Mississippi Speaks

This is a good, but slightly biased , report on the election in the state.

By MICHAEL NEWSOM

mmnewsom@sunherald.com

GULFPORT -- In Tuesday's primaries, Sen. Hillary Clinton won four of six South Mississippi counties, but Sen. Barack Obama won the state.

Obama won Jackson and Harrison Counties, and Clinton claimed victories in Hancock, George, Stone and Pearl River Counties. The Mississippi primary was called for Obama less than an hour after polls closed, capping off about a week of intense campaigning across the Magnolia State.

Heading into the elections most of the forecasts had Obama winning easily. The Associated Press reported nine in 10 black voters went for Obama, and three-fourths of white voters picked Clinton.

Marty Wiseman, executive director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, said Mississippi followed the trend in the other Deep South states and voted for Obama. The Illinois senator has won many small states; the larger ones have mostly gone to Clinton.

Wiseman said the intense campaign here got a lot of positive publicity for the state, and he believes it will continue, as a presidential debate will be held at the University of Mississippi this fall.

"We got some good time in the media for four or five days," Wiseman said. "I have talked to no end to journalists and media types who said they were surprised at how much the state had changed since they were here last."

Wiseman said he doesn't believe the Democratic race will be settled in Pennsylvania, the site of the next primary, where 158 proportional delegates are up for grabs, unless Obama wins big there. Early polls show Clinton leading in Pennsylvania.

But the race could be settled if Michigan and Florida are ordered to redo their primaries, Wiseman said.

Clinton, who campaigned hard in Mississippi, enlisting the help of her husband as well as her daughter, fell a little deeper in the hole Tuesday. She had gained new life last week with primary victories in Texas and Ohio. By Mississippi's elections Tuesday both candidates had started to campaign in Pennsylvania, where they will battle for six weeks until the vote.

At press time Obama had gathered 20 of Mississippi's 33 delegates in unofficial reports. In the overall delegate count Obama leads 1,402 to 1,240.

Obama had about 59 percent of the vote in the state as some precincts were still being counted at press time.

Harrison County saw good turnout; nearly 18,000 voted in the presidential primary Tuesday, compared with a little more than 3,200 in 2004. Tuesday's elections ran smoothly, Circuit Clerk Gayle Parker said.

Turnout seemed to be light in Hancock County, but many there voted for Clinton. Hancock County elections officials said one precinct where normally about 1,800 voters show up only produced 300 ballots Tuesday.

In Jackson County, where turnout was relatively high, Obama won by nearly 2,000 votes.

The Riverfront Community Center in downtown Moss Point is one of 12 polling places in the city and by 4:30 p.m. more than 500 people had voted, most of them Democrat. Poll workers Karen Fountain and Ada Street considered it a strong turnout and pointed to the fact that the after-work crowd was just beginning to come in.

Donald Richardson, in his shipyard overalls, voted right after work.

"I think it's time for a change in America," Richardson said, "whether it be a black president or a woman, we need it."

Mississippi Yearning

For many years Mississippi has been a primary state that was there but who cared? The first time in a long time, Mississippi will be the center of attention. The hunt for delegates, because of the tightness of the race, has made Mississippi very important.

But the questions should be, will Mississippi jump to Obama or slither to Clinton? my money is on the Obama one. Why? 70% of registered Democrats in the state arre black and that gives the edge to Obama. But yet Clinton, Bill not Hil, was very popular with the black voters of the state. Does not matter! Obama gets my nod. The excitement of the primary is spilling over to all ages, but the young seem to be more energized than any.

Come Tuesday we will see if the Mississippi voter will cast their vote for issues, gender ot race.

The Sad Thing About A Mississippi Primary

The state's primary in March 11 and unfortunate by the time Mississippians get to vote there is not much choice. On the Dem side any real choice of candidates has been eliminated, we are down to two and of the two their positions are very, very similar. Kucinich and Edwards have been eliminated, thanks mostly to the media and its success at marginalizing these two worthy candidates. So if the voter goes to vote then it will be a popularity contest, not an issue driven vote. A basic flip of a coin will be the technique of decision in Mississippi.

Then we move on to the Repubs. By the time it comes to the state, the nominee will mostly likely already be known and their would be no need to vote for the vote will be useless. It will just be a contest to see which one gets the delegates.

Sad that Mississippi is just in it for the delegates, the voters has NO real say in anything about the process. Mississippi needs to get its crap together and do some soul searching. Does it want to be part of the "real" contest or just a spectator that has nothing to do with the election process. Personally, I want to see Mississippi become a major player in this process. we have been at the bottom of most lists in the US, it is time to move up and make them look at Mississippi as the great state it is.