Jackson Jambalaya

I hate to disagree with KF when he asks the candidates to KNOCK IT OFF...i say PLEASE DONT STOP!!!! This is good stuff....and re-affirms what people have been saying to me about this race for months...DO I REALLY HAVE TO VOTE FOR ONE OF THESE GUYS? YES...YES YOU DO...So MAN-UP and vote.....GOOB-OUR or Geek-Witz. Im just glad football is about to start soon...i need something manly to watch now!!!

Im just glad football is about to start soon ...

Anybody interested in joining a fantasy football league of JJ readers?

I don't know Will Longwitz personally. I've met him a couple of times and he seems like a nice guy. His relentless campaigning has opened him up to ridicule (I've taken a good-natured shot at him myself). That being said, Charles Barbour needs to lose the bush-league tactics.

In government, "raided" doesn't mean stealing. Raided means that a politician takes funds intended for one public purpose, and uses them to pay for another unintended public purpose. The only one who mentioned "stealing" is Barbour himself. I'm not accusing Barbour of doing anything wrong, but that sounds awfully defensive to me.

As far as sleaze against Judge Ratcliff, I don't recall Longwitz attacking Ratcliff. Longwitz's supporters may have engaged in some puffery about his qualifications, but I never heard any sleaze. Ratcliff was far and away more qualified to be county court judge. The right man won that race. For Barbour to resurrect that campaign smacks of desperation.

As far as the NRA rating, the NRA notified Longwitz of his rating by letter on July 11. The same day, Longwitz posted the original letter on his website. How can it be argued that Longwitz misrepresented his rating, when he published the original letter from the NRA--the NRA's own words--on his website?

From now on, before Charles Barbour does anything, he needs to ask himself this question: Would Haley do this? If the answer is no, then he shouldn't either.

Yes I agree with Kingfish for once. These two are acting like jealous brats in the school yard arguing about who gets picked last for dodgeball.

Barbour is a sleazeball with a piss poor record to run on and Longwitz doesnt have a record or a job for that matter, so has to make things up like being a federal prosecutor to beef up the fact he has never done anything but try to run for office.

John Dennery where are you when we need you?

yada yada yada. Already read as much of that drivel as I could handle. Makes me very very tired to read that kind of crap, plus each paragraph (and there were a hundred of them) contains an average of something like 20 words. What a piss poor job of article submission. But every new graduate has to start somewhere. PS: since I quit halfway into the article I might have missed the part where they argue over who is or HAS the biggest prick.

Longwitz's 'Thad' mailer was a big time stupid move.

Yah, the "Thad" postcard gives one no confidence in Longwitz's integrity. And I already doubted Barbour's. I will probably skip that one ... or write in "Kingfish"?

-- Anyone heard of any endorsements in the Madison sheriff's race? That's the runoff that will drag me to the polls.

The postcard was signed by Thad McLaurin, husband of Mary McLaurin and was sent to local people he knew. Kind of like when I talk to Bill Billingsley I would mention "leland". Well, I assumed he knew I meant Speed, he immediately thought the first few times I mean the guy who ran for Supe. This is much ado about nothing and we'll have a haha about it for a day or two.

You go ahead and believe all that Fish.

OK, so if not Longwitz's integrity, then just his plain good sense. The inability to grasp how one's actions will be perceived is not, I submit, a qualification for politics.

But again, good sense is not something I associate w/ Chas. Barbour either.

Let me get this straight. A man named Thad must now refer to himself by his full name when writing to a friend lest he be confused with another Thad? That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Charles has nothing to run on, so he runs from, while trying to run his opponent into the ground.

Bush League Barbour needs to give it up. His last name ain't enough to make him look smart, especially if he opens his mouth to speak.

isn't it odd that Sampayo is running in that race? didn't she work for Barbour and then he got her a job with Mcmillin?
???????

Longwitz is unproven, Barbour has proven to be bad. Not much of a choice, but it is a clear choice.

Assuming the district is not totally within Madison County, does Mike Kent opining that the winner must reside within the county suggest those who live elsewhere need not care where the victor lives?

Kent, in a separate piece on here (I believe one of those 'break one-nine' for a commercial threads), says he supports Barbour's opponent because the victor needs to live in Madison Co. in order to properly serve the needs of the school district (of which Kent is superintendant and from which he is about to retire). So, Kent is in someone's hip pocket. I think Kent needs to keep his trap shut until he is out of 'office'.

