Daily Journal - Good voter turnout expected for primaries - Despite predictions of a large turnout, some circuit clerks throughout the 23-county district report lackluster absentee ballot voting. Officials in Calhoun, Monroe and Pontotoc counties say they've received a fraction of the typical number of absentee ballots.
"It's been real slow," said Tracy Robinson, Pontotoc County's circuit clerk. "They've picked up (since Friday) ... but we don't even have 75 yet. Typically we have 300 or 400."
In other counties, including those where congressional front-runners live, it's a different story: Davis' Desoto County had a high absentee-ballot rate; Russell's Lafayette County also reported good numbers, and in Lee County - home of Republican McCullough and Democrats Holland and Neely - things picked up Thursday and remained strong, clerks said.
The deadline for casting absentee ballots was noon Saturday.
"We're working hard," McCullough said. "We've got hundreds of volunteers in the district. But as far as voter turnout, I really don't know. We're cautiously optimistic. We'll see on Tuesday."
Showing posts with label Misc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Misc. Show all posts
3/10/08
3/3/08
History of the First District
Joe Rutherford - Daily Journal - History of the 1st District - The 1st Congressional District dates from 1846, when the Legislature required election by district rather than statewide, complying with a federal law passed in 1842. Mississippi was among four states that ignored the law and continued statewide congressional elections for a time after 1842.
Jacob Thompson, who was a Pontotoc resident, is generally recognized as the first 1st District congressman, even though he was elected statewide. Two of the 12 people who so far have served from the 1st District have been Republicans; the rest have been Democrats, except Benjamin Nabers, a Unionist, who served from 1851 to 1853.
Since Feb. 23, 1870, with the state’s readmission to the Union, the 1st District has been continuously a distinct electoral geographic entity, but its size, shape and population have changed with laws governing apportionment, as well as population shifts among states and in-state, loss of House seats statewide, racial equity, voting rights and political influences shaping its configuration. As late as the early 1970s, for example, the district extended to the Mississippi River across a deep swath of the northern counties. That changed with creation by federal decree of a significantly majority-black district stretching from the Jackson area northward to Tunica County.
The district grew in size and population after the 2000 Census because Mississippi’s House delegation dropped from five to four districts. The delegation peaked at eight members from the early 1900s to 1933.
The 1st District seat was empty from Mississippi’s secession in 1861 to its readmission to the Union in 1870, after the Civil War and Reconstruction under a military governor.
So far, 12 different people have served from the 1st District since its creation in 1846, with one man, L.Q.C. Lamar, serving terms before and after the Civil War. Lamar, who lived in and is buried in Oxford, is among the handful of most famous and influential Mississippians. He served in the House 1857 to 1861, when Mississippi seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, and again from 1873 to 1877, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Lamar later was President Grover Cleveland’s secretary of the Interior, then he was named associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the only Mississippian to have served on the highest court. Lamar may be best known generally for his eulogy for Massachusetts Republican Sen. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist and architect of Reconstruction policies under which the South was governed after the Civil War. Lamar, who was a freshman representative when Sumner died in 1874, struck what has been praised as a conciliatory tone, placing a rhetorical balm on some of the lingering bitterness between the regions. He was included in John F. Kennedy’s noted book, “Profiles in Courage.”
Wiseman cited among other influential 1st District representatives:
John Allen, a Tupelo Democrat whose oratorical skills helped build broad coalitions from 1885 to 1901, when he left the House and unsuccessfully sought a U.S. Senate seat. It was Allen – best known for the campaign name “Private John Allen” – who helped bring Tupelo to national note as a new Southern city through a speech seeking a federal fish hatchery that now bears his name. He later served as commissioner of the St. Louis World Exposition. It was a world’s fair in 1904 marking the beginning of the modern era. Payne said Allen was allied "with what historians call the 'Redeemers,' those who held power before the war but allied themselves with northern industrialists to gain power that had been taken from them during the Civil War. He supported the Mississippi Levee system and other internal improvements. But his talk of voting for a 'private' was an effort to tap into the populist vote, not a genuine effort to improve the lives of ordinary people."
John Rankin, also a Democrat from Tupelo, was elected in 1920 and served until 1953. He was a close ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, except on race issues, and he was influential in establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority and Rural Electrification Administration, and won authorization with legislation leading eventually to construction of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Payne, who notes she has indirect family connections to Rankin, said, "He co-sponsored the bill to create the TVA – although some ecologists think that was a disastrous decision. He supported the Rural Electrification Act and the G.I. Bill of Rights. At the same time, he was a vicious racist. He blamed battle defeats during World War II on the cowardice of black soldiers. His assertion flew in the face of the documented bravery of, for example, the Tuskegee Flyers. He also was an aggressive member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and refused to investigate the KKK, saying it was an "old American institution." In fact, it was not; it was relatively new.
