Jackson Free Press

A New York Times editorial this morning blasted Gov. Haley Barbour and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann for their proposed November ballot, which places one of the most important national elections--U.S. Senate race between Roger Wicker and Ronnie Musgrove--at the end.

Mississippi's governor, Haley Barbour, and its secretary of state have come up with a particularly cynical dirty trick for the November election. Let's call it: "Where's the Senate race?"

Defying state law, they have decided to hide a hard-fought race for the United States Senate at the bottom of the ballot, where they clearly are hoping some voters will overlook it. Their proposed design is not only illegal. It shows a deep contempt for Mississippi's voters.

Read the full editorial here.

Previous Comments

ID

135586

Comment

It shows a deep contempt for Mississippi’s voters. Indeed, but they've been doing that for a long time, with Barbour at the forefront, all the back to when he worked with Nixon to promulgate the southern strategy and then Reagan. No one has ever insulted the great state of Mississippi more than our own leaders who think we are stupid. Who count on it, in fact.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T09:11:04-06:00

ID

135587

Comment

And Hosemann has turned out to be such a political shill it's not even funny. I actually thought he might use his office for something more than partisan politics.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T09:13:37-06:00

ID

135589

Comment

The smart legal minds at Folo have a post about the writ Barbour filed with his Supreme Court yesterday. Take a peek. They quote this part from Mississippi statute: This of course fails to quote the full language of the statute, which says: (1) Except as otherwise provided by Sections 23-15-974 through 23-15-985 and subsection (2) of this section, the arrangement of the names of the candidates, and the order in which the titles of the various offices shall be printed, and the size, print and quality of paper of the official ballot is left to the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot; but the arrangement need not be uniform. (2) The titles for the various offices shall be listed in the following order: (a) Candidates for national office; (b) Candidates for statewide office; (c) Candidates for state district office; (d) Candidates for legislative office; (e) Candidates for countywide office; (f) Candidates for county district office. The order in which the titles for the various offices are listed within each of the categories listed in this subsection is left to the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot. How hard can this be to understand? I guess it shows how scared Republicans are that Musgrove is going to win this seat. Here's a novel idea: Wicker should run and beat him on the issues, instead of relying on Barbour-the-political-operative to play games with the ballot.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T10:40:22-06:00

ID

135590

Comment

In my opinion the deep contempt for Mississippi's voters is the idea that we're so stupid we'll forget the election is on the ticket if it isn't at the top. I hope people who are that uninformed about the election will stay at home. The significance of this issue is being greatly exaggerated.

Author

kudzuking

Date

2008-09-11T10:42:30-06:00

ID

135591

Comment

Right, kudzuking. That's beside the point: Statute says how to do it. The only relevant question is why Gov. Barbour does not want to follow state law. And we all know the answer to that -- even us dumb, naive itta Mississippians.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T10:44:22-06:00

ID

135592

Comment

The significance of this issue is that Gov. Haley Barbour is willing to violate state law to help his guy win the election.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T10:44:57-06:00

ID

135593

Comment

The election should be at the top with the rest of the national elections, but what does it matter if it's on the top, bottom or middle. If being at the bottom is going to hurt Musgrove's chances of getting elected isn't it going to hurt Wicker's chances too?

Author

BubbaT

Date

2008-09-11T11:07:34-06:00

ID

135595

Comment

Since Gov. Barbour is violating state law, is there any way we (the state) or federal law can punish him? I fear that this and Melton's Ridgeway trial could set a horrible precedent for our leaders knowingly and intentionally abusing/ignoring the law.

Author

Marquez

Date

2008-09-11T11:51:06-06:00

ID

135596

Comment

BubbaT, right, but beside the point as well. The issue is that Barbour is defying state law, regardless of who benefits. Is he above the law? Does he think he is?

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2008-09-11T13:12:28-06:00

ID

135603

Comment

I fail to see how this will have any bearing on the outcome of the election.

Author

QB

Date

2008-09-11T14:15:40-06:00

ID

135605

Comment

Then let me ask you this, Fat Harry: If there is no reason to do it, why is Gov. Barbour wasting taxpayer time and resources fighting so hard to do it? If being at the bottom is going to hurt Musgrove's chances of getting elected isn't it going to hurt Wicker's chances too? Obviously, BubbaT, Barbour thinks that more people may show up to vote for Mugrove than Wicker. Think it through. Truth is, it *might* not make a difference, just as Barbour's scheme to force the election into November seems to have backfired on him big-time. But that still doesn't mean we should turn our heads while our governor and his lapdog secretary of state play partisan political games that they hope will work (else, they wouldn't do it) on the taxpayer dime. Doing that is a very corrupt use of our resources, and is a violation of the public trust. And I really hope that all you people who only think laws should be obeyed if it is deemed to "matter" (at least by some of the people) are consistent on this laissez faire approach to the rule of law. I rather doubt it. You're arguing yourselves into a logical corner trying to cover for Barbour. It does suck for you that he did that to you, but if you chose not to be so partisan and let the criticism fall where it may, you wouldn't have to try to explain away idiot political scheming by your guy.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T14:24:27-06:00

ID

135610

Comment

Look, I already said that I don't think it will have any outcome on the election. I'm not defending Barbour. Put it first, last, or in the middle, if people want to vote for Wicker or Musgrove they will have the same opportunity to do so.

