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Articles from The Elephant

MS Trial Lawyers Change Their Name 2007-08-24 12:36:53 It’s no secret that trial lawyers in Mississippi are not highly thought of, and this morning I was tipped off on this story by the Institute for Legal Reform about a recent name change to the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association. The trial lawyers now want to be known as the Mississippi Association for Justice. This is obviously part of an effort by the trial lawyers to hide their true identity in hopes that most folks won’t know who they are. Throughout the rest of this election season, we’ll continue to bring you the big donations to Mississippi Democrats by trial lawyers (or whatever they are calling themselves these days). ...

Wicker on SCHIP 2007-08-24 07:18:59 Roger Wicker’s weekly press release focused on the recent SCHIP, or State Children’s Health Insurance Program, vote in Congress. Wicker does a good job of pointing out the differences between the original bill (passed by the Republican Congress in 1997) and the current Democratic bill which is their first effort at leading us toward socialized medicine. Under the guise of providing more health care to needy children, the Democratic leadership rammed legislation through the House of Representatives in early August that would dramatically expand the government’s health care reach, tax every private insurance policy in America, and threaten the solvency of Medicare. An even more ominous concern is the groundwork laid in the bill for moving to a socialized medicine plan for all Americans. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was created in 1997 to extend health coverage to needy families who earned too much money to qualify for Medicaid. It is a good state-fed ...

Illegal Immigrants Charged with Murder in Rankin County 2007-08-22 13:56:51 I don’t think David Hampton planned it to happen this way, but less than 48 hours after he wrote a column criticizing politicians who spoke out against illegal immigration, we learn of a case here in Rankin County in which an incident involving illegal immigrants results in one dead and two others injured. It happened at the Mattie Burnett Trailer Park on Old Fannin Landing Circle, which is near otherwise nice subdivisions such as Bridgepoint. According to the report, five suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody after the event and twelve people were brought in solely for investigation of their citizenship status. Three men, including one minor, have been charged with capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and burglary. We’ve heard scores of other cases like this throughout the country involving illegal immigrants, and now that it has hit home hopefully politicians will take a tougher stand and do more than just talk come January and maybe the open-border advoc ...

Obama Claims He Can Win Mississippi 2007-08-21 20:35:54 In New Hampshire, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama recently said that he was the most electeable Democrat in the race because he would greatly increase the black voter turnout, to the sum of about 30 percent. He added that because of this he could win in Mississippi. Here is Obama’s quote: “If we just got African-Americans in Mississippi to vote their percentage of the population, Mississippi is suddenly a Democratic state.” Writing at The Trial, the 2008 campaign blog affiliated with the Washington Post, the authors do a good job of breaking down this claim and the fact that it is just plain false. But more importantly, data from the 2004 National Election Pool exit polls suggest his assumptions may be off. In 2004 in Mississippi, black turnout was about 57 percent, compared to about 54 percent overall in the state. Blacks did vote in proportion to their percentage the population in 2004 — about a third of people who voted in the state were black and about 33 ...

Eaves Has New Ad, But Still Has No Real Plan 2007-08-21 17:50:04 Last week I talked about Eaves trip down to the Coast to try to get some new business for his law firm, instead of talking about any ideas and I am glad to bring you the weekly update from the Eaves campaign. John Arthur Eaves has a new ad out- yet he still has no new ideas. In the ad he talks about what he calls “KidCare,” or his hope of universal health care coverage. Eager to see the details of this “KidCare,” I jolted to his campaign website to see more about it. I have to say I was not surprised that he does not offer any specifics. Eaves continues to talk in generalities about how it is the right thing to do, etc.. He does not go into details as to how much this would cost or where the money is going to come from other than saying the cost in the end will be less than the costs now. Maybe Eaves does not want to go into details because he doesn’t want to tell you his goal is to raise your taxes. ...

Ross On 3rd C.D., Supporting Bryant 2007-08-20 17:31:10 Charlie Ross sent out an e-mail earlier today thanking voters for their support in the lt. governor’s race and asking them to support Phil Bryant and other Republicans in November: The most important thing now is to ensure that conservatives are elected in November. On the Wednesday after the election, I endorsed my primary opponent, Phil Bryant. I am supporting the Republican statewide ticket from top to bottom. I urge each of you to support our Republican nominees. Now that the primary is over, we need to unite so Mississippi can elect conservative leadership to continue building on the successes we achieved the over past four years. Ross also chimed in on the soon-to-be open 3rd Congressional District seat and said that he is definitely interested in it, but has not made any final decisions yet: Last week, Congressman Chip Pickering announced that he will not be running for re-election in 2008. This announcement was a total surprise. Since then, many have called and urged me to co ...

3rd District Trends 2007-08-20 07:44:21 For folks interested in voting trends in the soon-to-be open 3rd Congressional District, I compiled a list of how each county in the district voted in the 2003 gubernatorial and 2004 presidential race. Obviously some counties are split between two districts and that may skew some of the numbers. Of the split counties, I included Jasper, Leake, Madison, Marion, and Winston and didn’t include Jones. The numbers below calculate into 56 percent of the vote going for Barbour over Musgrove in 2003 (or 149,350 out of 264,895 votes). Here is a map of the district if you want to see for yourself. You can find the ‘03 gubernatorial results here and the ‘04 presidential results here. ...