Jamie L. Whitten, a Democrat from Charleston, became the 1st District’s congressman in 1973. Whitten had served the 2nd District since 1941, but redistricting moved him into the 1st District. He was chairman of the Agriculture Committee, the Appropriations Committee and served in the House longer than any other member, retiring in 1995. "I tell you," Wiseman said, "when Jamie Whitten was chairman of House Appropriations and John Stennis was chairman of Senate Appropriations, that was a powerful combination." Wiseman said the two Appropriations chairmanships were the equivalent of much larger whole states' delegations and were an equalizer despite Mississippi’s diminishing numerical representation in the House. Payne sees Whitten as a white Southern politician who changed with the times. "He saw crucial transitions," she said. "Beginning as an arch conservative on race, he voted against all the civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s. Like George Wallace – and whether for purely political or heartfelt reasons, we do not know – he later apologized for his segregationist views. It is clear, however, that he clashed with the values of the rising Republican Party in Mississippi." Payne said she believes the "crucible of Mississippi politics is about race, hierarchy and class. Whitten is the best example of someone who dealt with these issues over a lifetime of service. The next representative should take lessons from him."
Jacob Thompson, who was a Pontotoc resident, is generally recognized as the first 1st District congressman, even though he was elected statewide. Two of the 12 people who so far have served from the 1st District have been Republicans; the rest have been Democrats, except Benjamin Nabers, a Unionist, who served from 1851 to 1853.
Since Feb. 23, 1870, with the state’s readmission to the Union, the 1st District has been continuously a distinct electoral geographic entity, but its size, shape and population have changed with laws governing apportionment, as well as population shifts among states and in-state, loss of House seats statewide, racial equity, voting rights and political influences shaping its configuration. As late as the early 1970s, for example, the district extended to the Mississippi River across a deep swath of the northern counties. That changed with creation by federal decree of a significantly majority-black district stretching from the Jackson area northward to Tunica County.
The district grew in size and population after the 2000 Census because Mississippi’s House delegation dropped from five to four districts. The delegation peaked at eight members from the early 1900s to 1933.
The 1st District seat was empty from Mississippi’s secession in 1861 to its readmission to the Union in 1870, after the Civil War and Reconstruction under a military governor.
So far, 12 different people have served from the 1st District since its creation in 1846, with one man, L.Q.C. Lamar, serving terms before and after the Civil War. Lamar, who lived in and is buried in Oxford, is among the handful of most famous and influential Mississippians. He served in the House 1857 to 1861, when Mississippi seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, and again from 1873 to 1877, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Lamar later was President Grover Cleveland’s secretary of the Interior, then he was named associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the only Mississippian to have served on the highest court. Lamar may be best known generally for his eulogy for Massachusetts Republican Sen. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist and architect of Reconstruction policies under which the South was governed after the Civil War. Lamar, who was a freshman representative when Sumner died in 1874, struck what has been praised as a conciliatory tone, placing a rhetorical balm on some of the lingering bitterness between the regions. He was included in John F. Kennedy’s noted book, “Profiles in Courage.”
Wiseman cited among other influential 1st District representatives:
John Allen, a Tupelo Democrat whose oratorical skills helped build broad coalitions from 1885 to 1901, when he left the House and unsuccessfully sought a U.S. Senate seat. It was Allen – best known for the campaign name “Private John Allen” – who helped bring Tupelo to national note as a new Southern city through a speech seeking a federal fish hatchery that now bears his name. He later served as commissioner of the St. Louis World Exposition. It was a world’s fair in 1904 marking the beginning of the modern era. Payne said Allen was allied "with what historians call the 'Redeemers,' those who held power before the war but allied themselves with northern industrialists to gain power that had been taken from them during the Civil War. He supported the Mississippi Levee system and other internal improvements. But his talk of voting for a 'private' was an effort to tap into the populist vote, not a genuine effort to improve the lives of ordinary people."
John Rankin, also a Democrat from Tupelo, was elected in 1920 and served until 1953. He was a close ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, except on race issues, and he was influential in establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority and Rural Electrification Administration, and won authorization with legislation leading eventually to construction of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Payne, who notes she has indirect family connections to Rankin, said, "He co-sponsored the bill to create the TVA – although some ecologists think that was a disastrous decision. He supported the Rural Electrification Act and the G.I. Bill of Rights. At the same time, he was a vicious racist. He blamed battle defeats during World War II on the cowardice of black soldiers. His assertion flew in the face of the documented bravery of, for example, the Tuskegee Flyers. He also was an aggressive member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and refused to investigate the KKK, saying it was an "old American institution." In fact, it was not; it was relatively new.
