Primary Run-offs Approach

Runn-offs is not far away and voters will be asked to once again to return to their voting location and cast a vote for the future of Mississippi—-HA–sorry that was just too sarcastic, even for me.

There are some rule changes for the run-offs:

If you are an eligible voter and did not vote in the primary, you may vote in either of the political parties’ primary runoffs.

If you voted in the Democratic primary on May 5, you may only vote in the Democratic primary runoff. If you voted in the Republican primary, you may only vote in the Republican primary runoff.

Only voters who are blind, physically disabled or cannot read or write are eligible to receive voter assistance upon request.

Candidates whose names appear on the ballot cannot assist absentee voters.

By law, mailed absentee ballots must be received by the municipal clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Monday. But those voting absentee in person at the clerk’s office have until noon on Saturday.

The signatures of the voter and attesting witness must be signed across the flap of the absentee ballot envelope. Failure to do so will result in rejection of the ballot.  Choose wisely and the state can prosper.

Think Of The Future–File Today

Voters have had a couple of months respite since the presidential elections, but campaigning is about to begin anew.

This time it will be for candidates that a South Mississippi voter is more likely to run into at the local grocery store. In 2009, cities in South Mississippi, except for Waveland, will elect their leaders — mayors, aldermen and council members.

Men and women will begin tossing their hats in the ring today. That’s the beginning of the official qualifying period that ends at 5 p.m. on March 6, according to state law.

The party primaries will be May 5 with a runoff, if necessary, on May 19.

Then the candidates in each party, along with those running as independents, will face off in the general election on June 2.

But for the rest of South Mississippi, the first half of this year will hold some campaigning and an opportunity to elect city leaders. The last time this was done was 2005, the year of Katrina.

Beginning today, candidates will go to the city clerk in their city and file a statement of intent.

If they have a political party, they file a $10 fee.

If they’re running as an independent, they submit a petition with voter signatures.

The candidate must have lived in the city, or the city’s district or ward they’re running in, for 30 days. Cities often verify that by using utility bills or tax rolls.

All candidates must be a registered voter in their city, never have been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment (unless they’ve received a full pardon) and never been convicted of a felony in federal court or the courts of another state, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

When they go to the City Clerk’s Office to fill out the qualifying paperwork, they will also be given information on how to file campaign finance disclosure reports and any other reports required by state law.

The process is outlined on the Secretary of State’s Web site, sos.state.ms.us, under the elections icon and the “Municipal Elections 2009 Candidate Qualifying Guide.”

Someone please give the elected officials a run for their money….they have had 4 years and what has changed?  The answer is NOTHING!

LA: Polls Shaken Up

Concerned that some voters not affiliated with a political party were erroneously blocked from casting ballots in Saturday’s Democratic congressional primaries, Louisiana’s secretary of state asked Orleans Parish election officials Wednesday to consider replacing the poll commissioners involved.

Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said he asked Orleans Clerk of Criminal Court Arthur Morrell and the Orleans Parish Board of Elections “to attempt to identify those commissioners in charge at the problem precincts and to either replace them or redouble their efforts to make sure commissioners in charge realize the error of their ways.”

Dardenne’s office received complaints on election day from people who said they were denied the right to vote in the Democratic primary at eight New Orleans polling locations, and complaints continue to come in, including some from Jefferson Parish precincts. Under new state rules, voters not affiliated with a party should have been allowed to vote in the Democratic primary, though not in Republican primaries.

Dardenne said the 1st and 4th District primaries also might have been affected, but the snafu was most pronounced in the 2nd District. But he said he doubts enough voters were disenfranchised to change the outcome of the election, and he plans to certify the results as scheduled Monday.

MS: Can Obama Save The Senate Race?

After all, Mississippi is still Mississippi – mostly conservative and leaning Republican, they say.

But the Illinois senator will likely still help Democratic senatorial candidate Ronnie Musgrove against Republican Roger Wicker in the race for Trent Lott’s old Senate seat, if Musgrove plays his cards right, said Marty Wiseman, executive director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.