Closed On Sundays 2007-08-19 08:43:55 Gone to church. See you on Monday. ...

Cochran Will Run in 2008 2007-08-18 15:44:42 Sen. Thad Cochran’s staff is saying that he plans on running for a sixth term in 2008. There was some speculation about his future plans, especially since Pickering announced he will not run for re-election, but here is the statement from his press secretary Margaret McPhillips: “He’s planning to run, right now he’s making preparations and doing fund-raisings.” He will formally announce his intentions in November, she added. ...

More On Who’s In, Who’s Out 2007-08-17 19:48:48 I reported earlier this afternoon that Amy Tuck will not be running for the Congressional seat left open by Chip Pickering in 2008, and have a couple more updates to pass along. According to Sid Salter, Jim Perry, Haley Barbour’s policy director, has no intention of seeking the seat either. However, the talk seems to be about Whit Hughes. Hughes played on the 1996 MSU Final Four team (we’ll forgive him for that) and has strong ties to MSU (Starkville is in the 3rd district). He has strong ties within Republican circles, and can raise money. For many readers, they may not have heard of Hughes but if he gets in early enough, raises enough money, he can clear the field and get his name out there. ...

GOP Activist Calls Riley the Only Conservative in Ag Race 2007-08-17 17:38:05 Constitution Party candidate for Ag Commish Les Riley posted this letter in the comments under an older post about the Lester Spell/ Max Phillips primary and I think it is worthy of its own post. It is a letter from an anonymous longtime Republican activist in support of Riley. As I have done before when I publish these op-ed type posts, I want to indicate that I do not necessarily agree or disagree with it but feel its a good read. When a Democrat switches parties based upon principles, Republicans usually welcomes him with open arms. When the switch is just ahead of the tar and feathering committee, the situation is somewhat different. After the heat from the 55 million dollar cull cow plant fiasco, Lester Spell sudden unsolicited switch was unwelcomed by most conservative Republican and independents who remember his press conference with all other Democrat officeholder, except Amy Tuck, endorsed Winter’s new State flag. Spell is the last one standing, even if he had to change part ...

Tuck Not A Candidate 2007-08-17 12:50:36 I guess me and my truck won’t get to be for Amy Tuck, at least not in 2008. According to Sid Salter, she will not be a candidate for the seat. And here is her statement by Amy Tuck on Chip Pickering’s retirement: “I commend Congressman Pickering for the leadership and dedicated service he has provided for the district and I wish him and his family the very best.” ...

Political Wire: Pickering Seat Likely to Stay in GOP Column 2007-08-17 08:07:32 I came across this story from the Political Wire, an online news-magazine who concentrates on races of all levels. They have some good anaylysis on likely GOP replacements in 2008. You can read the story below: Republicans are likely to retain the Mississippi Congressional District being left open because of the retirement of Rep. Chip Pickering, but that doesn’t mean that Mississippi 3rd District voters won’t see a competitive campaign. Contrary to initial reports, Pickering will not resign his seat. Instead, he will serve out his term but not seek reelection. GOP insiders describe the district as overflowing with potential Republican candidates and expect a multi-candidate primary. Atop the list are two statewide names: Tate Reeves and Amy Tuck. Reeves is Mississippi’s 32 year old state Treasurer, the first Republican to hold the office since Reconstruction. Elected in 2003, he is a strong fundraiser and has been a high profile state official. While some insiders have a ...

Pickering Will Not Seek Re-election 2007-08-16 16:52:57 Here is the press release sent out by the Pickering camp indicating his intentions not to run for re-election in 2008: Today, I am announcing that I will not seek re-election in 2008. Serving the Third District of Mississippi over the last eleven years has been a great honor. It has been, and continues to be, one of the greatest experiences of my life. I have come to know well the people and communities of our generous state. I am thankful to all who helped elect me to six terms in the House. First, to my family, Leisha and the boys, who worked hard in my campaigns and every day to make my congressional service possible. My parents inspired my service, set positive examples for me, and provided a good name and start. Our family has been blessed by the many friendships and experiences we have made along the way. I have the good fortune of a talented, committed congressional and campaign staff who have made lasting contributions to our country and state, fought worthy battles, and ru ...

Eaves Continues to Have No New Ideas 2007-08-16 12:50:55 It didn’t get much notice, but when John Edwards came down to Mississippi to see what poverty looks like, fellow trial lawyer John Arthur Eaves came along. Well apparently Eaves liked the idea so much, he decided to take a tour of FEMA trailers on the coast to pass out his business cards. When down there Eaves continued to lay out no plan for what he would do if he was governor. If Eaves wants to be taken seriously as a candidate, he should say what he do instead of just saying, “moneychangers this, moneychangers that.” We’re still waiting Mr. Eaves… ...