switch parties this year and run as Republicans.  In fact, they've gone so far as to acknowledge that succeeding at this plan is vital to longterm Republican success in Mississippi.

Well, they're failing.

Here are the numbers from 33 counties that contain the folks the MSGOP is targeting:

There are 478 incumbents. Of that number 403 have qualified for re-election, and of that number 390 qualified as Democrats. Two qualified as Independents and 11 as Republicans. Of the seven incumbents who have so far qualified for another position, six of them are running as Democrats.

Yes, you read that correctly.  That's 12 out of 478, or 0.025%.  If that was a batting average, well, let's just say folks would start suggesting that the MSGOP needs a tee.

The 33 counties are Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Copiah, Covington, George, Greene, Itawamba, Jones, Lafayette, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Newton, Panola, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Scott, Smith, Stone, Tate, Tishomingo, Union, and Wayne.

Still kicking

Still Kicking

Y’all Politics: “The wheels have fallen off.”  Majority in Mississippi: “The sky is falling.”  Apollo Creed: “There is no tomorrow.”  Add your hyperbolic statement to describe the state of the Mississippi Democratic Party here: ________________. 

As Republican bloggers from Jackson to Georgia scramble to pen the obituary for the Mississippi Democratic Party, we thought it might be a good idea to offer a little perspective before we drop that last clod of dirt to the gravesite. 

• Not a single member of the House who voted for the current leadership has switched parties.
• The Mississippi Republican Party website hasn’t been updated since Brad White was encouraging us all to come out to the April 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.
• And of course, this little nugget: the Mississippi Democratic Party continues to be home to more Mississippi elected officials than its Republican counterpart.

 

To be fair, 2010 wasn’t a banner year for Democrats in Mississippi.  The loss of several locally elected Democrats to the Republican Party is disappointing and shouldn’t be ignored.  To stop this trend, Democrats in Mississippi will have to be more effective in messaging, organizing, fundraising, and just about every other thing it takes to win elections.  None of these things will come easy but there are host of Democrats running for office on the local and statewide level that lead us to believe the rumors of the death of Mississippi Dems might be a touch premature.

Law enforcement has been a top priority for legislative Dems

Rep. Angela Cockerham (D-Magnolia)

Sen. David Blount (D-Jackson)

While the budget and redistricting will be the primary topics when the Legislature reconvenes on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers will be looking to build on their efforts to help Mississippi’s law enforcement officers.

The 2010 session saw the passage of several bills that are already helping to make Mississippi safer. Among the more notable measures was House Bill 512 authored by Rep. Ed Blackmon (D-Canton). This law restricts the over the counter sale of precursors to methamphetamine by adding ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to the list of schedule III controlled substances. Another bill, Senate Bill 2923, authored by Sen. David Blount (D-Jackson) strengthened Mississippi’s domestic violence law and has been heralded by the state’s victims’ advocates. Perhaps no bill has been better received by consumer advocates than the “Caller I.D. Anti-Spoofing Act” authored by Rep. Angela Cockerham (D-Magnolia). This new law prohibits an individual from entering false information into a caller identification system.