Jamie L. Whitten, a Democrat from Charleston, became the 1st District’s congressman in 1973. Whitten had served the 2nd District since 1941, but redistricting moved him into the 1st District. He was chairman of the Agriculture Committee, the Appropriations Committee and served in the House longer than any other member, retiring in 1995. "I tell you," Wiseman said, "when Jamie Whitten was chairman of House Appropriations and John Stennis was chairman of Senate Appropriations, that was a powerful combination." Wiseman said the two Appropriations chairmanships were the equivalent of much larger whole states' delegations and were an equalizer despite Mississippi’s diminishing numerical representation in the House. Payne sees Whitten as a white Southern politician who changed with the times. "He saw crucial transitions," she said. "Beginning as an arch conservative on race, he voted against all the civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s. Like George Wallace – and whether for purely political or heartfelt reasons, we do not know – he later apologized for his segregationist views. It is clear, however, that he clashed with the values of the rising Republican Party in Mississippi." Payne said she believes the "crucible of Mississippi politics is about race, hierarchy and class. Whitten is the best example of someone who dealt with these issues over a lifetime of service. The next representative should take lessons from him."
3/2/08
Gray: A good field on short notice
Lloyd Gray - Daily Journal - In 1st District, a good field on short notice - For only the second time since the 1920s, there is no incumbent running for the 1st District seat. If anybody living in North Mississippi who is at or approaching middle age wants to be a congressman, now is the time to go for it.
All things considered – especially the short time frame for making a decision and assembling a campaign – the field is a good one. The Daily Journal has just completed face-to-face interviews with all eight Democratic and Republican candidates in the March 11 primaries, and most say the same thing about the political environment: 1) It’s quiet out there – not a lot of talk about the race; and 2) When there is talk, it’s laced with confusion about the nature and sequence of the political events upon us.
If you vote in the Republican primary, you will choose for Congress from among Greg Davis, mayor of Southaven and a former state representative; Glenn McCullough, former Tupelo mayor and TVA chairman; and Dr. Randy Russell of Lafayette County, an ophthalmologist and longtime Republican activist. On the same Republican ballot will be the presidential choices and Cochran, who is unopposed in the primary.
If you vote Democratic, you’ll select a 1st District nominee from among Travis Childers of Booneville, Prentiss County chancery clerk and businessman; Marshall Coleman, a Calhoun City businessman and alderman; veteran state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, owner of a Tupelo funeral home; Ken Hurt, a longtime political operative from Verona who’s “suspended” his campaign and endorsed Coleman; and Brian Neely of Tupelo, a former Lee County prosecuting attorney.
The Democratic ballot will also include the presidential contenders and two prospective Senate nominees to oppose Cochran, perennial candidate Shawn O’Hara of Hattiesburg and former state Rep. Erik Fleming of Jackson, the 2006 Democratic nominee against Trent Lott.
If no candidate for Congress gets a majority vote in either or both of the March 11 primaries, there will be a runoff April 1 to decide the nominee. And even if there are no runoffs, you’ll still have another chance to vote on April 22. The March 11 primaries and November general election are to select someone for the term beginning in January 2009; the seat is vacant now, and the April 22 vote will be to elect someone to serve for the remainder of this year and all the candidates will be on the same ballot, regardless of party.
Democracy shouldn’t be this complicated. When the political professionals and hobbyists have a hard time figuring things out, you know it’s a jumble of confusion.
But to get back to an original point, it’s a good slate of candidates on such short notice. The Daily Journal completes publication Monday of a four-week series of candidate responses to our questionnaire, and there will be more on the candidates later in the week. We’ll have a special section next Sunday to again review what’s coming. Good luck navigating it all.
All things considered – especially the short time frame for making a decision and assembling a campaign – the field is a good one. The Daily Journal has just completed face-to-face interviews with all eight Democratic and Republican candidates in the March 11 primaries, and most say the same thing about the political environment: 1) It’s quiet out there – not a lot of talk about the race; and 2) When there is talk, it’s laced with confusion about the nature and sequence of the political events upon us.
If you vote in the Republican primary, you will choose for Congress from among Greg Davis, mayor of Southaven and a former state representative; Glenn McCullough, former Tupelo mayor and TVA chairman; and Dr. Randy Russell of Lafayette County, an ophthalmologist and longtime Republican activist. On the same Republican ballot will be the presidential choices and Cochran, who is unopposed in the primary.
