Debate Watch Parties for 10-15

Here is the list of tonight's debate watch parties.

DEBATE WATCH PARTIES

DESOTO COUNTY
• Location: 9125 Mill Branch Road, Southaven
• Time: 7:30 p.m.
• Contact: Jim Kilderry, (901) 734-1474

HANCOCK COUNTY
• Location: Hancock County Democratic Party, 1017 Highway 90, Bay St. Louis
• Time: 7:30 p.m.
• Contact: Louis Fuchs, (228) 305-0327


HARRISON COUNTY
• Location: Grand Casino Biloxi Hotel, Suite 411, 200 Beach Blvd., Biloxi
• Time: 6 p.m.
• Contact: S.J. Smolowitz, (347) 512-6532

HINDS COUNTY
• Location: Hal & Mal’s Restaurant, 200 S. Commerce St., Jackson
• Time: 7:30 p.m.
• Contact: Terry R. Cassreino, (601) 454-7419

• Location: Griffith House, 108 L.C. Turner Circle, Bolton
• Time: 7:45 p.m.
• Contact: Dr. London Thompson


JACKSON COUNTY
• Location: Jackson County Democratic Party, 2518 Market St., Pascagoula
• Time: 7:30 p.m.
• Contact: Kay Sims, (228) 938-2973

LOWNDES COUNTY
• Location: Willie and Whirllie Byrd, 3620 Azalea Circle, Columbus
• Time: 7 p.m.
• Contact: Whirllie Byrd, (662) 327-5751

MARSHALL COUNTY
• Location: Marshall County Democratic Party, 200 Martin Luther King Blvd., Holly Springs
• Time: 5:30 p.m.
• Contact: Wayne Jones, (662) 551-2096

TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY
• Location: Bennie Paige Jr., 714 Pine St., Charleston
• Time: 8 p.m.
• Contact: Bennie Paige Jr., (662) 625-0081

Video of Democratic Rally on the square in Oxford

Uploaded by a friend of Cotton Mouth.

Ted Kennedy Speech at the DNC

The bad news for me was that I did not get to Denver in time to get my credentials for the first night. So, much like you I watched the convention on TV. I did have a lot of interesting encounters on the streets of Denver that I will reveal in later posts. In a nutshell this place is a madhouse.

This was the speech I wanted to see. Ted Kennedy has been a hero of the Senate for decades. I have all the respect and admiration in the world for Senator Kennedy.

Thanks to Josh Marshall and the rest of the gang at TPM for the video.

Arkansas Democratic Party Chair Shot; Chair in Critical Condition

Very sad news from Arkansas this afternoon. From MSNBC:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A gunman entered the Arkansas Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday and shot the party chairman, who was hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.

The gunman asked to speak to the party chairman, Bill Gwatney, and fired three shots at the office near the state Capitol.

"He came in and went into this office and started shooting," police Lt. Terry Hastings told reporters near the party headquarters.

Gwatney, a former legislator, was in critical condition, Hastings said. Party officials confirmed the victim was Gwatney.

Our thoughts go out to Arkansas and their chairman today.

UPDATE: More sad news: Chairman Gwatney passed away this afternoon. From CNN:

CNN) -- The chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party died Wednesday, hours after a shooting at the party's headquarters, police said.

Police block off the streets surrounding the state Democratic Party headquarters Wednesday in Little Rock.

Chairman Bill Gwatney died at 3:59 Wednesday afternoon after a gunman entered his Little Rock office and shot him several times in the upper body, Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said.

Authorities confirmed the news shortly after former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton released a statement expressing their condolences.

"We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away," the former governor and first lady of Arkansas said. "His leadership and commitment to Arkansas and this country have always inspired us and those who had the opportunity to know him."

The shooting suspect, a white male, also died Wednesday afternoon after a police chase ended in gunfire, Hastings said.

Guest Post Covering Harrison County Democrats' "Fry in the Park"

Putting on a fry for the party is no small matter. This past Saturday the Harrison County Federation of Democratic Women and the Harrison County Democratic Executive Committee held it's third annual "Fry in the Park" at Hiller Park Pavilion among the oaks on Biloxi's back bay. This year was the best yet. Last year was good, but the statewide races were going and our fry is set for the first Saturday in August. This occurs before the primaries in state election years. All three Democrats running for auditor showed up. It wasn't bad and I did feel like I learned something listening to the three of them but it just wasn't like the Obamaland fry we had this year.

