Childers speaks at a rally in Pontotoc

Democrat Travis Childers spoke tonight in Pontotoc at the Ag. Center. There was a good turnout of both Democrats and Republicans. I am going to hit the high points below.


Dick Cheney is coming next Monday to campaign for his opponent. Mike Huckabee has already been down to help fundraise.

Robocalls are being made by the opposition, from none other than Mr. 29% himself, George W. Bush. Robocalls are also being made with a recording of Mike Huckabee.

Travis expressed his shock at how serious the White House is about keeping this seat. The GOP is throwing the kitchen sink at this one. He lambasted the utter incompetence of Cheney and Bush.

Childers refuses to accept money from the oil lobby or the pharmaceutical lobby, unlike his opponent.

Daily Journal: Huckabee to campaign for Greg Davis

I had heard this through the grapevine a couple of days ago, but now it is confirmed. Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, also the former governor of Arkansas, is coming down to north Mississippi to help campaign for Greg Davis. Huckabee Will no doubt be here to try and shore up the evangelical vote and help fundraise. In today's "Campaign Notebook" the Daily Journal reported:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will be in Tupelo on Saturday to boost the congressional campaign of Southaven Mayor Greg Davis.

According to Lee County GOP chairman Mike Maynard, the former Arkansas governor will join Davis for an invitation-only fundraiser at 9 a.m. at the BancorpSouth Conference Center.

Starting about 9:45, the public is invited to meet Davis and Huckabee at Joe Joe's Espresso at 398 E. Main St.

I wonder if they server fried squirrel at Joe Joe's Espresso?

Seriously, at this point in the race, two things are most important, raising money and getting your vote out. Huckabee should be an asset in both areas.

Those of you up north, do everything in your power to get out the vote on May 13. In the meantime give a little cash to the Childers for Congress Campaign. We are over half way to our goal at Cotton Mouth.

Republican Primary Results:

The Clarion Ledger:

President - GOP Primary
1680 of 1912 Precincts Reporting - 88%
Name Party Votes Vote %
McCain, John GOP 102,547 79%
Huckabee, Mike GOP 16,333 13%
Paul, Ron GOP 5,083 4%

People still want Huckabee. I understand. McCain doesn't really have that much going for him.

Even with only with one other active opponent Ron Paul still can't get past low single digits. His supporters are outspoken and yes, you do know every one of them.

U.S. House - District 1 - GOP Primary
450 of 462 Precincts Reporting - 97%
Max Runoff Cands=2
Name Party Votes Vote %
McCullough, Glenn GOP 16,768 39%
Davis, Greg GOP 15,961 37%
Russel, Randy GOP 10,540 24%

If I'd have voted in this race I would have voted for Randy Russel. He looks like a great man, even if I disagree with her politics. The runoff will be April 1st and I have no idea which of the other two will win. Any ideas?

U.S. House - District 3 - GOP Primary
491 of 565 Precincts Reporting - 87%
Max Runoff Cands=2
Name Party Votes Vote %
Ross, Charlie GOP 19,650 34%
Harper, Gregg GOP 16,493 28%
Landrum, David GOP 15,401 26%
Rounsaville, John GOP 5,734 10%

This one goes to a runoff too. If this holds then Gregg Harper owes John Rounsaville a bundle for his attack ads on Landrum. Landrum dropped fast and the only one making it happen was Rounsaville. One of his ads HERE

If the election had been held two weeks ago I would have pegged it Landrum and Ross (in that order) in a runoff. Money (in the absence of a vacuum) can't buy you love.

The 5 Conservative Stages of Grief

Hunter @ Daily Kos:

Stage 1: John McCain. In the McCain stage of grief, a conservative is mentally aware of their surroundings but unable to emotionally process the information. The result is a mental short-circuit. Sufferers are especially prone to thinking that the Iraq War is going spectacularly well; they may even wander open-air marketplaces in which they are protected by a hundred or more fully armed United States soldiers, with helicopter gunship support, and remark aloud at how normal and stable and safe their location obviously is. Denial may also exist over the state of the economy, of their own party, or, especially, their own past actions.

The McCain stage of grief is known to last years or even decades. Fortunately, the sufferer usually loses all concept of time, such that they cannot differentiate between any particular six month period, and will eventually declare them all to be "a hundred years" long.


Stage 2: Rudy Giuliani. The Giuliani stage of grief is marked by constant, seething anger. Individuals may reduce their entire range of emotional responses to one, that of constant, self-righteous rage. The stage is usually accompanied by Napoleonic fantasies, declaring the fearsome breadth of their own inner fury to be the only salvation not just of themselves, but of the entire world in which they live. Every situation, every social interaction, and every problem is met with a frequently irrational and always militant response.