So I guess Walter Michelle did not represent Madison County schools well by Kent's logic.

I think Shadowfax is in someone's hip pocket.

"So, Kent is in someone's hip pocket."

Did you omit a premise, Shadowfax? Because that conclusion makes no sense as you've presented it.

The Thad signature in question looks nothing like Senator Thad's signature, it's pretty clear that this was not malicious. Just a distraction from the fact that Charles Barbour voted to raid the 911 fund and make Hinds county less safe.

Good strategy though.

seriously - are people really making a ruckus about a piece of mail sent out by an individual and NOT THE CAMPAIGN? I sent out post cards for another candidate that the candidate gave me to my friends. I signed my first name, like i always do on postcards. it never dawned on me to worry about if i was going to mistaken for someone else. Frank Corder even wrote about this. why are people worked up about this? geez - ousin

Too bad for Longwitz as his stupid stunt has now brought him national focus for being a boob.

So to replace someone like Walter Michel, we're down to these two...

Longwitz could screw up a one car funeral. He absolutely blew an easy race last time against Ratcliff, when Longwitz was endorsed openly by GOP bigwigs such as Haley, Mayors Mary and McGee, and other big Madison Cty GOPs. Now, with this Thad fiasco, he is on the verge of blowing this one. He has given Charles barbour the hook the needs to hang his hat on, regarding ammunition to close out the campaign with.

Of course, it remains to be seen as to whether Charles is savvy enough to know how to take advantage of it.

Longwitz kinda reminds me of the Reese Witherspoon character in that "Election" movie.

Just really, really wants to be elected to SOMETHING -- judge, legislator, whatever.

Speaking of which, how much do justice court judges make, and is the annual salary enough for Louvier to pay for all those signs?

The back and forth doesn't benefit either candidate. Will should win this race with 2/3's of the district in Madison County, but Barbour is effectively distracting him from running a solid campaign at this point.

In terms of the mailer, that is a load of hogwash. Postcards were given out to Will's supporters for them to write personal notes and send the cards to friends. Will didn't dictate content and he didn't tell me people how to sign the cards. Thad McLaurin signed the cards "Thad" on his own and sent them to friends. To portray this as some orchestrated scheme to mislead is just silly.

2:40 -- "and he didn't tell *me* people how to sign the cards"

Mr. McLaurin? Is that you? May I call you "Thad"?

... It certainly is possible that McLaurin, not Longwitz, was the doofus here. "Protect me from my friends" should be in every politician's prayers at night.

Whether Longwitz did this intentionally (and I dont think he did) or not.....it kills him. He doesn't have a record and now he looks like a liar, even if he isnt. The press release from the senators office really does him in.

Why did McLaurin then send the cards to people in NE Jackson that he doesn't know?

Longwitz is caught in a lie. Plain and simple.

I'm sure if Will Longwitz said hi to you you would accuse him of influence peddling or something similar. That is how bad this race has gotten.

3:12 Thad McLaurin along with many other volunteers wrote postcards for Will. To take a postcard written by Thad McLaurin and say it was written by Thad Cochran, or implied, or whatever other nonsense you are saying, is just garbage.
Charles Barbour should be ashamed. This makes him look really stupid.
Will Longwitz is by far the best choice in this race, and I will be voting for him again on August 23.

It really is a simple question and the evasion glaringly obvious.

Why did McLaurin send the postcards simply signed 'Thad' to people he does not know in NE Jackson?

Crap. I just heard from President Clinton. He said I'm not allowed to impersonate him anymore when I send post cards. My friend Hillary is in trouble as well...

This is silly. A campaign volunteer signed his first name only. The candidate didn't have anything to do with it. If that was what Will was trying to do, why not find someone named Haley to send out some cards as well? Or even Charles? Lots of people named Charles out there, and I'm sure one of them in Madison County is going to vote for Will and might be interested in volunteering to send some postcards on his behalf. To think the candidate had some sort of treachery planned with Thad McLaurin means that you don't know either man. Bill Billingsley

"He looked at me! Mom, make him stop"

Longwitz doesn't have a record to attack, so Barbour's campaign had to resort to personal attacks well before the primary (i.e., Longwitz is a gay communist sympathizer who voted for Obamacare because he has cancer that he caught from one of the murders he represented). Part of that strategy is to preemptively drill it in to voters' heads that Longwitz is running a dirty campaign so Lonqwitz can't respond to the Barbour camp's attacks without confirming he is a "dirty" campaigner. This is not a brilliant new campaign tactic, invented by Barbour and used for the first time here, but Longwitz is having trouble dealing with it.