Harrison County Democrats ordered 1500 Obama yardsigns. From the rise the pavilion sits on flowing down to the road and across the bayou were Obama yardsigns intermixed with painted balls of fire. You can see the effect in the pictures from the fry, you can find the pictures here: http://www.hcdec.net/fishfry08/default.htm

Notice everyone smiling in the photos? Our headliners were Ronnie Musgrove and Erik Fleming both of whom are running for separate US Senate seats. Having two US Senate seats open is rare. Having both senate candidates under our pavilion was special. Gene Taylor said he would swing by but he didn't make it this year. Gene was the headliner for the fry in 06, its first year.

The fry started because of Katrina. Most other venues for events in Harrison County were gone or damaged. It was less than a year after the storm. It was an election year, and we were struggling to run the Democratic Primary. We wanted to do something fun, something normal. The Hiller Park pavilion survived Katrina with minimal damage. The roofing shingles had to be replaced but that was all. In a storm where waves destroyed concrete and steel you would think the wind would have got under Hiller's wooden pavilion and blew it to Woolmarket but it didn't happen. We had such a good time that first year we kept it going.

This year we had bleachers set up under the oaks facing the pavilion. For the third year the band was "Bent Wood Rocker" and boy did they. For those of you who might remember they played for years at the Fiesta on the Biloxi strip. The band would play for 30 minutes and then speakers would talk for 30 minutes.

Wayne brown was there, in the photos (above link) you can see Wayne Brown and Linda St. Martin laughing. DA Cono Caranna was there along with Biloxi Councilman Bill Stallworth, Jackson County Supervisor Melton Harris and Rep. Francis Fredericks. Erik Fleming stayed for the entire event and talked to everyone individually.

WLOX could have done better. We had two statewide candidates for Senate at the same time and place at our event. They spoke back to back. It was not mentioned in the WLOX coverage of the fry. Promoting our candidates is one of the reasons we have this event. I am grateful WLOX came out to the fry, it's more than the Sun Herald did. I am also thankful they covered the human interest angle of the fry, I just wish we could have got this years democratic office seekers on the news. I'm not sure if I'm more upset with them for not seeing the real story or me for not having someone give it to them.

The fried catfish was superb. Frymaster Kitty Cat provided his seasoning for the fish, and it was good. We prepared for 300 guests and sold out. The event also gave the Executive Committee, which was just seated at the March county convention to get to know each other in a more social setting. Email, meetings and phone calls are great, but some things just take good food, good music and a good view to get going. In addition to the people listed above, I would like to thank a few people individually.

Barbara Duncan, Organizer
Merry Hancock, Planner
James Johnson, Fryer
Ken Miles, Decorator
Pat Harvey, Server
Carol Henderson, Server
Billy Bova, Clown

I enjoyed being the MC for the fry again this year, I am honored to serve.

Renick Taylor
Biloxi, MS

AP: Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination

This was just released around one hour ago. Read story here.

Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.

Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial divisions within the party.

The AP tally was based on public commitments from delegates as well as more than a dozen private commitments. It also included a minimum number of delegates Obama was guaranteed even if he lost the final two primaries in South Dakota and Montana later in the day.

The 46-year-old first term senator will face Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the fall campaign to become the 44th president.

Hopefully Senator Clinton will withdraw from the race tonight, so we can rally the troops to take on Senator McCain. Senator Obama has a big DNC fundraiser scheduled in New York for tomorrow night. Tickets are only $28,500 a piece if you are interested. ;)

Worst Editorial Ever - New York Sun

The New York Sun just released this nice piece of garbage for the world to consume. Obviously the writer was introduced to Travis Childers when he was trolling for story ideas. If he had really kept up with the MS-01 race his batting average on the facts would have at least reached the Mendoza line. See for yourself...

Neither of the two Democratic victors in the South ran against the war. Mr. Cazayoux's view, set forth on his Web site, is markedly ambiguous compared to Mr. Obama's, whose plan involves beginning a phased troop withdrawal immediately. Mr. Cazayoux's Web site only pledges to support bringing the troops home "responsibly and with honor."

