An Awkward and Interesting Race To Come?

From a Sun Herald article I learn that:

Musgrove and Wicker are longtime friends and shared an apartment in Jackson when they served together in the state Senate.

I'm curious as to how this might effect the tone of a Musgrove vs. Wicker race.

Are their bonds still so strong that they would stay away from the low blow?

Will both use surrogates and independent expenditures to do their attacks to avoid looking like they are attacking a friend?

Or will all be fair in love war and (add) politics?


If Musgrove or the DSCC decide that attacking Wicker is a good idea (and it is) Will Bardwell suggests some attacks:

SCHIP: Wicker opposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program earlier this year in an effort to deny extension of government-funded health care to 9 million uninsured children. Nearly 50 Republicans supported the bill in the House of Representatives despite the White House's opposition, but Wicker wasn't one of them. Undoubtedly, he'd defend the vote as an exercise in fiscal conservatism, but weighed against the health of 9 million children, that argument could sound hollow -- particularly in a cash-strapped state like Mississippi.

Big Oil: Way back in January, Wicker opposed a Democratic-led bill to repeal tax breaks for U.S. oil companies and fund renewable energy programs. Wicker also has accepted nearly $330,000 from energy companies over his congressional career. Wicker's not the only one, but that only goes to paint him into the just-another-Washington-insider corner. I can't think of any good answer that Wicker could muster.

Iraq: Mississippi is as conservative a state as there is, but Wicker's voting history on the Iraq war might still provide Musgrove some traction. Back in June, a poll showed that more than 40 percent of Republicans favored some form of troop withdrawal from the region, but Wicker has been as steady a rubber stamp for the White House as any member of Congress; as far as I can tell, Wicker has voted to approve all $482 billion for Iraq war funding. That's a big number to have hanging around one's neck for such an unpopular (and continuing) engagement. Even in deep-red Mississippi, this issue can play with moderate-to-mildly conservative voters that usually vote Republican.

Minimum wage: Wicker opposed the narrowly successful effort to raise the minimum wage to $7.25. That vote could be used to hurt Wicker among rural, blue-collar voters that hurt Musgrove in 2003.

College loans: Mississippi has plenty of education problems on its own without Wicker's opposition to a bipartisan effort to cut the interest rates on federally subsidized student loans in half. More than 120 Republican congressmen supported the College Student Relief Act, but Wicker wasn't one of them. Musgrove would do well to make him explain why.

I do hope that whomever we Democrats choose can take the fight with proper financing to the Mississippi and National Republican machines.

Update: Wicker gave Barbour $10,000 in 2003 in his race against Musgrove so I doubt that friendship is still as strong.