Although Longwitz is the better candidate, his campaign is no match for the Barbour Machine. He will not beat them at their own game. He will have to reinvent the game if he is going to have a chance. My advice is: throw away the playbook (they wrote it), start calling plays at the line, and don't count on your defense.

Also, take Georgia and the points versus Boise State.

If your opponent accurately reports your record, and you accuse him of violating his promise to run a clean campaign, what does that say about how you view the worth of your own record?

Bill, why did McLaurin send the postcards simply signed 'Thad' to people he does not know in NE Jackson?

And word on the street is that the Thad Cochran who represents Mississippi in the United States Senate is none too happy with this high school campaign prank.

Anderson; sorry you missed the 'premise'. I covered it by repeating Kent's strong support of one candidate and by pointing out how weak Kent's logic for that decision seems to be (gotta live here to represent us). You don't read well do you? You can find more on the Kent endorsement thread on here which was also referenced.

I'm in nobody's hip pocket. Don't know that I would recognize either candidate. Well, let me take that back. I did see a commercial with Longwitz and his family walking through a meadow of some sort.

Jere Nash on dirty campaign tricks?

Really?

3:58 Thad McLaurin grew up in NE Jackson, as did generations and generations of his family. There are plenty of people in NE Jackson who know Thad McLaurin, which is why he sent his postcards to people in NE Jackson.
And I understand Thad Cochran has been made aware that he's been fooled by Bumbling Bitter Barbour and is very unhappy.

No surprise who Jere's pulling for in this race. The dems/former dems gotta stick together!

"Anderson; sorry you missed the 'premise'. I covered it by repeating Kent's strong support of one candidate and by pointing out how weak Kent's logic for that decision seems to be (gotta live here to represent us)."

Kent cares about Madison County schools, and thus thinks someone who lives in Madison County (and sends his kids to school here) will be a better rep than someone who does not.

That's not "weak logic." Nor does it imply that he is in someone's "hip pocket" -- "completely under someone's control," as the dictionary defines the phrase.

But doubtless my weak reading skills are to blame.

The best question that has been asked several times is if this were just a volunteer post card that Thad McLaurin sent to his friends, then was it actually sent to people he didn't know? If so, it seems to me he would have signed his full name.

Likewise, does anyone have multiple versions of this mail piece? It would be interesting to see if they were actually handwritten or computer generated as well.

If I knew Thad McLaurin and got a note from him I'm sure I'd think nothing of it. If I didn't know him and got the note I suspect I would think "who is Thad" or very likely "is this Thad Cocrhan"?

4:50 PM. Answer the question. Why was the McLaurin 'Thad' signed postcard, regardless of his origins, his generational family history and where he grew up, sent to people who have never met McLaurin in NE Jackson?

BUT thanks for debunking the earlier lies that the cards were only sent to people McLaurin knew. Because we all know that is 100% pure unadulterated bullshit.

The best question that has been asked several times is if this were just a volunteer post card that Thad McLaurin sent to his friends, then was it actually sent to people he didn't know? If so, it seems to me he would have signed his full name.

The Longwitz camp doesn't want to answer that question because they know they've been caught.

Unless a few hundred voters show up and say "I got the postcard," this just sounds like a case of a) wrong/old addresses for a few people or b) more manufactured bullshit from Barbour.

Another ridiculous effort to distract Will. If you knew Thad, you'd know that he is a no nonsense, no bullshit kinda guy. Longwitz didn't ask Thad to impersonate the Senator and Thad wouldn't have agreed to try and mislead anyone if asked. He just signed his damn name. Did he send it to some people that weren't close acquaintances, perhaps. I don't know, but the man has a former Governor in his lineage and his family knows a lot of people. I suspect that the implications being made here are being made by Charles or one of his brothers.

Sure it is.