Mr. Childers has said the war is not working, but Iraq appears nowhere on his Web site. Apparently, support for the war is still strong enough in Mississippi to prevent an anti-war Democrat from emphasizing that position.

Something tells me the Childers website is about as deep our as editor ever made it with his research. Childers opposed the war and made it very clear, if you ever heard him speak, or read the newspapers.

It seems that what these victories teach is to be wary of conflating the strength of the Republican brand with that of conservative ideas. The former has clearly lost some of its power, but the latter are as strong as ever.

Who wrote this, Baghdad Bob? Wow, where to start. If by conservative you mean, ending the war, expanded health care, fair trade as opposed to free trade, and fiscal responsibility (sorry my Republican friends, we own this one now, see Bill Clinton v. George W. Bush), then I am a new found conservative.

The real deal here is that by removing the social wedge issues from the table, the Democrats have been able to tap into a persistent, but rarely tapped strain of economic populism in the Mississippi body politic. With the bread and butter GOP wedge issues like guns and abortion off the table the Republicans have been unable to counter the Democratic proposals on kitchen table issues like health care, jobs, and education.

So far the GOP has stood firm in its wedge issue based attack mode that has been so successful in the last 15 years, and has paid the price for its hesitance to adapt. Right now the Democrats have the advantage of the issues and until the powers that be in the Republican party are willing to have a come to Jesus moment and rethink some basic party principles, they can prepare to bleed in their supposed ideological stronghold of the Deep South.

Daily Kos' comments on Blogging Credentials

As we've mentioned, Cottonmouth did not receive blogging credentials for the DNC Convention in August. We're still following up on several comments and e-mails, and we really do appreciate the support from our friends out there who believe we should have received the credentials, including those at Daily Kos.

This piece also includes information on the different types of blogging credentials.

There is still a chance we'll be given a general pass.

The DNC's blog credentialing f'up

So how did the DNC choose to recognize the growth of local blogs "in line with Governor Dean's 50-state strategy"? Mostly, they got it right. At least in 45 states. But they blew it big time in five others, dissing some of the best state bloggers in the country.

In New York, the excellent Albany Project was passed over for a site focused on NY City corruption founded by the Politico's Ben Smith. Go to that site, and it's nothing but press releases. [Update: That press release page is a lower-level page, which I
got when I clicked on the "blog" link in their navigation. They have real writers on their home page.]

In New Jersey, the inimitable Blue Jersey got passed over for PolitickerNJ -- a non-partisan, corporate owned site run by the guys who own the New York Observer. Somehow, I doubt that's inline with the spirit of Dean's 50-state strategy, online organizing, or being agents of change.

In Alabama, Left in Alabama was passed over, as was Cotton Mouth in Mississippi, passed over in favor of a site, Natchez Blog, devoted to Natchez MS, population 18,000 -- a site, by the way, that didn't have a single post or action alert on the MS-01 special election we won last week. Cotton Mouth was one of the best resources on that race (and the Senate race as well).

Finally, Michigan Liberal was given the big diss as well.

The DNC's online guy at the convention, Aaron Myers (email: myersA@demconvention.com) claims that it's a big ado about nothing, that the snubbed blogs will be getting regular blog credentials when those are announced sometime this week.

But that's not the point.

The state blogger corps were a special program and a particularly coveted one since it allows those bloggers to sit with their delegations on the convention floor. Regular bloggers can't do that. They may "have access" to the state delegations, but they won't be sitting with them.

The solution was easy -- take the five blogs that were given their unwarranted access, and give them regular blog credentials just like most everyone else. Those are the same credentials sites like Daily Kos will have, so there's nothing shameful about
them.

Then they could give those five state blogger corps passes in MI, AL, MS, NY, and NJ to the blogs in those states that have are TRUE reflections of Dean's 50-state strategy, those blogs that are organizing and building for a Democratic majority at the local level with little recognition virtually and no money. Those are the bloggers who are in the trenches helping make victories like MS-01 possible.

This fix could've been done quietly and without any public commotion, but Aaron Myers and whoever ultimately makes those decisions have decided to be obtuse about it. They're pretend that there's no difference between the regular credentials and the state blogger ones, a farcical position.

If there was no difference between the two classes of credentials, then there wouldn't be two classes of credentials.

