South
Roll Call Staff
Related Content
Boustany hasn’t made any major missteps since being re-elected in 2006 with 71 percent of the vote. Cravins has hit Boustany for not doing enough for 7th district voters during hurricane recovery efforts in recent years and he has made Congressional pay raises an issue in the contest, but he’ll have to do more to make those attacks stick.
Mississippi
Senate
Incumbent: Thad Cochran (R)
5th term (85 percent)
Outlook: Safe Republican
The only real drama of Cochran’s re-election came last fall when rumors began to circulate that the 70-year-old Senator might not seek another term.
But after announcing last November that he would run again, the much-beloved senior Senator has been considered safely on track to win a sixth term.
Democrats have nominated state Rep. Erik Fleming to take on Cochran. After being beat by almost 30 points in 2006 by former Sen. Trent Lott (R), it’s hard to see Fleming doing any better this year.
Incumbent: Roger Wicker (R)
1st term (Appointed Dec. 31, 2007)
Outlook: Tossup
This special Senate election has tightened considerably in the last several months, especially since Democrats got a boost of confidence from a May House special election victory in the state and since national Democrats have begun to spend heavily in the Senate contest.
Wicker was appointed to the Senate to fill the vacancy created when Sen. Trent Lott (R) resigned at the end of 2007. And while the Democratic candidate, former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, came into the race with greater name recognition, Wicker was viewed as the early frontrunner because of the strength of the Republican machine in the state and his strong fundraising.
But Democrats’ hopes were boosted by the special election victory of now-Rep. Travis Childers (D) in Wicker’s old House seat. National Democrats played heavily in that race, and after seeing their investment pay off they are now committing big-time resources to Musgrove’s campaign.
Republicans are doing their best to aid Wicker; state leaders recently tried to place the Senate special election at the bottom of the November ballot — a move designed to produce an “undervote” that would undoubtedly help Wicker. But Democrats successfully challenged the ballot in the state Supreme Court, and the special election will be placed near the top of the ballot along with all other federal races.
Wicker is expected to benefit from appearing on a ticket that includes popular Sen. Thad Cochran (R) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Democrats say Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) candidacy will serve to boost black turnout in a state where 36 percent of the population is African-American, and that will help Musgrove. But in this contest the downballot effect will be complicated by the fact that Wicker and Musgrove will appear on the ballot without their party IDs, as state law requires for special elections.
With a month to go it’s still anyone’s game, and some pundits think Republicans may soon turn to an issue that has proved to be effective against Musgrove in the past. When he was governor, Musgrove overwhelmingly lost a much-publicized battle to change the state flag. Republican Haley Barbour benefited from using the issue in his 2003 gubernatorial race, when he ousted Musgrove.
Schumer Advocates for Many on Panel
Nov. 16, 12 a.m.
As Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson once said of the Joint Economic Committee, “It’s as useless as tits on a bull.” But as that panel’s chairman during the 110th Congress, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) seized the opportunity to elevate the traditionally low-profile post to the forefront of shaping policy. Read Full Article
Roll Call Video Channels