I suspect 5:50 PM that you are Longwitz himself.

Anderson; It may have eluded you, but another contributor asked, rather parenthetically (above), if Kent's insistence that the victor live in Madison County means Kent is somehow displeased with Michel's representation the last several years when Kent had his most successful years with Mad County schools and the office holder didn't live in these parts. Or is Kent's reasoning simply weak? Or did Thad write Kent's endorsement? Or is Kent looking for a part time gig?

waaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

It's too bad Charles would never agree to a debate. This would be a good one.

Why debate a candidate who has done nothing except inflate their resume with puffery?

I think you're being a little hard on Charles. His resume with the Hinds Co BoS alone made him eligible for several awards in the democratic party. My favorite was when he won JFP politician of the week.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Michel lived in Madison County for a while. If wrong, I stand corrected.

11:28 -- Anyone heard of any endorsements in the Madison sheriff's race? That's the runoff that will drag me to the polls.

Brad Harbour has endorsed Houston.

Mike Crook (former Alderman and Ridgeland resident, according to his Facebook endorsement) has endorsed Tucker.

Haven't heard of any others.

I sent out a number of these postcards for Will Longwitz. Many of mine went to friends, and I signed my first name only to most of those. Some went to people I don't know but who might have recognized my name from some of the political things I've done in the past. Those I signed with my full name. All my cards were hand written and signed by me - no printer or copier. I thought that people might be more likely to pay attention to something that was hand written and signed by someone they know - or might know - than they would one of the many pieces of direct mail that deluged us all in the last couple of weeks of the campaign. It's good political strategy to make a piece of mail be as personal as possible, and I think it was smart of Will to allow his supporters to do help him in this manner. There were no guidelines or suggestions as to what I was supposed to write, and Will certainly didn't have to tell me how to sign my name.

But I'm not defending Will Longwitz. There are obvious posters hereto - mostly anonymous, of course - who would continue to criticize Will if he discovered the cure to the cancer he was supposed to have had. I'm here to defend my friend Thad McLaurin. He was simply trying to do the same thing I was, the same thing dozens of volunteers did for Will - send out some postcards. He is a decent and honorable man, and those of you - including Charles Barbour or anyone else in his family or on his campaign staff - who accuse him of this kind of trickery should be ashamed of yourselves. Do you know Thad? His wife? His family? Candidates know that a certain amount of BS is expected, but Thad isn't the candidate. It's gone too far when a volunteer like him, dedicated to the Republican Party and its ideals, is accused of such dishonesty. This needs to stop, and a lot of people owe Thad McLaurin an apology. Bill Billingsley

Does anyone else see that (mostly) everyone on this blog is trying to defend Longwitz about this "Thad" debacle? I really dont think that Longwitz intentionally did anything wrong but the controversy and defense of him will kill his chances.

Anyone disagree?

Yes, I disagree. This is doing nothing but making Charles Barbour look like the total jerk he is.

Who knows where Michel lived or lives, or cares. He moves around. Kent's point was that in order to represent the interests of Madison County, one must live in Madison County. Can we all agree that's hogwash. Or Kentwash.

Barbour had a meet and greet at Madison Central and was 30 minutes late for it because, ......get this, ......... he didn't know where in the hell it was! Then he was dumb enough to tell everyone why he was late! Get a clue Charles. If you'd ever spent time in Madison County, you might learn that they actually still have public schools there, they work pretty well, and they're (justifiably) proud of them.

Barbour doesn't give a damn, or know anything about, Madison County, and with the exception of a very select few, he does not give a damn about NE Jackson.

Despite a life spent, directly or indirectly, on the government tit, he has accomplished nothing positive he can run on. You can expect nothing but attack ads and direct mail from here on out from Charles, per his usual m.o.

When Yazoo City got slammed with a tornado a year or so ago, and we were kept out of the city by the police blocking Hwy 49, Charles Barbour took a chainsaw and cleared a tree blocking the driveway of my 93-year-old mother-in-law.

Obviously he's getting our vote, because that spells character to me. His opponent just seems too desperate for some kind of power and public paycheck; he needs to work a real job and accomplish something before running for office.

It would have been a lot funnier if you said all that and then, "obviously, I'm voting against the s.o.b."

Seriously? Haley owns Katrina. I don't think you'll be able to repackage that and put your name on it. I look forward to the ads, though.