We're not the only ones

Several other states with reputable blogs were shafted by the DNC committee credentialing bloggers. As we've mentioned, as they mention, it's obvious that this was a political move by someone and not based on our application.

As we've said before, we've been in contact with people who have told us that we were considered for the credential, but were vetoed by someone in Mississippi's Democratic Party. We are attempting to find out who that person is and why they felt we should not represent Mississippi. Any assistance in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Open Left:

It's a bit disturbing to hear what's going on, then, with a few of the credentials. Pam's House Blend has a discussion going on about which blogs were credentialled at the Democratic National Convention. Mostly the choices were good, but four states in particular raise questions: Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, and Michigan.

Similarly, Bluejersey was nixed in favor of PoliticsNJ, a neutral media site owned by the New York Observer. The Albany Project, which cohosted a fundraiser for a special election candidate who is helping to flip the New York state Senate, was nixed in favor of Room Eight, a nonpartisan media site focusing on corruption. And MichiganLiberal was nixed for Blogging for Michigan, a much newer and less trafficked blog.

Why does this matter? Well, aside from the basic lack of fairness in excluding genuine change agents in favor of media sites or newer sites, as blogs become more closely wedded to the Democratic Party establishment, the pressure to NOT speak out about problems increases. Credentials for the DNCC are not only a 'goodie', but they are a clear competitive advantage for any state-based blog. If state parties are able to nix progressive state blogs from something so significant to their business models as the Democratic National Convention, it's just going to incentivize the creation of an 'official' blogosphere, one that is sycophantic and less progressive, and an 'activist' blogosphere which bitterly stares at a party it does not trust. Regardless, we're looking at a party structure that is more corrupt, less accountable, and less progressive.

Howard Dean should not let this happen. The DNCC needs to take another look at the blog credentially process for New Jersey, Mississippi, New York, and Michigan. Regardless of whether this was a simple mistake or retaliation from a state party, the credentials of the other blogs should be revoked and regranted them to the more deserving progressive blogs. And this should happen soon.

Pam's House Blend:

In any case, her last point raises an issue that I haven't seen much buzz on yet -- whether there were political factors that went into the decision of state blogs (outside of race). For instance, if you check out the list (see below), BlueJersey, with its ward-winning contributors, wasn't selected to represent the Garden State (Politickernj was). That seems odd to me, given its high profile and progressive politics. Another blog making noise about politics being involved in the selection for Mississippi's blog rep is Cotton Mouth.

Cotton Mouth Is Not Going To The Democratic Convention (And Why)

This year the Democratic National Convention has granted bloggers full access. In doing so they allotted one credential per state for a blogger. Mississippi's credential was granted Wednesday to The Natchez Blog

We at Cotton Mouth must disagree with the selection of The Natchez Blog to represent Mississippi's blogging community in Denver. We like and respect Casey Ann who in addition to writing there has posted on Cotton Mouth, but her blog should not have been selected over Cotton Mouth.

Cotton Mouth completed all required web forms and asked questions (which were answered) to make sure we did everything right.

Cotton Mouth has been the only progressive political blog covering Mississippi's politics at the federal, state and local levels since it started May of 2007.  It had more posts than any other progressive Mississippi political blog and had far more original content than any other Mississippi political blog.  That content included original reporting on events, analysis, aggregation, original video, exclusive candidate authored posts and a solid and consistent defense of the Democratic Party of Mississippi.

Here's an original post by new Representative Travis Childers MS-01.

More examples of all can be easily found.

We've had 33 posts so far THIS WEEK.  The Natchez blog has had 24 posts so far THIS YEAR.

We are the only Mississippi blog that is a member of the Liberal Blog Advertising Network and are considered the authority on Mississippi state politics by major blogs like MyDD, OpenLeft, and SwingStateProject.

We've been linked to by multiple newspaper blogs in Mississippi and by blogs around the country for our work.  Several prominent opinion writers have admitted that they check our blog regularly including Sid Salter who's the most syndicated in Mississippi.

Democrats or their staffs who have personally thanked Cotton Mouth in the past include Congressmen Thompson (MS-02) and Childers (MS-01), Attorney General Jim Hood, Ronnie Musgrove and most of the Democratic nominees from 2007 state elections.

As we move forward towards November I believe that it is important for the blog that best assists Travis Childers win re-election to the house and Ronnie Musgrove beat interim Senator Roger Wicker to be given the best platform among Democrats.

