Jackson Free Press

In 2004 and 2006, independent white separatist candidate Jim Giles earned double-digit support from District 3 voters--simply because he was the top-billed challenger on the ballot, and therefore inherited many of the votes that would have otherwise automatically gone to the Democratic challenger.

This sends the message that a double-digit percentage of people in District 3, especially in predominantly Democratic areas, would actually vote for an overt white separatist. This would be an occasion for considerable party soul-searching if it were true, but it isn't true, so it's just kind of pathetic.

For the sake of our state's image, please convince somebody to run for District 3 in 2008. I don't care who. Yourself. Me. Your aunt. Your goldfish. Hell, even Ronnie Shows. Just somebody to be listed on the ballot as the Democratic candidate, so Giles won't get 16% of the vote next time around.

Thanks.

Cheers,

Tom Head
Jackson, Mississippi

Previous Comments

ID

108557

Comment

Lord. You're kidding!?! We also need to get the word out that you. don't. have. to. vote. I didn't vote for anyone in that race. Of course, Giles is smarter than Pickering on certain issues, like tort reform. But STILL.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-22T19:09:20-06:00

ID

108558

Comment

Lesser of two evils doesn't seem to apply in this race, does it?

Author

Lady Havoc

Date

2006-11-22T19:21:49-06:00

ID

108559

Comment

I'd vote for a lot of people over Giles.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-11-22T19:25:59-06:00

ID

108560

Comment

Needless to say, I would never vote for Giles, either. In case it wasn't clear. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-22T19:35:49-06:00

ID

108561

Comment

I agree with Tom that the bigger issue is that the Dems didn't run anybody in that district. Simply shameful.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-11-22T19:36:17-06:00

ID

108562

Comment

Amen. And I had trouble believing it myself... 16% in 2006. 14% in 2004. You know who would be just old enough to be the Democratic nominee in 2008, by the way? Kate Jacobson. For somebody young like that, it'd be a hell of a resumé item. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-22T19:52:41-06:00

ID

108563

Comment

(And I'd have no reservations about voting for Kate--she's a good progressive--but I don't mean to single her out. Truth is that there are a LOT of people who would probably get something out of being the nominee, even in a longshot campaign.)

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-22T19:54:59-06:00

ID

108564

Comment

I'm bored. what can I pick a fight about tonight?

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-11-22T22:01:37-06:00

ID

108565

Comment

Here's what I love: We can all so enthusiastically agree on the fundamentals here that there's not even a devil's advocate position, at least not one that I can think of, that anyone here would take. The fact that Jim Giles does so well, statistically, is a scandal. It's a scandal for the district, it's a scandal for the Democratic Party--hell, I'd say it's even a scandal for Pickering because it paints his district as one where he's seen as the next best thing to a white separatist. Someone eager to bash Mississippi would only have to look at the fact that a white separatist pulled in 16% of the vote in District 3. We must field a Democrat in 2008. And I really don't want to run. I mean, I might if nobody else is going to step up to the plate, but I'd rather not. I don't want to win. I don't want to go to Washington and be a politician. And if you run for Congress, call me crazy, you should at least be willing to accept the possibility that you might win. Now, I think someone like Jacobson could very well beat Pickering with a well-managed campaign, if the stars line up right. But I'm pretty sure I couldn't, and even if I could, that's not what I want to do with those years of my life. I am inept at politicking. I have recently discovered that I am very, very good at activism. The two are different as night and day. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-23T02:48:43-06:00

ID

108566

Comment

Good grief, I just saw this! Tom, by all means, run. Someone needs to - even if you don't really want the post. You would be good for the position, but even if you weren't inclined to run, someone needs to. I would have to write in someone rather than vote for Giles if it came to that (I wouldn't just leave it blank), but I can't believe people would vote for Giles over Pickering. There is definately a lesser of two there, even for a hardcore leftist/liberal (a label that is bandied about heavily in some discussions I frequent). Giles is a nutcase on top of being a white supremacist. And I'm surprised he hasn't jumped in on this (has anyone told him he's actually getting attention online?)

Author

C.W.

Date

2006-11-23T10:08:30-06:00

ID

108567

Comment

You know what I discovered on election day? Write-ins are actually not permitted under Mississippi State Code unless a candidate is dead or otherwise ineligible for the position. That's why I voted for absolutely nobody in the congressional races; I was gonna write in a couple of my NOW buddies, but it didn't work out that way. And thanks so much for the kind words... I'd really rather not run myself, but somebody definitely needs to be there in the D column. Got 18 months to figure it out, but if you know somebody who'd actually enjoy this and wouldn't mind losing... Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-23T15:33:19-06:00

ID

108568

Comment

...wouldn't mind winning, either (which is what I meant to say--typed the wrong word)...

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-23T15:33:50-06:00

ID

108569

Comment

Sitting down after moving stuff to help make room for the Christmas tree: I'm sure the 16% factor is primarily due to Giles being the top-billed challenger and most people having no idea who the hell he is, but we need to at least consider the facts that there are a lot of white separatists in Belhaven, as was revealed by some of the more heated rhetoric during the gated-community debate; that Belhaven is not a very well integrated community, though this is slowly changing; that Belhaven is primarily an older white community. What needs to be done is to determine what percentage are voting for Giles because he's the top-billed challenger, when they have no idea what his beliefs are, and what percentage actually agree with his policies. The only way to know that is to field a Democratic challenger. My suspicion is that Giles' support in Belhaven would drop to the low single digits if that were to happen, but Giles' 16% base of support in my own Ward 7 is a scandal, no question about it. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-23T16:16:22-06:00

ID

108570

Comment

No write-ins allowed? We need to change that. Someone who needs to gain name recognition for a later "serious" run should take on your challenge. All it takes is someone with a little ambition and the ability to look at the long haul. I suspect you are right about people not knowing who Giles is, and it makes me wonder if some of that national aversion to Republicans (especially those who haven't expressed a desire to get us out of Iraq) pumped Mr. Giles' numbers up as the only competition Pickering had. I don't agree with a lot of Rep. Pickering's politics, but he seems to be a fairly nice person (for a politician), so I wouldn't think it was that.

Author

C.W.

Date

2006-11-24T10:22:12-06:00

ID

108571

Comment

Pickering is someone who I think will surprise us over the coming decades. This younger generation of politicians, with some exceptions, doesn't have the highly effective Southern Strategy programming that was pounded into Lott and company. No matter how vitriolic or enthusiastic they sound about marginally race-baiting issues, they didn't grow up in the pre-civil rights era and so they don't have this idea in the back of their minds that it's what the world is supposed to be like. Lott, Cochran, and Barbour all do. Pickering strikes me as someone who is ultimately going to do some good, when he gets older. I don't think he's there yet, but give him another ten or twenty years and he'll surprise us on some issues, I believe. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-11-24T17:04:03-06:00