Morning, y’all. Two disparate ideas on my mind at the moment:
(a) Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. I’m sure for a lot of us that day and weekend remain an extremely vivid set of memories, one of the three most acute national traumas we’ve seen in our lifetimes; only 9/11 and Katrina rival it. May he rest in peace and honor, and may we be spared another such.
(b) For some reason, our discussion of a couple of weeks ago on what ails the MS Dems — more specifically, why Ronnie Musgrove lost so badly — came back to mind this morning. I see now that my first take, that it probably wasn’t so much the candidate’s own fault, must reflect out-of-state ignorance (noting especially NMC and confounded on how, over time, Musgrove had given too many voters too much cause to distrust him).
But another observation of NMC’s — “Bennie Thompson can turn out the vote in the Delta. Why didn’t his operation do that? I don’t know” — has continued to intrigue me. So I poked around a little and found Sid Salter’s blog-post of Nov. 16 that ventures a theory:
That Thompson made no effort to help Musgrove – a complaint made against Thompson in the 2003 governor’s race that Musgrove lost to Haley Barbour as well – speaks clearly to the fact that Thompson decided to let Musgrove fend for himself.
Why? Because in the coming Obama administration, federal patronage decisions in Mississippi will have to pass muster with the highest ranking Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation. …
In cutting Musgrove loose in his Senate race with Wicker, Thompson wisely consolidated his own political power among Democrats.
Bennie Thompson the highest-ranking MS Dem? Doesn’t Gene Taylor have more seniority? Or do Thompson’s stronger ties to Obama and Pelosi de facto put him in the lead?
Reckon Taylor might run for Senate next time? Why didn’t he this year? He’s certainly had more national visibility (due to Katrina, alas) than any other MS Dem — whether that counts for anything in-state, you tell me.
Anyhow, Happy Sunday . . .
Mornin Lotus,
I imagine the fact that Thompson chairs a powerful committee has something to do with that status.
Mornin, ducky. So Thompson does have more mojo than Taylor, huh? Which committee does he chair? What stuff did Musgrove pull that alienated Thompson and others?
Anybody ever wondered if Musgrove was actually considering a party switch long about the same time Tuck did her little?
He chairs Homeland Security. Don’t know if Thompson is ticked or what it would be.
I’ve heard some of the same stuff that’s already been posted here at folo, that he’s misled folks about what he would do and then failed to follow up on the necessary healing communications afterwards.
Pretty dumb way to go about politics, innit?
Haven’t heard of any changes in committee chairs in the House — can’t place any lost to defeat or retirement. Can you?
Taylor chairs the Seapower & Expeditionary Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, with juridiction over the Navy and Marine Corps.
Thompson’s Homeland Security full committee chairmanship is bigger in name but not necessarily in influence of policy. Homeland Security is still a new committee and has ongoing turf disputes with other committees over Coast Guard, FEMA, port security, and almost anything else it tries to do.
Musgrove did not lose the election in the Delta. He lost it in South and East Central Mississippi where he never made a coherent case for electing him. He did not have to win there but he needed to lose by a lot less.
Researcher, been meaning to tell you thanks so much for all that data you put together for us yesterday (as well as this info).
How do these turf disputes in Congress get worked out, if ever?
fish: don’t know but either way, they both ruined themselves politically by not dancing with the one who “brung ‘em.”. after tort reform passed musgrove through a big celebratory reception for the economic council big business and the docs. They didn’t show up; it was a virtually empty ballroom. I’ll never forget the look on Musgrove’s face on the news that night; utter shock.
Wow, they completely pwned him like that? WTF does this guy do to people?
He put all sides in a position of thinking they can’t trust him. I’m sure the tort-reform folks considered him a useful idiot
Heckuva choice y’all had, huh? (I know: at least RM was good on education.)
Well … it’s an open thread. Here’s an article headline from this morning’s Natchez Democrat:
Astronauts try to work out kinks in urine machine
The headline certainly told me all I needed to know about that subject.
Dahlia Lithwick on what Eric Holder faces at DoJ will raise your BP, so read carefully.
Bad Mojo in Florida re Doggies
90 Puppies found Neglected
God rot those puppy-mill freaks.
Before the U.S. House of Representatives, November 20, 2008
Madame Speaker, many Americans are hoping the new administration will solve the economic problems we face. That’s not likely to happen, because the economic advisors to the new President have no more understanding of how to get us out of this mess than previous administrations and Congresses understood how the crisis was brought about in the first place….
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul494.html
I would be interested to know with Scruggs in jail…who is overseeing the tobacco distributions?
“…It’s understood that tobacco settlement provides an enormous, undemocratic and now institutionalized flow of cash and political power to the trial lawyer industry. Ten years after the master settlement agreement, that industry functions as a massive wealth redistribution scheme, reallocating private sector money to the aggrieved — and, yes, at times harmed or legally wronged — but in the process skimming hundreds of millions of dollars for their own benefit.
Alas, the media’s 10-year commemoration of the settlement left unexamined the inimical effects of the tobacco settlement and all that it has done to the U.S. system of civil justice. Instead of a gaining a full picture or better understanding of the states’ lawsuit and the MSA, the public got another round of advocacy.?”
http://www.shopfloor.org/2008/11/22/ten-years-after-the-tobacco-settlement/
As to Musgrove’s defeat, and Researcher’s comment about the Delta —yes, Musgrove won the Delta, BUT not by as many votes as he needed there to offset losses elsewhere. THAT is why folks are asking the question about Thompson’s lack of visible support for Musgrove.
And while Salter’s view has some validity, I still think the main reason for Thompson’s neutral stance toward Musgrove was the following (as I previously opined here before Salter’s article): Thompson not only has a strong black voting block in his District, he also has developed over the years a significant white voting block comprised of much of the farming community. Thompson takes care of them, and they take care of him. And most in this farming community strongly dislike Musgrove (referring to him with such names as “squeaky”, “muskrat”, etc.). I don’t think Thompson wanted to risk offending this key white Delta voting block — it is his trump card that makes him pretty much unbeatable. So, he stayed out of it. Salter really can’t say this in public, but I can.
Musgrove should have done better in the Delta, but I would not blame it on Bennie. Musgrove was a weak candidate who ran a poor campaign. He spent millions of dollars and still no one knows what he wanted to accomplish as a Senator.
But, there are not enough votes in the Delta to offset losing everything south of I-20 and east of I-55 by a 60-40 or 65-35 margin. That is where Democratic state candidates die. To win Musgrove needed to appeal to independent voters who lean Republican. A few counties:
Harrison (Biloxi-Gulfport):
Obama 37%; Musgrove 41%; Taylor 82%
Jackson (Pascagoula-Moss Point-Ocean Springs):
Obama 33%; Musgrove 38%; Taylor 77%
Forrest (Hattiesburg):
Obama 43%; Musgrove 44%; Taylor 77%
Jones (Laurel)
Obama 30%; Musgrove 37%; Taylor 69%
Lamar (Hattiesburg suburbs):
Obama 22%; Musgrove 27%; Taylor 66%
I agree with Researcher’s last post. It wasn’t the delta, and it wasn’t Bennie Thompson. And I don’t think there’s anything secret or in the way of complicated reasoning needed to understand lack of enthusiasm for Musgrove. The sad thing is I think Wicker would have been defeatable by a non-damaged candidate.