Jackson Free Press

1. What happened to Thad Cochran's black-vote turnout machine?

After the incumbent made it into a runoff against state Sen. Chris McDaniel, Cochran's campaign launched an all-out blitz aimed at getting African Americans who did not participate in the Democratic primary to vote in the GOP runoff. It worked then. But with the exception of a poorly attended rally in downtown Jackson and some ads in the Mississippi Link, Cochran isn't going as hard for blacks to show up at the polls today. Makes you go hmmmmm.

1. What was Travis Childers thinking?

When he talked at the Neshoba County fair this summer about raising the minimum wage, equal pay for women and expanding health-care access, I thought those were solid populist issues that could appeal to traditional Democratic voters—blacks, women and young folks—as well as blue-collar whites. All he really needed to do was to go around the state hammering those three talking points into the heads of sensible people who'd tuned out the Cochran-McDaniel legal shenanigans. Childers didn't even need much money to do that. And as a successful businessman, could have driven around the state on his dime. Instead, he remained silent; his campaign ignored interview requests from reporters. And when it became clear that his opponent would be Cochran, all Childers wanted to do was talk about debates, which almost never works.

1. Could there be a tea party 'Bradley Effect'?

When Tom Bradley, the first black mayor of Los Angeles, ran for governor of California in the 1980s, some polling organizations projected that he would win. After he lost, narrowly, the term "Bradley effect" came to describe where people tell polltakers they will support a minority candidate because it seems politically correct, but then vote for the white candidate in the booth. A lot of McDaniel supporters claims they won't vote for Cochran under any circumstance and are looking at Childers as viable alternative. I wonder, though, if we'll see some version of the Bradley Effect, where tea-partiers vote for the Republican Cochran, but tell people they cast a protest vote for Childers or another candidate.

1. Why is Chuck C. Johnson so quiet?

Remember when Johnson, a California-based blogger, blew into Mississippi and got the whole state all a-twitter during the Republican Senate primary? Remember how local media spent weeks chasing anti-Cochran "stories" that Johnson broke on his website. Apparently, Johnson got bored with us and headed up to Ferguson, Mo., to write about the protests surrounding the shooting death of 18-year-old Mike Brown. After that, he got really interested in Ebola. So interested in fact that he was booted from Twitter for publishing the home address of a nurse who had worked with an Ebola patient. Considering his heavy involvement—some might even say influence—in #mssen, it's a mystery why has yet to weigh in McDaniel's once-and-for-all defeat at the Mississippi Supreme Court.

1. Maybe Blacks should just vote in GOP primaries from now on

If Thad Cochran returns …

It could be a NFL Draft red herring but the Dallas Cowboys have shown an incredible amount of interest in Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott. According to the Dallas-Morning News, Cowboys Quarterback Coach Wade Wilson is in Starkville, Miss today to workout the former Bulldogs single caller.

This will mark the third time that Wilson has meet with before this April's draft. Wilson, along with Dallas Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan, spent time with Prescott at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala and then met with him again at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in late February.

Multiple reports (here and here) have the Cowboys linked to Prescott in this year's NFL Draft. And why not, Dallas has to start thinking about like after Tony Romo at some point.

Last season, Romo spent more time injured than on the field and he has had back issues the last few seasons. The Cowboys have to figure that time is running out on Romo and taking a quarterback in the draft to develop for future is the smart idea.

Prescott has been projected to be drafted as high as the second round but most projections have him being selected in the third to fourth round of this year's draft. Most draft scouts see Prescott as a bit of a work in progress but could turn into a solid starter with time to develop into a NFL starter.

The Dallas Cowboys have nine picks in the draft. Dallas has the 34th pick in the 2nd round, 67th pick in the third round, 101st pick in the fourth round and 135th pick (a compensatory pick) in the fourth round. Other picks include the 189th, 212th, 216th, and 217th pick in the sixth round.

Every pick in the sixth round but the 189th is a compensatory pick. One thing to remember about the draft is that compensatory picks can not be traded and must be used by the team that was awarded the pick. That means the Cowboys don't have a lot of picks to trade if they must move around to get Prescott.

While Prescott has mainly stayed in the news for his on the field work or for being a good guy off the field, he has been in the news for the wrong thing. Last year, Prescott was seen on video being jumped in Panama City, Florida, but the quarterback handled that situation nearly perfectly.

Last week, Prescott was in the news for the wrong reason, when he was arrested for driving under the influence. While his draft stock will take a bit of a hit, because he was arrested so close to the draft, it is not the enough to send up red flags to teams who want to draft the quarterback.

Dallas currently hasn't signed a quarterback in free agency and have Kellen Moore as the only other quarterback on the roster besides Romo. The …