We've done extensive work to help both including helping to get their messages out and actively combating attacks on them.  We're the only Mississippi blog that has raised money for them.  We are THE ONLY voice consistently doing so and their success is at least partially reliant on having strong blog support.  The blog chosen for the pool has helped neither.

Here are the requirements as set out by the DNCC:

the applicant’s blog must have been in existence six months prior to requesting credentials and have at least 120 politically related blog posts. Bloggers must submit their daily audience and list their authority based on Technorati stats. Bloggers may also provide examples of posts that make their blog stand out as an effective online organizing tool and/or agent of change.

We believe it is clear that Cotton Mouth is the strongest candidate for the position on these requirements and merits and should have been an easy decision.

Again I would like to point out that we do not hold any ill will toward Casey Ann, but I think she'd agree that Cotton Mouth would be the choice on the merits.

We've been in contact with people who have told us that we were considered for the credential, but were vetoed by someone in Mississippi's Democratic Party. We are attempting to find out who that person is and why they felt we should not represent Mississippi. Any assistance in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

- John Leek

Sunday Times article on the changing political landscape of the South

In the Sunday New York Times there was an article in their opinion section, the Week in Review about the changing political landscape of the South. Using tomorrow's special election as an example, the article's author and author of seven books on modern South, Jack Bass points to political currents that have recently began moving in favor of the Democrats in the South.

Over the last two years, there have been little-noticed Democratic gains in Congressional and state legislative elections across the South, as the solid black Democratic base has been joined by whites disenchanted with the Bush administration. New concern about the economy may be adding momentum.

The Republican tide surged across the region in the 1990s, bringing large gains in state legislatures and a vault from 39 members of the House of Representatives before the 1992 elections to a 71-53 majority in 2000. But in 2006 and 2007, Democrats in the 11 states of the Confederacy gained six Congressional seats — a Senate seat in Virginia and five House seats — and added 30 state legislators.

According to the author, why is this happening across the South?

The trends suggest a region in transformation, with dynamic economic growth, an expanded black middle class, the arrival of millions of white migrants, the return of scores of thousands of African-American expatriates, and an emerging native white generation with little or no memory of racial segregation. The result has been greater tolerance, an expanded pool of talent, and growing openness to new ideas...

...Like Americans across the country, many Southerners, black and white, are troubled by the war in Iraq, rising deficits and a plummeting economy symbolized by the soaring price of gasoline. Race itself is receding as a divisive issue. Like the late afternoon sky across the region, there’s a purple hue across one horizon.

Although the effects of past discrimination still include widespread poverty among African-Americans, it’s mostly hidden from view. The outlawing of discrimination in employment, under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, has resulted in a unified, biracial work force in which white and black Southerners can more easily acknowledge a common regional identity and biracial culture, as found in music, literature, religion, food and a sense of place.

LA-06: Cazayoux looks to turn red district blue

Normally it is all Mississippi politics here, but we are going to step out and talk about one in Louisiana. LA-06, an R+6.5 district, is the congressional district that contains Baton Rouge. Like MS-01, LA-06 should be a cakewalk for the Republicans. Bush carried LA-06 with 58.9% of the vote in 2004. This is the first of two big opportunities to lay claim to ruby red districts in the supposed "backyard" of the GOP, with of course MS-01 being the other.

Incumbent Richard Baker took a lucrative position with a hedge fun, hence we are having a special election.

Just like MS-01 the Democrat challenger is doing very well. State Rep. Don Cazayoux is a ahead of Republican Woody Jenkins by 9 points according to a new poll just released by SurveyUSA.

LA-06
Cazayoux (D) 50%
Jenkins (R) 41%

Favorability Ratings
Cazayoux +15
Jenkins -13

The special election is in two days, this Saturday, May 3.

Swing State Project Coverage of LA-06

Daily Kos blog on MS-1

I ran across this diary today. The author is from Missouri. I was so happy to see a diary on this topic on a big blog like Kos. If we can generate enough conversation on the national blogs about Childers, then maybe we can help him raise money. He is going to need it. One encouraging note is that the Dems outdrew the GOP by 3,000 votes. Can you imagine if we had three out of four districts painted BLUE?

