Jackson Jambalaya

That was quick. Only 15 minutes into election night coverage and Governor Barbour is already declared the winner. One thinks of Tyson-Spinks after hearing the call by the AP. Was that even an election? Truth be told, Barbour should have crushed Eaves. Eaves was a very weak candidate. He offered few specific in-depth proposals. Instead of talking about how to make schools better or how he would bring economic growth to Mississippi, he instead talked about moneychangers in the temple, hoping the Bible Thumpers would turn out en masse for him. I'm not surprised. I remember a long time ago a friend of mine was in Eaves' law school class and actually said at the time he was a "dumbass".

Nice. It seems the election night parties are a little bit better than when the primaries took place. Parties are at the Marriott, Edison Walthall, Old Capital Inn, and other similar venues. No Corky's for this crowd. At least these candidates have parties where you actually have to know how to use silverware. Stephanie Bell-Flynt is at the Hopkins party. Hardly anyone is there. I wonder if I can go by and get free booze and food to take home. Meanwhile, Hood has a band cranking up. Nice to see someone in this berg knows how to have some fun. Barbour's looks pretty boring. Damn I miss Edwin Edwards on nights like this.

Great. The old white guys. I hate sounding like Donna Ladd but damn, WLBT is asking for it. We HAVE to have one Republican, one Democrat, and Bert Case. Both so-called analysts are very weak. Their personalities? Well, let's just say I prefer my oatmeal for breakfast only. I'm also insulted they think the audience is either Republican or Democrat. Once again, I would like to see analysts on these shows that are more diverse (but well-versed in Mississippi politics). Once again stealing a phrase from Donna Ladd, is the media here only capable of binary thinking when it come to covering elections? Once again I ask why we can't have forums made up of bloggers and a more diverse audience. A panel made up of Alan Lange, Donna Ladd, Othor Cain, and John Leek would have been very interesting and probably entertaining. However, the media would rather serve oatmeal to us. Thanks for nothing.

Damn. who is this reporter for WJTV at the Phil Bryant party? She's really cute. Yeah, its sexist but so what. Its my damn blog. Right now she is in the lead for best looking reporter tonight, with Stephanie Bell-Flynt in second but still on the lead lap. WJTV's Carol Carr is not bad but I still can't forget how Sheriff McMillin took her to school in an interview. Wait. Just saw Julie Straw for WLBT. She is now on the lead lap and has tied Emily. Damn. This could be tough picking a winner. Might just leave it at a tie.

Time to surf the web. Over at Y'allPolitics.com it's rather boring. Posters are merely quoting numbers and making rather mild comments. Probably getting close to bedtime for some of them. AP calls it for Bryant. No surprise there. He seemed to be the aggressor during most of the campaign. Facing Ross in the primary made him a stronger candidate. Franks was underfunded and well, seemed somewhat of a lightweight in comparison to Bryant.

Wow, Gloria Williamson is in a dogfight for her State Senate Seat. Don't anger the NRA in Mississippi. Cliff Cargill is doing carwheels right now.

Mike Chaney won the Insurance Commissioner's race. I did vote for him. I know Gary Anderson. Very nice guy and definitely has the smarts for such a job. However, Chaney's interview in The Jackson Free Press impressed me. He appeared to have a solid command of the facts and laws concerning the insurance industry in Mississippi. After Melton, I am looking at resume's MUCH more closely. Compared to Chaney, Anderson's resume' was rather weak. He had little, if any, expertise concerning insurance. With the problems concerning insurance in post-Katrina Mississippi, I'm not as forgiving for learning curves for rookies. I also voted for Sumrall over Pickering for the same reason: the resume. Mr. Sumrall had much experience as a CPA while Pickering's resume' was rather weak to say the least. Besides the name "Pickering" what exactly was his qualification for the office? As it is probable that Republicans will be in tighter control of state government, it's not a bad idea to have a Democrat or two in higher offices just to keep them honest if nothing else.

What is going on at the JFP site? They are still whining about so-called robocalls. We got a game on and they are yakking about robocalls. nice. Very few posters, which is somewhat of a surprise. Ms. Ladd has the right idea and has ordered a drink, which is exactly what I am doing right now. This Michelob Ultra is starting to look kind of weak, might have to upgrade to something stronger.

Bryant is giving his speech right now. Comes across as a leader. Just saw Jim Hood's speech. Nice job. Said the right things and showed a likeable but forceful personality.

Jerry Moore in lead for Hinds County Constable over the incumbent, Lloyd Paxton. His win is a textbook case in how to win an election. I know EXACTLY who he is as he was all over my neighborhood repeatedly. I saw him in Belhaven going door to door. NE Jackson. He pounded that pavement so much that some of the Yazoo Clay in the area shifted, bringing curses upon him from the pothole-fixing crew. Conversely, I still do not know who Paxton is. Jerry Moore also had the best-looking poll workers too. Please run for re-election.