Long-term sufferers of the Giuliani stage may eventually suffer from a permanent bug-eyed expression and the onset of sociopathy. They may sometimes be mistaken for necrophiliacs.


Stage 3: Mitt Romney. In the Romney stage, the full impact of the conservative situation begins to become clear to the individual, who then begins to attempt to extricate themselves from their predicament through the process of bargaining.

Sufferers may, upon recognizing the unpopularity of past positions, shift those positions wildly from one year to the next, one week to the next, or even during consecutive sentences. They are driven by a need for popularity and acceptance, and are willing to tailor their speech, behavior, and even their thoughts to whatever may be necessary to obtain it. Sufferers of the Romney stage of grief are aware of their surroundings and the negative situation they are in, and are even aware of how their behavior may have contributed to the failure, but lack the mental ability to then adapt their behaviors as a result of those past failures. Instead, they flit haphazardly from idea to idea, from constituency to constituency, looking to empty sloganeering and focus group ideas to rebuild the trust that they have lost.


Stage 4: Fred Thompson. Eventually, sufferers of conservative grief may become distant and despondent, entering the Thompson stage. Individuals may retreat into isolation, even if they are currently supposed to be running for President of the United States or something. While they can sometimes be goaded into action, say, for an evening debate, they are more prone to minimalist activities, such as making a few phone calls, showing up at a county fair, or merely driving around in a truck.

Sufferers of the Thompson stage are fully aware of past conservative failures, but are unable to make even token attempts at new ideas or substantively critiquing the old ones. They become stiff and emotionless, as if a writers' strike is incapacitating them. They may begin to age creepily and horribly.


Stage 5: Mike Huckabee. Finally, the Huckabee stage may be reached. In this stage, the grief sufferer finally comes to term with the situation for himself and his fellow conservatives. He realizes fully how he has been used; he realizes fully how shallow and insincere conservative behavior has been; he realizes that there is little way to change the situation. He may surround himself with trivialities or attempts at obvious self-deprecation in order to make light of the situation; for example, using elderly b-list television action stars as inexplicable campaign props.

Nonetheless, acceptance of the situation is achieved. In the Huckabee stage, the individual no longer grieves for the losses of conservatism, but comes to accept them as the reality of the movement, and nothing that either can or should be changed. Token apologies for past behavior may be issued, with the full internal knowledge that those transgressions will be repeated in the future.

Individuals that reach the Huckabethan stage of conservative grief may achieve serenity and spirituality; the stage is frequently accompanied by the belief that no matter how bad the situation is, those tragedies and failures were preordained by God, who will return at any moment to kick the asses of all those that may now stand in your way.

These seemingly baseless assertions of preordained destiny and of imminent divine intervention on your personal behalf may not be emotionally rational, but it at least allows the individual a cognitive basis for continuing their conservatism even in the wake of obvious and dramatic movement-wide failures. In this manner, a conservative can continue to remain conservative indefinitely, or at least until their conservatism results in another multi-fronted national crisis.

More from Mississippi to come Monday.

Bad Omen For Republicans

Group News Blog:

Total Voter Turnout (approximate)

356,000

Percentage of total vote
24.5% Obama (D)
20.5% Edwards (D)
19.8% Clinton (D)
11.4% Huckabee (R)

Chuck Norris Doesn't Endorse

Forgive me if John already put this video up, but everyone should watch the Chuck Norris/Mike Huckabee commercial. If you've already seen it, you probably want another good laugh.

He, Not Chuck Norris, Will Win The Iowa Caucus

Republican Governor Mike Huckabee will win the Iowa Caucus. He hasn't yet spent any money on television advertisements and is currently 2nd in the Republican polls and rising.



Chuck Norris is a partisan Republican (if you didn't know) and has lent his face and voice to several Republicans over the past few years including the current Republican governor of Texas.

For All You Facebookers Out There

The Right-Wing Facebook

It's pretty amazing.

Barbour Comes Out 1st In VP Poll (Look Out America)

Campaigns and Elections Magazine:

It's still three months before any votes for president are cast, but it's never too early to talk about potential vice presidential nominees.

In an unscientific Web poll asking Campaigns & Elections readers who they thought would be the Republican vice presidential pick, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour came out on top with 53 percent. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, was the runner-up with 40 percent of the votes. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee received 5 percent, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice received 2 percent and retired general Tommy Franks got no votes.

Of course, the eventual pick depends on how the caucuses and primaries play out.

"It always depends on a thousand things," said Larry Sabato, politics professor at the University of Virginia. "It won't matter until we get actual nominees to see how they finished or whether they finished with a large plurality. [The nominee] may be obliged to offer it to the second-place winner."

If you read a lot of national political coverage you'll notice that Larry Saboto is quoted more than about anyone else. His opinion counts more to Washington journalist for whatever reason.

Any thoughts on what a Barbour Vice Presidency would do to America?