Mixed Bag on SB 2149: A Step Towards Accountability, but Representative Perkins Guts Key Part of Bill with Amendment

Senate Bill 2149 passed the house today after being amended. With the vote still unavailable as of this post, I have no way of telling you the details of either tally. If you are a supporter of public education, the news is a mixed bag. On one hand there lies a victory for accountability. Local school boards will now be able to remove underperforming superintendents after a period of two years. One the other hand, they will not have the ability to choose the most qualified candidate to fill the role. A special election would be held. The superintendent removed would be barred from running for reelection for a period of four years.

Coming out of committee in the House, SB 2149 was exactly what the Mississippi Department of Education, the very people charged with improving our public schools, supported. However there was an amendment proposed that absolutely gutted the intended effect of the bill. As I noted on Cotton Mouth here and here, Mississippi must eliminate elected superintendents. Out of 17,000 superintendents, only 165 are elected. Of those 165 districts, 65 are in Mississippi.

The amendment changed the bill from the version that came out of committee in a key area. Before the amendment, the superintendent position would be appointed in the case of a board removal due to underperformance. The amendment struck this from the bill and replaced it with language allowing for the return to the standard electoral means of choosing a superintendent, after the expiration of the original term of the removed superintendent. Basically the board of trustees would get to remove an underperforming superintendent, but would not get to choose the replacement.

This does provide a measure of accountability, but it does not address a key problem. The position of superintendent is a professional position, and needs to be filled by the most qualified candidate. The field does not need to be narrowed to the residents of the electoral district. Why “hire within” when your schools have been chronically underperforming?

The really pathetic part of this whole story is who proposed the amendment. Representative Willie Perkins, a Democrat from Leflore County, did a tremendous disservice to the children of Leflore County, the delta, and Mississippi with his shortsighted amendment. His amendment helps to preserve a failed system that has long been abandoned by the rest of the country. He should listen to the Mississippi Department of Education, and leaders like Nancy Loome and Hank Bounds. We need to listen to our leaders in education when they make proposals to improve the worst schools in Mississippi.

The bill now heads back to Senate, where it could be passed as is, or if not sent to conference. We will keep you posted...

Franks for Chair

According to the Daily Journal this morning, former State Representative and candidate for lieutenant governor Jamie Franks may run for chair of the Democratic Party.

Current chair, Wayne Dowdy, will not seek reelection. Jim Herring, the chair of the Republican Party, is also stepping down this year.

Thoughts?

New Gallup Polls

I promise I won't bore you with national polls on a regularly basis, but these polls add fuel to the Democratic Party "hope fire" we have going on Cotton Mouth. These are new Gallup polls released today.

Pres' 08 - Mar 13 ------ Obama 48%, Clinton 46%
Gallup
Pres' 08 - Mar 13 ------ Obama (D) 46%, McCain (R) 44%
Gallup
Pres' 08 - Mar 13 ------ Clinton (D) 47%, McCain (R) 45%
Gallup


Very positive news if you are a Democrat. Both of our fantastic candidates are ahead, although well within the margin of error.

New Hillary Ads in Mississippi

From a Hillary Clinton press release.

The Clinton campaign today announced it is launching its first two radio advertisements to air statewide in Mississippi.

The 60-second spots entitled "Invisible" and "Neighbor" highlight Hillary’s record of accomplishment on issues important to Mississippi families.

Listen to "Invisible" here.
Listen to "Neighbor" here.

Following are the scripts for the ads.

"Invisible Mississippi"

Radio :60

Announcer: Hillary Clinton has spent her life standing up for those others don’t see.

Hillary Clinton: "Too many Americans today feel as though they are invisible. If you are a child in a crumbling school...you are invisible to this President."

Announcer: She’s working to end the unfunded mandate on our schools known as No Child Left Behind... help every child live up to their god given potential

Hillary Clinton: If you’re a mother without health care, a father without a job, you’re invisible as well.

Announcer: Hillary expanded health clinics in rural Arkansas, won health coverage for 6 million children, [83,000 in Mississippi alone...]

Hillary Clinton: If your stuck on a rooftop during a hurricane, you’re invisible to this President even when you’re on CNN.

Announcer: And she’s voted consistently to fund the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast.

Hillary Clinton: Well, you are not invisible to me and you should never be invisible to the President of the United States.