Will this reporter for WJTV at the Barbour campaign quit saying "you know" after every sentence? Damn Haley, shut-up. That was a pretty good guitar player and I was enjoying his riffs. Having said that, Haley is his usual self. Professional. Practiced. Experienced. Amy Tuck is right next to him on the stage. We haven't heard the last of her. She surfed the Scruggs wave then the Barbour wave. She knows how to play. You are right Haley. Your sons DID marry over their heads. Barbour calls Lester Spell a "great teammate"? Please tell me you didn't say that. If there was ONE officeholder I wanted to see lose, it was Lester Spell. Congratulates Jim Hood on his victory. Very classy.

Uh-oh, we have a "I could'a been a contenda" candidate. Franks refuses to concede, says its too early. Franks told The Clarion-Ledger , “We may still be here into the night.” Ok, the fight is over. This isn't the Rumble in the Jungle and the rope-a-dope is not going to work. You lost. Concede.

10:17 PM. Checking results at the AP. Hoseman wins by over 100,000 votes. He raised more money than Smith and in addition to the cute ads, actually had some serious proposals for the Secretary of State's office such as business courts. Note to candidates: people DO pay attention to serious candidates, not just sound bites and attack ads. Of all the bloviating by the candidates, Mr. Hoseman was one of the few who did not pander or insult my intelligence with the same tired rhetoric.

Damn. Spell has 50% of the vote so far in the race for Agricultural Commissioner. Damn. What does it take for people to kick out an incumbent? Isn't his role in a $50 million disaster along with his refusal to take any blame enough? Hopefully he will get under 50%. If he does, it goes to the house and we get the steel cage-loser leaves town match. 70% of the votes are in. Maybe if he gets under 50% he will imitate Bob Odom and withdraw. What burned me up about him was that he refused to take any reponsibility at all for the beef plant fiasco and consistently blamed everyone else but him. At the very least he should have said he made a mistake, people tend to be forgiving when someone is candid about their flaws but Spell repeatedly spit in the faces of voters who were outraged by the whole debacle.

Wow. Who is the band playing at the Eaves campaign? Pretty good sound. They are praying? Haven't seen that at a campaign in a long time, if I ever have. Nice touch. Howard Ballou with a laptop in front of him? We have come a long way baby. At least they aren't using those virtual reality rooms that were so popular in the media during one presidential election.

Just tuned into WAPT's coverage. Very disappointing. While WLBT and WJTV provided election coverage at 9:00, WAPT waited until its usual 10:00 PM newscast to start its coverage. Once again we get Harvey Johnson and Matt Freideman for election analysis. Wow, at least Harvey and Matt are having a disgreement right now, better than I can say for the I-55 Kroger Morning Coffee Club over at WLBT. Why did you cut them off? We were actually getting a good exchange? yeesh, back to oatmeal.

Franks conceded. Franks blaming it on money. That is part of it but compare Bryant's speech to this interview with Franks. Bryant comes across as a leader. Franks doesn't. Anderson says Chaney "lied" in an interview. Sigh.

Wow! Barbour got 22% of the Black vote. That was unexpected. I wonder how certain "progressives" will explain that one. Some interesting comments on WJTV's website: http://www.wjtv.com/gulfcoastwest/jtv/campaign_2007/results.html . Here is a good one:
I can’t believe that the African American community in Mississippi are that uneducated, that they would not do research (read) on canidates before voting. Giving Barbour 22 percent of our votes thus far." Hehe. So if Blacks vote Republican, they are ignorant? Ok. Imagine if a White candidate said "I can't believe 88% of Blacks in Mississippi vote Democrat. Are they that uneducate?" Sometimes you have to love histrionics. Now WAPT is going back to its regular newscast? Nice to know it doesn't take elections seriously.

WHAT? Why is a Barbour ad bashing Eaves on at 10:52 PM AFTER the polls have closed? Yeesh. Its 11:00 and all of the stations are ending their coverage. Ridiculous. Statewide and county elections and they refuse to provide coverage past 11:00 PM. If you want to know why the internet is hurting traditional media, this is a perfect example.

Back to the JFP. Ladd writes that Barbour was spun into looking good after Katrina. Hmm ... Ms. Ladd, did you ever think that you had Nagin and Blanco made Barbour look very good during Katrina? Stating "if you loot we will shoot" was a striking contrast to Governor Blankstare and the Mayor of Chocolate City. All the barrels of ink spent in skewering Barbour does not overcome those images.

Marshall Ramsey has a funny election night blog: http://marshallramsey.blogspot.com/.

Well, I am done. Only interesting statewide race left is the one for Agricultural Commissioner. Hopefully it goes to the House of Representatives. The Republicans now hold the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Insurance Commissioner, Secretary of State, and State Auditor. The Democrats hold the office of Attorney General. The Barbour machine came to play and the results speak for themselves while the spinning has already started.

Laissez les bon temps roulez.