Delbert-esque old lady on park bench with Charles: (visibly shaken) "Those storms that came, really scared me. A tree fell right on top of me, and I had almost given up, when I heard that chainsaw and saw Charles Barbour. Without him, I would have never seen my grandchildren again" (shot of granndkids singing in church)

Charles (earnest, humble): "That's right [old lady], when I heard what had happened to the hard working, good people of my hometown, I told those democrats in Washington that they could shove their new taxes and I drove all night and brought my chainsaw, and a photographer, and rolled up the sleeves on my nice but not too expensive shirt, and I cleared the roads just like I'll clear the way to a better future for all of us."

Old Lady (visibly angry): Not like that bad, bad man Will Longwitz. Did you know he's Jewish?"

Charles (laughing good-naturedly): Now, now granny.

Paid for by No One Actually in the District

Thad said it perfectly! I agree with Thad and Mike Kent, Will Longwitz is THE MAN! Will Longwitz will get my family's vote and SUPPORT! Will knows where Madison Central High School is! And, he knows where every other school in Madison County is! He knows because he has been to them helping get students registered to vote! And, attending their sporting events and other school activities!

I bet that Charles can't even name all the high schools, much less all the schools in Madison County!

Go WILL! We are proud of you and what you stand for!

I'm sure both Will and Charles are well qualified for the job. Its sad that both are attacking each other.

I'm not. Its great for traffic.

"Charles Barbour took a chainsaw and cleared a tree blocking the driveway of my 93-year-old mother-in-law."

Considering that he doesn't have a job and lives off his wife, running that chainsaw was probably the most labor he has done in 10 years.

I hardly think "I want my representative to live where I live" is an odd proposition.

Not having lived in the State back in the day with Charles as Supervisor ...one of y'all mentioned his past run ins...so I googled, and this wife stuff is just seedy...http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501263_162-2968476-501263.html?tag=mncol;lst;1

So why push him off on to the State, then?

Seems to me that anyone not smart enough to know that, if Thad Cochran was going to send a postcard supporting someone, he would sign the card "Thad Cochran", well, they don't need to be voting anyway.

As arrogant as Thad's office is, I bet they ALL thought it was about Thad Cochran. Probably never crossed their minds it might be the husband of the CHairwoman of the County Republican Party.

Seems to me that anyone not smart enough to know that, if Thad Cochran was going to send a postcard supporting someone, he would sign the card "Thad Cochran", well, they don't need to be voting anyway.

You mean, like how his campaign signs all said "Thad Cochran," not just "Thad"?

Apparently.

Just to clear it up, the response at 3:02 was for KF.
Anderson, maybe you don't know the difference between someone having their name on their own campaign sign and someone signing his name on a postcard for some other candidate's campaign, but, I'd bet that pretty much everybody else does.

For this "dirty trick" to have any effect, the guy would have had to send this postcard to hundreds of voters who did not know him who would believe it was Cochran. I have yet to see a single person come forward and say they were confused, much less any confused mass of people.

This whole issue was a red herring by the Barbour camp to 1) distract people from considering his record and, most importantly, 2) to keep Longwitz bogged down dealing with a bunch of false accusations instead of getting out the vote. Nobody, including Barbour, believes the post cards fooled anyone (or were even intended to).

I just got ANOTHER direct mail attack ad, in addition to the three push polls I've gotten. Somebody is spending a WHOLE hellavalotta money that isn't being reported, and what I'd estimate is 15-20 times senate pay (above the table, and without considering government contracts, on the side).
How sad is it that I don't have to name the candidate for all of us to know exactly who I'm talking about? If you're sick of the government we have, don't just vote. Get other people to vote, too.

Will Longwitz is the man... Charles Barbour has managed to sabotage his own campaign with endless attacks against Will... anyone with any gumption knows Charles is grasping for straws and making up the BS he acclaims to Will... What a bunch of boloney! Go Will... you are the man!

Thanks THAD... Thanks MIKE! I agree with you!

Wow 11:07! Amazing story... thanks for sharing... for those who don't remember or didn't live here, check this CBS News piece out - Feds Raid Office of Mississippi Governor's KIN

My goodness! No wonder Charles is making up crap against Will and flooding the mailways with attacks... trying to keep anyone from discovering his own sleazy past involvement in the sweetest of all sweetheart deals!