Announcer: Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President.

Hillary Clinton: I’m Hillary Clinton, candidate for president, and I approved this message. ____________________

"Neighbor Mississippi"Radio :60

Announcer: They said she couldn't do it. They counted her out. But Hillary Clinton fought back. And she won big. Maybe that's why Barack Obama is running false attack ads against her now.
But Hillary thinks Mississippians deserve the truth about what she's done and what she'll do.
When Katrina and Rita struck, Hillary was one of the first people in the country to call for FEMA to be a separate agency, run by a professional, not by the [former] head of a horse association.
And she's stayed with it... fighting to stop giving bonuses to contractors who aren't doing their jobs.

Hillary spent 18 years as our neighbor in Arkansas. She worked to improve the schools and expand rural health clinics. In the White House and the Senate, she won health coverage for six million children, 83,000 right here in Mississippi

...and expanded access to health care for 12,000 members of the Mississippi National Guard.
You know Hillary will fight for Mississippi...because she already has.

Paid for by Hillary Clinton for President.

Hillary Clinton: I'm Hillary Clinton, candidate for President, and I approved this message.

Final ARG poll

The final poll from the American Research Group on the Mississippi Democratic Primary.

MS-Pres (D)Mar 10 ------ Obama 54%, Clinton 38%
ARG


Here are the older polls:

MS-Pres (D) Mar 8 ----- Obama 53%, Clinton 39%
Rasmussen

MS-Pres (D)Mar 7 ---- Obama 46%, Clinton 40%
InsiderAdvantage

MS-Pres (D)Mar 7 ---- Obama 58%, Clinton 34%
ARG


Change from last ARG poll
Obama -4
Clinton +4

I would say this is the Bill and Hillary bounce from their tour of state, Chelsea too. The Barack bounce will hit now that he has come to Mississippi.

New Rasmussen Mississippi Dem Primary Poll

New poll out for those who get into this type of stuff. By all means if you are supporter of either candidate, keep working hard. Every delegate counts and every vote matters.

MS-Pres (D) Mar 8 ----- Obama 53%, Clinton 39%
Rasmussen

Mississippi Delegate Math Explained

One of the great mysteries to the average voter is the way delegates are awarded after a primary has occurred. The popular vote and the delegate vote don't always match proportionately, why is this? Let's look and see how Mississippi's 33 Democratic pledged delegates are awarded.

Let's get some terminology down first.

Pledged Delegate: A delegate awarded based on the results of the Primary. Mississippi has 33.

Super Delegate: A delegate awarded to a state, but assigned to a party leader from that state. Big Wigs like Senator's, state party chairmen, Congressmen, etc... Mississippi has 7.

Delegates: The sum of both the pledged delegates and the super delegates. Mississippi has 40.

The state of Mississippi has 33 total pledged delegates attached to the results of Tuesday's primary. That total does not reflect the 7 super-delegates awarded to Mississippi. Of the seven, three have pledged for Senator Obama, three have remained undecided, and one delegate is yet to be determined. Mississippi has a total of 40 delegates but only 33 are tied to the results of Tuesday's primary.

The Democrats split the pledged delegate count (33) up in a 65-35 proportion, with 65% to be awarded at the congressional district level, while 35% will be split proportionately based on the overall statewide popular vote. Hang with me now, 35% of the total pledged delegates (33) is 11. These 11 delegates are divided proportionally based on the statewide popular vote. So say Obama gets 61% of the statewide popular vote, he would get 61% of 11, which is 7. Hillary would get 4 in this scenario.

The remaining 65% of the pledged delegates are divided up by Congressional District. All districts have 5, except for MS-2 which has 7, for a total of 22. The reason MS-2 has 7, is that the Democratic Party rewards districts that are heavily Dem. The delegates are awarded proportionately within each district based on the popular vote for that district. Say in MS-3 Obama gets 61% of the vote, he would win 3 pledged delegates to Senator Clinton's 2.

So with the 11 divided by the statewide popular vote, and the 22 divided by the popular vote within each Congressional district, we reach our total of 33 pledged delegates.


By Congressional District
MS-1: 5
MS-2: 7
MS-3: 5
MS-4: 5

11 delegates split proportionately based on popular vote
Total: 33

Any guesses to where this is headed?