Author

QB

Date

2008-09-11T14:50:18-06:00

ID

135616

Comment

I don't think it will make any difference, nor do I think the law is clear. National elections normally go on top while special elections normally go on the bottom. It probably depends on your politics which side you think is right. It needs to be cleared up in the future.

Author

kudzuking

Date

2008-09-11T16:00:56-06:00

ID

135617

Comment

The law isn't clear unless you *read* it. I'll give you that. That was a telling statement, though. It shouldn't depend on "your politics" whether to follow the law. It is obvious that Barbour wouldn't be doing all this if he didn't think it would help his guy.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-11T20:48:33-06:00

ID

135625

Comment

If it wasn't going to effect the outcome of the election, then why would the ruling party take time out to ensure that the race is at the bottom of the ballot. Because they are seasoned politicians, and it is a well documented "theory" that a huge part of the electorate fails or doesn't care to read the entire ballot. There are many, many people who will select a presidential candidate and then push the vote button without bothering to read the rest of the ballot. This is an important race, and the law says that the race should appear near the top of ballot. I may be poor, broke, disgusted and tired, but I am not stupid.

Author

lanier77

Date

2008-09-12T08:04:15-06:00

ID

135629

Comment

So Republicans are intelligent enough to read through the entire ballot while Democrats are not? Doubtful. Do Democratic voters really need a hand in this fashion? I highly doubt it.

Author

QB

Date

2008-09-12T08:49:39-06:00

ID

135631

Comment

Who mentioned anything about political parties, I was talking about politicians. I didn't refer to Democrats or Republicans - I said the electorate.

Author

lanier77

Date

2008-09-12T09:31:43-06:00

ID

135637

Comment

The law is the law. Why is Barbour above it? That's the only relevant question here, despite efforts by those to defend Barbour's waste of resources to fight this battle ... over something that you believe doesn't matter. And that is "responsible" government, right? Please.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-12T10:31:13-06:00

ID

135676

Comment

I think the whole country is watching what is happening in Mississippi now. Certainly, we're watching here in Chicago. I don't think people are going to tolerate voting "irregularities" in an election of this importance. Ideally, it wouldn't matter where a race appeared on the ballot, but sadly, people are not ideal. There is clear scientific evidence that ballot design affects how people vote, even when the ballots were not made in Florida or Ohio. The cynicism of Barbour is bottomless. It mirrors Republican cynicism in the national election. As Barbour breaks the law, he chides Hood for showing a "partisan disregard for the law." I marvel at Barbour. It is sad that the country knows Rove so well and Barbour so poorly, for I think Barbour is more formidable. He is not some Machiavelli advising a prince. He is his own brain, and it is a vast evil empire.

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2008-09-12T18:22:00-06:00

ID

135805

Comment

I will repeat what one of my fellow attorneys said today. "I am a pretty strict constructionist" (he is he thinks the law is AS IT AS WRITTEN, NO INTERPRETATION, as is THE CONSTITUTION) (needless to say we have arguments.) He went on to say "What scares the hell out of me is this brand of Republicans like Barbour is that he seems to say the Judiciary has no check over me". Barbour ignored the law in the special election, and the MS Supreme Court OK'ed it. Now he and his boy Delbert ignore the law and he just claims he can do it. The fact the Supreme Court just OKS it scares me. Governors and Presidents need to be checked and the current trend in one shaft of the Republican movemant is that the Executive cannot be checked by the Judicial. I agree there should be a system of balance. Frankly, the current actions of Bush and our current governor scare me. They take the MY way or OUT and bully the courts into giving them carte blance.... Refernce Hitler for those terrified on the left scale, reference Stalin for those on the right scale. SAME THING. We need checks and balances. We are tilting dangerously close to a side in MS And for those that say Who Cares? (and for those that are pure conservative not just pure party ID and do what the brad says).... Imagine an extreme left leaning Governor and Mississippi Supreme Court that only went with what the Governor said... would you feel safe? AGamma627

Author

AGamm627

Date

2008-09-16T22:34:27-06:00

ID

135816

Comment

The justice department is being asked to investigate this at this point.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-09-17T08:29:24-06:00