The New York Times decided to come down here and tell us how things are in Mississippi:
Senate Race in Mississippi Exposes a Cultural Rift
What is clear is that the mix of enthusiastic amateurs, Christian conservatives and Tea Party activists involved in the incidents has lent an unconventional, outsider quality to the movement animating Mr. McDaniel’s campaign, underscoring the cultural rift dividing the supporters of the two candidates.
And while the House majority leader Eric Cantor’s primary defeat Tuesday at the hands of a Tea Party challenger might be the most surprising story of the political season, the mix in the Mississippi race has made it the most extravagantly weird, and one with the same potential for an outsider to topple a powerful, entrenched incumbent....
In a statement, the McDaniel campaign said the courthouse story was part of the Cochran campaign’s plan to make the race “about anything but issues.”
“Mississippians deserve better than this sort of distraction politics,” it continued....
Mr. Cochran and his allies are using it to portray Mr. McDaniel’s supporters as a pack of untrustworthy bumblers — like characters out of some Dixie-fried political farce.
“It sure is bizarre, isn’t it?” Mr. Cochran said Tuesday, in a video interview with the newspaper The Clarion-Ledger. “What in the world were they doing up there?”
“Not exactly ready for prime time,” added Henry Barbour, the nephew of former Gov. Haley Barbour. Mr. Barbour is currently running a pro-Cochran “super PAC” called Mississippi Conservatives. “If this is the group we’re going to send to Washington, boy, we’re in trouble.”
Some say the differences between the supporters of Mr. Cochran, a senator since 1978, who is the face of the party establishment, and those of Mr. McDaniel, a former host of a conservative radio show, go beyond the issues in the race.....
“There’s a divide between the ‘country club’ Republicans and what I call the ‘deer camp’ Republicans,” said Jon C. Lewis, a Hinds County constable, who, as a McDaniel supporter, puts himself in the latter camp. “Their problem is that there’s more of us than there is of them.”
In the June 3 primary, Mr. McDaniel received 49.5 percent of the vote to Mr. Cochran’s 49 percent. Because neither received more than 50 percent, they have been forced into a June 24 runoff.....
Mr. Lewis said that late on election night he tried to reach out to the McDaniel camp to tell them that someone needed to monitor the count, particularly because it was being overseen by the chairman of the county Republican Party, Pete Perry, a well-known Cochran supporter. (Primary election vote counts here are conducted by party officials.)
“I don’t think it’s fair that Pete Perry oversee this election,” Mr. Lewis said. “Down here we say, ‘He wears Cochran drawers.’ He’s a die-hard Cochran supporter.”
The McDaniel campaign, in a news release, said it sent people to the courthouse to observe the vote count, and they entered an open door after being directed to it “by uniformed personnel.” Mr. Lewis said that Ms. Lane told him that the three arrived around 1:30 a.m. Ms. Lane told the Sheriff’s Department that she encountered a Jackson police officer who pointed out a back door to the courthouse and said it might be open. She said they pulled on the door and it opened.
Eventually the three supporters, alone in the building, realized that they had locked themselves in after they let the door close.
At 2 a.m. Wednesday, Mr. Perry, the party’s county chairman, was returning from an election-night party for Mr. Cochran when Ms. Lane called him.
“I said, ‘What the hell is she doing, calling at 2 in the morning?’ ” he said.
Mr. Perry said Ms. Lane asked him for help getting out, and he called the sheriff’s office. He said that Ms. Lane told him she went to the courthouse to show a friend how votes are counted.
The McDaniel campaign has noted that all of the ballots were locked away at the time, and charged that “a close Cochran ally wants to make hay out of this.”
Mr. Perry has interpreted that as a reference to him and denies it. “The story is that their people were in a place they had no business being,” he said. “Well, the issue now is they’re already blaming other people for their own screw-ups.”... There is more, much more..
27 comments:
I hunt and play golf. Somebody please robocall me and tell me who the hell to vote for!
"most extravagantly weird" is quite a distinction for us.
The article sounds about right
Last deer camp I visited was chock-full of folks who I know to be Cochran supporters, and I'd be mildly surprised if there was a McDaniel supporter in the place.
It was in the Delta. And I suspect that the guy who owned the "cabin" where I stayed only goes to the country club when family or social obligations require attendance at a wedding reception.
Boy, that New York Times sure makes those McDaniel people look silly. And I always follow the lead of the New York Times when it comes to how I vote.
