Hood will not defend Medicaid suit

This will be called partisan politics. Everything that comes from the AG is called partisan politics. You want to know why? Because he's "the last man standing" among statewide Democrats.

First, the issue at hand: Hood's decision not to represent the state against claims that Gov. Barbour's latest Medicaid plan is in someway improper.

Hood's reasoning is sound:

"Due to the specific issues involved in this case, we would not be able to raise defenses that could conflict with the powers of my other two clients — the legislative and judicial branches,” Hood said.

Hood's office does not represent Gov. Barbour. He represents the state as a whole. And it must be his office's opinion that if he represented the governor -- that would be the executive branch -- then he would be doing a disservice to the Legislature or the courts -- that would be the legislative and judicial branches, accordingly.

Now, on to another tidbit.

If you look at the 2007 elections, you'll notice an interesting point: Jim Hood won more votes than any other candidate running. Here's a ranking of statewide vote-getters:

1. AG Hood: 440,017
2. Treasurer Reeves: 436,833
3. Lt. Gov. Bryant: 431,747
4. Gov. Barbour: 430,807
5. SOS Hosemann: 425,228
6. Insurance Comm. Chaney: 414,718
7. Auditor Pickering: 399,279
8. Ag Comm. Spell: 371,191

From where I'm sitting, I see a man who is admired for doing the right thing, for being tough and for not being scared to make tough calls.

I also see a GOP attack machine that is dead set on making sure he doesn't win re-election in 2011, or better yet, beating ol' Phil for the top spot.