Jackson Free Press

Last year, conservative Democrat Travis Childers blew the socks off Republicans by winning one of the most conservative districts in the nation. Republicans saw Childers' victory over Republican Greg Davis—twice—as the end of the era where Republicans dominated national discourse, and as a foreshadowing of the upcoming presidential race, where Democratic nominee Barack Obama trounced his Republican opponent.

The nation, it seemed, had grown weary of politics under Republican President George W. Bush and a Republican-dominated Congress, and was looking for a modification. Possibly because of the political environment, Childers took Tupelo, and even a hefty portion of the affluent Memphis suburbs in Desoto County, winning him the 1st District Congressional seat.

State Sen. Alan Nunnelee is hoping to reverse Childers' success next year. Nunnelee is a Tupelo native, who Republicans hope will gather enough popularity around the Tupelo area to pose a decent threat to Childers, a Boonville resident who holds much local favor.

Childers overpowered Davis last year, partially because Davis did so poorly in Childers' home county of Lee, and in the eastern half of the state. Tupelo voters, who typically vote independently of Republicans in local elections, also have a habit of uniting against candidates from the Western section of the state, who are historically considered "wealthy-type anti-Bubbas," in the words of political pundit Marty Wiseman.

Davis and his supporters, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, who visited the district to stump for Davis, also attempted to paint Childers as an Obama-loving clone of Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Local voters didn't buy it. Childers has since largely voted in the economic interest of middle-class voters, but has been an ueber-conservative on social issues.

"They don't come much more pro-life or pro-gun than Childers," Wiseman told the Jackson Free Press soon after Childers' 2008 victory. (Childers was one of the House Democrats who even voted to over-power Washington, D.C. law and force gun sales back in the District of Columbia, much to the ire of D.C. police.)

Nunnelee, who competed the filing of his candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission this week, hopes to circumnavigate the local opposition that lined up against Davis by dint of his being a Tupelo resident.

Observers agree that if you like Gov. Haley Barbour, you'll like Nunnelee. The senator is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a position he would likely not hold without the prior approval of Gov. Haley Barbour.

Nunnelee was one of the lead budget negotiators during this year's Mississippi special session, and advocated the passing of a Medicaid budget under the parameters set by Barbour, which were opposed by the Democratic-leaning House.