The common theme in all of these "break-ins" seems to be Pete Perry. He was all over the Rose Cochran issue and for some reason was the first phone call election night. I guess it makes sense since he's familiar with break ins doing Daddy PL Blake's dirty work for him.
how many country clubs are left in Mississippi. haven't most of them gone broke? the pitiful excuse for one in Columbus was foreclosed and bought up by EMCC. any of them that have survived must be pretty ratty places...
I have thought this all along why is Pete Perry overseeng this ...is definitely a conflict of interest. however on the other hand if anyone was overseeing it- it would be a conflict of interest as one person would have a favorite of one or the other party. but then again with Pete's outspoken views of this race he does not need to be involved at all! I would not trust him as far as I could throw his big hairy tongue. I'm even still wondering if it's true if he was the last one in the courthouse and for all we know there could have been ballot boxes with cm votes sitting inside the propped door! isn't that what we were told before by an employee? ......the door was propped for deliveries of ballot boxes because they did not have the key code? how convenient. again why aren't we holding the person responsible and accountable for not securing the doors to the courthouse especially during an election? . this is just old fashioned fried green tomatoes politics. .
was I allowed to say Pete Perry had a hairy tongue Kingfish?
I don't know ANY man who's a member of a country club, who is not ALSO a member of a hunting club. Both sorts of activities/affiliations appeal to conformist, 'joiner types'... classic Republicans, now that I think about it.
I would think that the Tea Party Republicans, if they were really different from typical Republicans, would be concentrating their time on their careers and their church/community improvement groups, and would nave neither the time nor the money to devote to ultra-traditional middle class dissipations.
Hunting, by the way, is probably more expensive than Country-Clubbing.
I don't understand what all this talk is about a "courthouse." I saw a Thad Cochran interview and he said they were in a jail. What's going on?
5:24-5:26
Connie??
All of us woodland creatures know that humans who support the old and slow white-haired human congregate in Deer Camps and Country Clubs. They're to be avoided at all costs.
From what I've witnessed in captivity, humans like my owner, who support the younger faster dark-haired human, usually sit around on the living room sofa and play video games and yell at their computers until late at night. They're also to be avoided at all costs.
I kinda like my human, but I really just wish all of you would go away forever.
Turtle. FYI. You aren't funny. In a comedic sense. Not funny.
Latest poll McDaniel leads 49-41.
What do New Yorkers know anyway? Don't they have enough news up there with their white-collar-crimed city to distract them from "weird" news like our's? Surely an educated journalist could have chosen a better adverb/adjective other than "extravagantly weird". Must have had blank space to fill.
I'm hoping this will help delay their inevitable flight down south once they realize what a jewel we have down here myself.
I'm openly and vigorously supporting Chris McDaniel and think he's going to win. You can tell me you don't like Pete Perry for some reason or another - Lord knows we've had our discussions wherein the other patrons in the bar were sure we were going to duke it out - but there is no way on God's green earth that he would rig an election. None. Enough with that. Bill Billingsley
Voting for McDaniel. When Thad's handlers chose to stoop to a new low and pander to democrats to eliminate the competition, that told me all I need to know.
I'm more scared of McDaniels security goons than I am of any New York Times report. Chris must be really important to already need those security jar-heads.
I still don't understand how so many people of average intelligence can be led by the pied pipers of Levin, Ingraham, Palin, et al. to join McDonald's crowd. Are there no free-thinkers in south Mississippi?
9:03
Sooo, status quo = free thinker?
Riiight.
I can't wait to read the articles about Thad and the farm animals. Come visit Mississippi,where the politics are dirty and the cows are nervous.
5:24, Perry was 'overseeing' the election because he is the chairman of the party. Actually, the 'party' oversees the election and he is just one member of it. And most every member of the party probably has their preference already made - do you think they should all recuse?
But your statement of the 'facts' just doesn't seem to match what the reported facts are - even the numerous different stories that were given by the three stoogies inside the courthouse. Perry was not the last one in the courthouse - he left a half hour before all the others. The door that was supposedly "propped open" was not the doors that are left open for the ballot box deliveries which are the double doors that enter into a lobby. Those were closed and locked. The alleged propped open door was a utility door that led into a stairway/hallway. You and the rest of the story-tellers ought to at least try to get your facts straight before you start spewing them.
But I do have a question - how do you know that Perry's tounge is hairy? Have you been exploring?
Actually, the 'party' oversees the election and he is just one member of it.
Just gave away your ignorance with that one sentence.
bill...thanks for a sane post.
I know both you and Pete can well defend your reasons for supporting a candidate.
But, geez, you both have to be cringing at the " help" some of your supporters think they are giving you.
What exactly is the roll of a county's Republican Executive Committee in holding the primary and vote counting? I have never really had a good understanding of this.
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