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My Favorite Campaign Ads of 2007: 2007-11-09 07:05:03 Here are my three favorite (positive) ads: I couldn’t pick one Hosemann ad over the other so here is 1.. …and 1A This next ad was one Haley’s early ads and did a good job of going over what his campaign would be about- view it here. I’ll round out my favorites on the positive side with this ad by Tate Reeves- view it here. And for the negative ads… I also couldn’t choose just one Al Hopkins ad attacking Jim Hood, so here is number 1… …and 1A My number two on the negative side goes to this ad by Haley attacking John Arthur Eaves for suing the military and others for personal gain- view it here. Similar to the previous ad, Phil Bryant goes after his opponent- Jamie Franks- for representing drug dealers in his private practice- view it here. These ads were all approve by and paid for by the campaigns, but here is my favorite from a third-party (mostly because it made liberals cringe). And for a wild card here is Mike Chaney’s ad which is kind of negative i ...

Weekly SEC Picks (Week Eleven) 2007-11-09 06:53:53 Guaranteed Prediction: Ole Miss will not lose this weekend. Onto the games… Alabama at Mississippi State- State’s one win from a bowl game. I don’t think they’ll get there this weekend. Alabama wins. Arkansas at Tennessee- Two pretty inconsistent teams this year. But, I’ll got with UT at home. Auburn at Georgia- The South’s Oldest Rivalry should be a pretty good game this year. I’ll go with the home team here as well and take Georgia. Florida at South Carolina- Both these teams could use a win. I will take Florida winning in Spurrier’s backyard. Kentucky at Vanderbilt- Kentucky is another team that desperately needs a win, and that’s who I’ll take. Louisiana Tech at LSU- Since my Rebels were able to beat LaTech, I think LSU will as well. ...

Smith Takes Issue With McCoy’s List 2007-11-08 17:36:03 Immediately following the election, Jeff Smith claimed to have support from a majority of representatives in this press release. Billy McCoy rebutted it with this release where he claims to have a majority and goes so far to list names. Well, here is a rebuttal to McCoy’s rebuttal from the Smith camp who is saying that some of those names on McCoy’s list has promised to vote for Smith: Yesterday the Speaker of the House, Rep. Billy McCoy, released a list of 62 names of members of the 2008 Legislature that he claimed were pledged to vote for him for re-election as Speaker. “I have collected a list of supporters who have given me oral or written pledges that they would vote for me for Speaker of the House in 2008,” said Smith. “In collecting my list I promised those members that I would not release my list until I had over 61 names. Some of the names on the McCoy list are the same as on my list. Some of the names on the McCoy list are of people who told me (after the McCoy lis ...

Majority Mentioned In Sid Salter’s Column 2007-11-08 12:55:17 Mississippi’s 2008 congressional campaigns launching today At least a half-dozen other Republican candidates have been frequently mentioned as potential candidates on conservative state Web sites and blogs like mississippipolitics.com and majorityinms.com. ...

The GOP Juggernaut 2007-11-08 12:33:07 From the Clarion-Ledger: The GOP juggernaut headed by Gov. Haley Barbour flattened Democrats Tuesday, leaving only one statewide officer standing: Attorney General Jim Hood. Now, as titular head of the Democratic Party in Mississippi, Hood bears a terrible burden as the target for every partisan jab. The Democratic Solid South, as it was once called, is no more, for sure, with Barbour leading the Mississippi GOP ticket; another Republican, Phil Bryant, as lieutenant governor to preside over the state Senate; and GOP officeholders winning Tuesday the rest of the statewide posts: state auditor, state treasurer, secretary of state, insurance commissioner and, switching in 2005, agriculture commissioner. About the current status of the MS Democratic Party: It can be seen as yet more evidence that the Democratic Party in Mississippi is in disarray, particularly with a faction of the party now having entreated a federal court to impose party registration. That could further fracture party u ...

Smith Claiming A Majority 2007-11-07 21:48:17 Shortly after last night’s election, Jeff Smith released this statement on his campaign website stating that he has support from a majority of House members: Rep. Jeff Smith announces that after the elections for the Mississippi House of Representatives he has commitments from a majority of the membership of the 2008 House of Representatives. There are still several races that are undecided so the final count is still unknown. Further information will be posted as soon as it is available. ...

Bryant Proposes Shortening Session 2007-11-07 20:13:39 It feels a lot different talking about policy when it’s coming from the elected official, and not the candidate; but here is an early proposal from Lt. Governor-Elect Bryant: Additionally, Lt. Governor-elect Phil Bryant proposed to save taxpayers almost one million dollars by making the upcoming 2008 legislative session a 90-day session instead of the 125-day session that is typically held during the first session of a new administration. Shortening the first legislative session of a new administration was done in 1996 in the first session of Governor Fordice’s second term. “By keeping the 2008 legislative session to 90 days, we can save taxpayers a minimum of $825,000,” Bryant said. “Since three of the four legislative sessions over the next four years are scheduled for 90 days, I propose we also make our upcoming session 90 days to provide cost-savings to taxpayers and a more efficient and accountable legislative session.” ...

