In a sparsely attended debate in the old Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol, with a statue of militant white supremacist Theodore Bilbo looking on, candidates in the Democratic primary to unseat Sen. Trent Lott set out their visions for change. The participants were Bill Bowlin of Hickory Flat, Erik Fleming of Jackson and James O'Keefe of Biloxi. A fourth candidate, Catherine Starr of Hattiesburg, was scheduled to attend but did not show. The Hinds County Democratic Executive Committee sponsored the debate.
In opening statements, the three candidates sought to define why they were the right challenger to beat Lott. In a quiet, occasionally bumbling introduction, Bowlin said that he stood for fair tax policy and that the Democratic party needed to "reclaim its place as protector of the little guy."
Fleming, whose seven years in the Mississippi House gave him a polished delivery missing from the other candidates, said that in the 18 years Lott has served as a senator, little has been accomplished. "Mississippi was the poorest state when Lott took office," Fleming said, "and it's still the poorest state today."
O'Keefe focused on ending free trade and rebuilding Mississippi manufacturing. "The government is supposed to be funded by tariffs, not from what it takes out of your pocketbook," he said.
The candidates then took questions from the audience.
On the Iraq War, only Bowlin was a supporter, saying that we need to stay the course. "We cannot bring our troops home until we secure victory," Bowlin said.
Fleming said Iraq should be the last time the U.S. wages a preemptive war. He endorsed Rep. John Murtha's call for drawing down and re-deploying troops.
O'Keefe was blunt: "We should declare victory and pull our troops out now." He related an anecdote from Mikhail Gorbachev on how it was impossible to win the Soviet war against Afghanistan once it degenerated into street fighting and guerilla warfare.
On health care, Fleming noted that 450,000 Mississippians have no medical insurance. "We need to go back to the original law and ban prescription ads from television. … Tort reform hasn't worked. Costs keep going up, but your rights to sue for medical malpractice are mostly gone."
O'Keefe said that we would never be able to afford to insure all Americans until tariffs bring more revenue into the government. He said he would use such money to fund many more clinics to serve those without insurance.
Bowlin said he would be creative with the tax code to solve the problem. "I don't have all the answers," he said, "but as a senator, I'll have great access to questions and answers, and I think I will be able to choose the right answer."
When an audience member asked about the No Child Left Behind Act, Bowlin said: "We're governing this nation by slogans instead of real leadership." He pointed out that the standards set by No Child Left Behind are arbitrary and unfair to Mississippi students.
Fleming said that No Child Left Behind was underfunded by $200 billion, and states have had to pick up the tab. "Every year, 16,500 children drop out of school in Mississippi. Think of what that means for our future," he said.
O'Keefe said he believed in greater autonomy for the states in how they spend money on education.
On immigration reform, Fleming said there was universal support for making the borders more secure, "but we don't need to the build the Great Wall of America to do it." He said we could not afford to deport 15 million people even if we wanted to do so.
Bowlin said he was waiting to see what law comes out of Congress. "What I want to do is critique the law that they pass," he said.
O'Keefe was the most passionate on this issue. "When government won't keep its own laws, that is the beginning of anarchy. There's an old saying: as the head goes, so goes the body." He said he did not believe that all immigrants wanted to be true Americans, and some of them would have to be deported. He was especially concerned that an amnesty would only bring in a new flood of illegal immigrants. "As I travel the state, no issue has people more fired up," O'Keefe said.
The Democratic primary takes place on June 6. The winner will face Sen. Trent Lott in November.
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