Both Wicker, Musgrove Courting Obama’s Voters

Could someone remind me how Wicker represents African Americans, or most of us white folk for that matter? Could this be a decade-late-dollar-short?

At least Musgrove has education to fall back on. But Wicker???

For the record, we also got a nasty mailer from Wicker today about Musgrove and the (bipartisan) beef-plant scandal.

It was refreshing to see the one from the Democrats—it was all positive and proud with a huge picture of Obama on one side saying: "Mississippi is ready for change."

Could it be that Mississippi Democrats have finally reached down and located their cojones?

Musgrove is really kind of opening himself up to this criticism by not personally supporting Obama (talking out of both sides of his mouth by having Democratic officials do it and then telling Dixiecrats "they did it, not me" doesn't count), by running the "Roger Wicker has known me for a long time and he knows I'm pro-life and oppose gay marriage" ad, by answering the Wicker ad by putting out a press release bragging about how he blocked gay adoptions as governor. Musgrove is trying to run as a Republocrat, taking black voters and non-conservative white voters for granted while basing his entire campaign on an appeal to the far right, and this is one of the costs of that strategy.

I'll vote for Musgrove because Wicker is so much worse it isn't even funny, but I can't really fault Wicker too much for running this ad because (a) I'm always happy to see any candidate make a serious play for black voters and (b) the criticism is technically accurate, from where I sit...

Musgrove had one really really good ad and a really really good message (education and health care), but for some reason he wants to make the campaign about gay-bashing and abortion, all while distancing himself from Obama. Though I will say one thing for Musgrove: At least he seems to have let up on immigrants. Early on it was getting kind of hard to distinguish his rhetoric on the issue from Phil Bryant's.

Do the African American so-called endorsers of Wicker identify themselves or are they paid actresses? I respect a person who is willing to publicly identify themselves with a candidate. The anonymous are either cowards or phonies. In an interview right after the debate, Musgrove identified himself as supporting Obama. That makes the ad seem technically inaccurate. I have talked to many Wicker supporters and I know many of them hate Obama.

I have no doubt that most Wicker supporters hate Obama, but Musgrove is making a play for a lot of people who hate Obama, too, and I can't really get upset if he gets called on that...

Interesting re: the post-debate interview, but I still see him going out of his way to say he's a conservative "Mississippi Democrat" with Republican social values, and the history of that identity has as much to do with pre-Southern Strategy Democratic history as it does the Religious Right.

I'm not saying Musgrove has to be a pro-choice supporter of gay rights who walks around with an Obama pin shouting "Si se puede!," but he can talk about education and health care and other issues that actually impact Mississippians' lives, like he did in the commercial I linked, instead of going around basing his entire campaign around the notion that he's just as much of a hatemonger as Wicker and therefore deserves Wicker's hatemonger votes. That strategy didn't work for Eaves and it won't work for Musgrove either. He needs to be about what he's about, not about what he ISN'T about. I've never heard of anyone actually winning a political campaign based on a public persona that consists of the phrase "I'm not who you think I am." That strategy forces him on defense and keeps him talking about the very issues that Democrats don't do well on in Mississippi, when he could be talking more about issues that he can actually win on.

musgrove said in the debate that he was supporting his party's nominee for president and at an interview with the ledger editors said he was supporting obama,actually saying obama by name.on the otherhand,wicker was reportedly asked whether he would vote to reelect george bush and he could not arrive at a straight answer.it will be much easier for obama to govern with 60 senatores receptive to his views .wicker will no doubt vote to filibuster on any major initiative coming from an obama whitehouse.musgrove would not do that.

as for musgroves media, it has described his excellent record as governor on healthcare and education, until he was subjected to a vicious ad depicting him, literally, taking money from a guy dressed up as one of the village people and from a lobbyist for naral.musgrove didnt stir this mess up: the nrscc did;sometimes you have to stop and fight back.just ask obama if they know how to through back a punch.

musgroves candidacy might be a heck of a lot easier if the obama campaign had elected to fund a full fledged campaign in mississippi and not write us off as too far red.i believe if the obama campaign had done half as much as they are doing in georgia for instance we might have a winning race down here. money and organizers and media surely could have persuaded one out of four whites to vote Democrat for president and ,if that were the case, mississippi would be going blue.

That is too funny!: <not saying Musgrove has to be a pro-choice supporter of gay rights who walks around with an Obama pin shouting "Si se puede!>. That's why I follow this site.

I agree with Chimneyville. If there were a full fledged campaign here as in GA, it would have encouraged conservative Dems to move a little closer to the top of the ticket.

omg.. i love the pic associated with this story. The caption should read..."Senate hopeful Roger Wicker reacts to a zipper malfunction."

How about a tie then a duel in the streets to pick a winner.

I am not going to bash Ronnie - because of the appointments he made at DFA and Medicaid when he was governor. He was the only candidate to show up at Tougaloo's when the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha, did the "Voteless People, Is a hopeless People Program".

Advertisment is another animal. He needs those wingnuts just as bad as he needs those "liberal" blacks. Why we get labled as liberals, anyones guess is as good as mine.

So it is just like some black person questioning Barack Obama blackness!? Justifying a reason not to vote for him, used to piss me off!

Ronnie is alright, but I undertsand what he has to do - so he still gets my vote. Because Roger Wicker is way on the "Right" when he votes - that means he is not very in tune with my ideas of government.

chimneyville, don't count MS out of becoming a "Blue State." I think that this is going to be the "November Suprise" for America! state.

justjess - I would roll on the floor laughin, if Mississippi goes to Obama.

But I will not lose any sleep, if he doesn't either - but it would be a pleasant surprise.