If you vote Democratic, you’ll select a 1st District nominee from among Travis Childers of Booneville, Prentiss County chancery clerk and businessman; Marshall Coleman, a Calhoun City businessman and alderman; veteran state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, owner of a Tupelo funeral home; Ken Hurt, a longtime political operative from Verona who’s “suspended” his campaign and endorsed Coleman; and Brian Neely of Tupelo, a former Lee County prosecuting attorney.
The Democratic ballot will also include the presidential contenders and two prospective Senate nominees to oppose Cochran, perennial candidate Shawn O’Hara of Hattiesburg and former state Rep. Erik Fleming of Jackson, the 2006 Democratic nominee against Trent Lott.
If no candidate for Congress gets a majority vote in either or both of the March 11 primaries, there will be a runoff April 1 to decide the nominee. And even if there are no runoffs, you’ll still have another chance to vote on April 22. The March 11 primaries and November general election are to select someone for the term beginning in January 2009; the seat is vacant now, and the April 22 vote will be to elect someone to serve for the remainder of this year and all the candidates will be on the same ballot, regardless of party.
Democracy shouldn’t be this complicated. When the political professionals and hobbyists have a hard time figuring things out, you know it’s a jumble of confusion.
But to get back to an original point, it’s a good slate of candidates on such short notice. The Daily Journal completes publication Monday of a four-week series of candidate responses to our questionnaire, and there will be more on the candidates later in the week. We’ll have a special section next Sunday to again review what’s coming. Good luck navigating it all.
2/19/08
Questions of Economy
Daily Journal - Candidates split on tax cuts, have other ideas for economy - In response to a Daily Journal questionnaire, five of the eight candidates support extension of the tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire in 2010:
Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers, Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, former Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough Jr., Tupelo attorney Brian Neely and Dr. Randy Russell of Oxford.
Opposing future cuts are two Democrats – Calhoun City Alderman Marshall Coleman and consultant Ken Hurt, who has suspended his campaign. Both say the president’s plan has helped only the rich.
Steve Holland, also a Democrat, said he would support the cuts “only if it were connected to middle-class tax relief.”
These questions are answered by each of the candidates in the Daily Journal today:
Q: The nation is currently either in a recession or close to it. What is the role of Congress in improving the economy?
Q: How would you balance the need for fiscal restraint with seeking federal support for economic development needs in the 1st District?
Q:Do you support extension of the Bush tax cuts scheduled to expire in 2010? Why or why not?
Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers, Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, former Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough Jr., Tupelo attorney Brian Neely and Dr. Randy Russell of Oxford.
Opposing future cuts are two Democrats – Calhoun City Alderman Marshall Coleman and consultant Ken Hurt, who has suspended his campaign. Both say the president’s plan has helped only the rich.
Steve Holland, also a Democrat, said he would support the cuts “only if it were connected to middle-class tax relief.”
These questions are answered by each of the candidates in the Daily Journal today:
Q: The nation is currently either in a recession or close to it. What is the role of Congress in improving the economy?
Q: How would you balance the need for fiscal restraint with seeking federal support for economic development needs in the 1st District?
Q:Do you support extension of the Bush tax cuts scheduled to expire in 2010? Why or why not?
2/13/08
Thanks Jere
Thanks to Jere Nash for his shout-out.
He says, "Kudos go to Ann Ellis Simmons for maintaining websites for the first congressional district campaign and the third congressional district campaign. Both sites are great one-stop places to go to get information about the candidates and to readily access their websites. Check 'em out."
He says, "Kudos go to Ann Ellis Simmons for maintaining websites for the first congressional district campaign and the third congressional district campaign. Both sites are great one-stop places to go to get information about the candidates and to readily access their websites. Check 'em out."
2/11/08
Daily Journal Q&A
Daily Journal - 1st District hopefuls focus on economy - The candidates made their priorities known in response to a Daily Journal pre-election questionnaire. The four-part questionnaire will appear in the Daily Journal starting today on Page 6A and continuing over the next three Mondays. Today's installment covers background, priorities and philosophy.
These questions are answered by each of the candidates in the Daily Journal today:
Q: What relevant experience, background and personal characteristics equip you to be an effective congressman for the 1st District?
Q: What would be your top three priorities as 1st District congressman?
Q: How would you describe your political philosophy?
These questions are answered by each of the candidates in the Daily Journal today:
Q: What relevant experience, background and personal characteristics equip you to be an effective congressman for the 1st District?
Q: What would be your top three priorities as 1st District congressman?
Q: How would you describe your political philosophy?
1/3/08
Voter Registration Deadline
AP - Mississippi primary registration deadline is Feb. 8 - "Mississippians who are not registered to vote, but want to take part in the March 11 presidential primary, have until Feb. 8 to sign up. The deadline to register is technically Saturday, Feb. 9, so he urged Mississippians to register by 5 p.m. Feb. 8, a Friday."
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