Comparing The Guv’s County Vote In ‘03 and ‘07 2007-11-07 18:15:10 Click here to see a spreadsheet detailing the vote percentage in each county from 2003 and 2007. A couple notes about the numbers: Haley cleaned up on the Gulf Coast. He finished with no less than 70 percent in the three Gulf Coast counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties. Last time around he won between 54-60 percent in those counties. Haley was called the only politician to come out of Katrina looking good, and these numbers certainly ring true. Haley also did better in nearly all majority black counties. That said, he did better in just about every county but that shouldn’t diminish from this feat. In Panola county Haley gained 19 percent (I know that was Musgrove’s hometown), in Tunica county he gained 18 percent, in Washington county he gained 14 percent, in Issaquena county he gained 12 pecent, in Coahoma county he gained 11 percent, in Noxubee county he gained 10 percent. Check out the list above for more numbers. There are a couple ways of looking at this. On the ...

What Happend To Flip-Flopping Phil? 2007-11-07 12:48:54 Flip-Flopping Phil was a blog started by some anti-Bryant liberal with the mission of tearing down Bryant. Well, we saw how well that worked. I was wondering what would happen to his site- and you could see for yourself: ...

Good Election Analysis 2007-11-07 12:42:59 Alan Lange, who runs Y’all Politics and whom I had the chance to meet for the first time at Haley’s victory party last night, has some excellent analysis on last night’s election and I encourage y’all to check it out. Andy Taggart has a couple good posts about the election (here and here). ...

Statewide and Regional Results 2007-11-07 08:35:13 Governor: Barbour (R) 58-42 Lt. Governor: Bryant (R) 59-41 Secretary of State: Hosemann (R) 59-41 Attorney General: Hood (D) 60-40 Auditor: Pickering (R) 55-45 Treasurer: Reeves (R) 61-39 – highest vote getter of the evening Ag Commissioner: Spell (R) 51-42-7 Insurance Commissioner: Chaney (R) 57-43 PSC-Central: Posey (D) leads 51-47-3 (no winner declared) PSC-Southern: Bentz (R) 57-43 PSC-Northern: Presley (D) 57-43 Transportation Commissioner- Central: Hall (R) 52-48 Transportation Commissioner- Southern: Brown (D) 52-48 Transportation Commissioner- Northern: Minor (D) uncontested ...

Senate and House numbers 2007-11-07 08:34:44 In the Senate, the Dems appeared to have picked up three seats and now own a 28-24 majority. In the House, the numbers look to stay the same. The Republicans had 47 seats before the election, and that is the number they have now with one race still undecided. So it looks like there will either be 74 or 75 Dems and 47 or 48 Republicans. ...

Election Night Liveblog 2007-11-06 19:01:15 9:45 pm: We’re expecting Barbour out her shortly and my battery is running low so I am going to enjoy the festivities and get back on later tonight. For the latest updates- click here. 9:35 pm: The AP has called the lt. gov race for Phil Bryant. 9:15 pm: The AP has called the SofS race for Delbert Hosemann with 32% reporting. 9:10 pm: The AP has called the AG race for Jim Hood with 26% reporting. 9 pm: Update on other MS races with 18% reporting: Lt. Gov- Bryant (R) 56-44 AG- Hood (D) 60-40 SofS- Hosemann (R) 56-44 Auditor- Pickering (R) 52-48 Treasurer- Reeves (R) has been declared the winner Ag Commissioner- Spell (R) 46-44-10 Insurance Commissioner- Chaney (R) 53-47 8:45 pm: The AP has called the race for Haley Barbour with 16% reporting. 8:40 pm: with 8% reporting, Les Riley is now polling at 14%. No candidate is over 50% in the Ag race, but Spell is leading. 8:20 pm: With 3% reporting, the AP has called the race for Tate Reeves. Congratulations. Also, Jim Hood is leading by ...

Haley’s Victory Party 2007-11-06 17:14:38 I will be heading to Haley’s victory party at the Marriott in Jackson in the next few minutes. I will be blogging live either via Blackberry or laptop if there is wireless. Go vote if you haven’t already. ...

Liveblogging 2007-11-05 19:14:34 I will be liveblogging here tomorrow night starting around 6 or 7 p.m. I’m not sure what the format will be, but I’ll have all the numbers as soon I get them. Also, I will be liveblogging at RedState. I am not sure what time this post will go up. It will probably not be as frequent as my updates here at Majority. I will keep you posted. It’s been fun covering the elections. I will see y’all tomorrow night. ...