The trick for Musgrove, who is narrowly behind Wicker in what some are calling one of the most competitive congressional races in the nation, is to draw on the popularity of Obama with young voters and black voters. But Musgrove must also inspire the working class white Mississippi voters, who might not be quite as willing to support a black presidential candidate considered liberal by Mississippi political standards.

MS: The Debate Goes On

The mood at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday turned from excitement over the presidential debate to great uncertainty after Republican nominee John McCain announced he wanted to postpone the event in light of the current U.S. financial crisis.

By the end of Wednesday it wasn’t clear what, if anything, would happen here Friday night, in spite of millions of dollars spent and months of feverish planning by university and city officials. The debate would be the first of the 2008 presidential campaign. University officials said late Wednesday afternoon they were proceeding as if the debate will take place and have not heard otherwise from the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is overseeing the event.

After McCain’s feelings were made clear that he and his opponent and fellow senator, Democrat Barack Obama, should be focused on the current U.S. financial crisis, students and journalists huddled around televisions. They anxiously awaited the press conference in which Obama said he believed the two candidates should continue with the debate

MS: Supreme Court To Decide Ballot

Gov. Haley Barbour is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to take his side in a dispute over the ballot placement for a special election to fill Trent Lott’s former U.S. Senate seat.

Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green on Friday ordered Barbour and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to move the special election close to the top of the ballot, with the regular federal elections, instead of the bottom.

Green said “the principles of fairness and justice” demand that the special election be listed among the other federal races.

Barbour took his case to the Supreme Court, and justices are likely to consider the matter next week. They gave Democrats until Monday to respond to arguments made by Barbour and Hosemann, both of whom are Republicans.

MS: Natural Law Party Is On Ballot

Ballot Access News is reporting that the Natural Law Party of Mississippi has given their ballot line to Socialist Party USA candidate Brian Moore.

The Natural Law Party of Mississippi is one of only two remaining state affiliates of the once formidable, by third-party standards anyhow, Natural Law Party. The other affiliate is in Michigan, where ballot-access laws allow a party to continue fielding candidates so long as a statewide candidate receives at least 1% of the total for the most recent winning candidate for Secretary of State (in practice, about 0.5%).

In 2004, the Natural Law Party of Michigan nominated Socialist Party USA standard-bearer Walt Brown, but this year they’ve given their ballot line to Ralph Nader. In 2004, Ralph Nader made the Michigan ballot as an independnet. He was unable to take the ballot line of the Reform Party, of which he was the national nominee, since its Michigan affiliate had already imploded in a power struggle between moderates and Buchananites.

MS: Election Dirty Trick

Mississippi’s governor, Haley Barbour, and its secretary of state have come up with a particularly cynical dirty trick for the November election. Let’s call it: “Where’s the Senate race?”

Defying state law, they have decided to hide a hard-fought race for the United States Senate at the bottom of the ballot, where they clearly are hoping some voters will overlook it. Their proposed design is not only illegal. It shows a deep contempt for Mississippi’s voters.

Mississippi election law clearly states that federal elections must go at the top of ballots. And the secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann, plans to list the state’s other Senate race — incumbent Thad Cochran is running far ahead of his Democratic challenger, Erik Fleming — where it belongs, right below the presidential contest.

Some voters, including the elderly, the least educated and first-time voters, have more trouble than others navigating complicated ballots. Many of these voters are more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans. And, yes, Governor Barbour and Mr. Hosemann are both Republicans.

A local election official is suing to put the Wicker-Musgrove race back where it belongs. The state court judge who is hearing the case on Thursday should order that the Senate race be placed at the top of the ballot. Even if she does the right thing, we fear, that will not end the matter.

If the state courts do not provide relief, supporters of fair elections should take the case to federal court. They will need to move quickly since time to prepare ballots is fast running out. Mississippi’s voters have a right to a ballot that conforms with the law — and that is not designed to win a Senate seat by trickery.