Who sends anything ramdomly without signing their last name? There is no way to cover this up from being what it is.......a political trick gone bad. Imagine if someone named Haley sent a bunco of cards out with just his first name.

6:59 - fail. stick to calling in favors/twisting arms in the rest of the blogesphere. consumers of this website are a little more sophisticated than they are over at the CL

@1028.....I don't have a dog in this hunt so I don't know what arm twisting you are referring to and I am not on the CL. I am only pointing out the obvious that this was intended as a slight of hand and it backfired. One doesn't have to be in Barbour camp to call the truth here.

If this was, as you claim, a campaign trick designed to fool people into voting for Longwitz, it would have had to have gone out to hundreds, if not thousands, of people (who did not know McLaurin and would confuse him with Cochran) to have any effect. Where are these "duped masses"? On what do you base your assertion that any of McLaurin's cards were sent "randomly?" This is simply a contrived bunch of bullshit by Charles to justify the negative campaign blitz he has been planning from the beginning. If this happened during the primary, why are we just now hearing about it? He has so little to attack in Longwitz that he has had to create a fictional opponent to rail against.

I didn't have a dog in this hunt before, but I do now. I know the men involved. I know their families, and I know (and Charles knows) they've done nothing wrong. Before this latest stunt, I would have made sure to vote in this election. Now, I'm going to spend every day from now until the election calling friends, family and colleagues to let them know what's really going on in this race. People who run campaigns like this should not be elected. People like Charles Barbour should not be in office.

I don't know whether Longwitz can win against one of the most massive, far reaching and powerful political establishments in this Country, but I'm going to have a hard time looking my kids in the eye if I don't try to help him.

@11:47 I agree. I've always heard--and so far it holds--that a man will run an office just like he ran to get there. This is the only way the Barbour clan knows how to run a campaign. They use their name to get massive amounts of money for a candidate that they can control (like their dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks brother) and then throw every piece of nasty crap they can at the opponent. They're a bunch of playground bully's and a lot of people are getting tired of their bullshit. Henry is an asshole who has started believing his own press that he is somehow an up and coming star. The heir apparent's to the throne are going to find themselves on a sinking island with all the bridges burned before long.

I will NOT vote for Charles Barbour because of his brother Henry's letter I received today. I hate negative campaigns.

Amazing that so many think what gets written on this board anonymously has any influence at all.

No one in ne jackson should support Longwitz. He has purposely neglected this area until he decided he needed the votes and wanted to run for senate.

I don't know of a living sole who would vote for anyone flooding the mailways with such made up $hit as Charles Barbour is spewing out. Now they have enlisted Henry... what a helluva note! Now they are going down hill even faster!

EVERYONE I KNOW IS VOTING LONGWITZ! He's the man!

@524. The Longwitz campaign staff would be better served knocking on doors than posting here.

Y'all can email me said letters and mailers. I never get them in the mail so it would be interesting to see what they look like. Thanks.

Please have a conversation with Charles Barbour before you vote. Just have a conversation with him.

Then imagine his last name is "Andrews" or whatever.

He is as unimpressive as a human being can be.

Voters don't appreciate the Barbour's sleazy negative direct mail, nor Henry's attack letter!

Obviously the only thing they can do is to contrive something against Will since Charles Barbour has never accomplished anything positive. Well unless you count the Katrina sweetheart deals tossed his way.

And, yes he loves creative use of 911 fees(taxes on all phone users) as normal County revenues!

The voters of North Jackson have seen Charles Barbour at work and don't like what we saw.

LONGWITZ BY A LANDSLIDE!

Put down a marker. Predict the percentage of the vote Longwitz will garner in this "landslide".

When Longwitz looses this race I am sure he will suddenly have a lifelong dream to be Coroner. This guy just wants o be in office not serve. Barbour is a true public servant.

I'm finding the whole thing amusing. Some trash talk goes on, one candidate takes the bait and sends out a mailer, then the other responds with an artillery barrage that seems more suited for the Somme or Verdun than Eastover except its negative ads instead of ordnance. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a backlash. The B camp made one mistake in the last few days. It will be interesting to see if they figure out what it is.

How many campaigns have you run or worked for Kingfish?