MS: Obama Could Help Mississippi Contest

Few Senate races could have greater impact than the matchup between appointed Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R) and former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D). If Musgrove wins, Democrats will add yet another seat to their majority. But more importantly, his victory would tell us something about Barack Obama’s effect on black-white politics and Democrats’ ability to win in the South.

The state does have vestiges of its conservative Democratic past; Democrats still control the state legislature, and both parties have held the governorship in recent years. But in most other respects, Mississippi has become a reliably Republican state. President Bush won the state by 20 percentage points in 2004, and Trent Lott and Thad Cochran easily defended their Senate seats in recent elections. Few expected that Lott’s retirement and the subsequent appointment of well-regarded Wicker, a House member for 13 years, would give Democrats much of an opening. But a combination of a good Democratic year, the recruitment of Musgrove and the wild card of Obama’s effect on black turnout have made the race too close to call.

Mississippi is 36 percent African-American, the highest percentage of any state. It also displays some of the country’s most racially polarized voting patterns. In 2004, according to exit polls, Bush won 85 percent of the white vote, while Democrat John F. Kerry took 90 percent of the black vote.

It is possible for a Mississippi Democrat to win in a statewide election, but it would likely require 30 percent of the white vote along with nearly the entire black vote. In 2003, Musgrove lost his reelection bid for governor to current Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican. Musgrave took about 22 percent of the white vote, and lost the election 53 percent to 46 percent. In 1999, when Musgrove beat Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Parker in one of the closest races in Mississippi history, he performed even better among white voters, running well ahead of typical Democratic performance in Northeast Mississippi, a Republican stronghold.

The formula that has sometimes worked for Mississippi Democrats is directly at odds with Obama’s strategy for putting Southern states in play. Obama and his aides have made the case that Obama could increase black turnout so substantially — by 30 percent or more — that Southern states with large African-American populations would become competitive even without much of a change in the white turnout. But the math here is much harder than the Obama campaign asserts. If you take the 2004 presidential election results, increase the black vote by 30 percent and assume that the white vote stays the same, Obama would still lose Mississippi by more than 100,000 votes. And most analysts think that a 30 percent increase in the black vote is extremely optimistic. Obama will surely draw African-Americans to the polls in record numbers, but even a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in African-American votes would be historic. Add to that Obama’s problems in attracting white Mississippi voters even in the Democratic primary, where he attracted only a quarter of white Democrats.

LA: Democratic Hero Not Running Well

Just two months ago, Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.) was the toast of the Democratic Caucus after winning a Republican-held seat in the special election to succeed veteran Rep. Richard Baker.

Not only did Cazayoux run surprisingly well in the conservative-minded Baton Rouge-based district, he overcame a Republican spending barrage of more than $1 million, an effort so impressive that it seemed to present a model for how congressional Democratic candidates could compete effectively in the South.

Yet now, by virtue of circumstances largely out of his control, Cazayoux suddenly appears to be hanging onto his seat by a thread. Thanks to recent developments that include a new Republican nominee and the appearance of a credible third-party candidate, his bid for a full term in November is considerably more complicated.

By contrast, Cassidy has a profile that Republicans believe is tailor-made for the 6th District. A physician with just over a year of legislative experience under his belt, he lacks a laundry list of votes for Democrats to scrutinize. And he voted against recent pay-raise legislation that has been politically toxic for many local politicians.

Already, Cassidy has put together an experienced team of consultants, and he appears to have the apparatus to run a well-organized and well-funded campaign.

But Cassidy is not the real threat to Cazayoux. Rather, it is state Rep. Michael Jackson, a leading African-American legislator who filed to run against Cazayoux as an independent Democrat just before the filing deadline last Friday.

Jackson ran unsuccessfully in the March Democratic primary — losing 57 percent to 43 percent — but carried his home base in East Baton Rouge Parish. He won more than 90 percent of the vote in some of the district’s heavily black precincts, votes that normally would go to Cazayoux in a general election.

But now Democrats privately acknowledge that, with Jackson in the race, Cazayoux’s path to victory is greatly complicated. About half the Democratic vote in the district is African-American, making it difficult for Cazayoux to win reelection without getting overwhelming support from the district’s African-American base.