WWTBAM Bored

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith seems to be doing her very best to make next Tuesday's runoff against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy competitive. How in the world does any politician, especially in the South, think they can get away with saying they'd enjoy a front-row seat at a public hanging? And what, other than bigotry, could possibly have been going through her mind when she said it?

And then to top it off, she actually said, out loud, that it would be a good thing to make it harder for liberals to vote.

Maybe Doug Jones will have some southern company in the Democratic caucus. --Bob

Ironically, Hyde-Smith was considered the more moderate Republican candidate in the three-way open primary race against Chris McDaniel. Polls showed Espy winning a runoff against McDaniel but losing against Hyde-Smith.

Is she's more moderate, I shudder to think what McDaniel must be like.

Donald Trump has scheduled a couple of campaign rallies for Mississippi before the runoff. I'm not sure how much of this is legitimate concern for the closeness of the race and how much of it is an attempt by him to stroke his ego in front of a couple of adoring crowds.

Here's another data point. She accepted a $2700 donation from a notorious white supremacist, and even though his background has been called to her attention, she hasn't returned it. --Bob

Walmart has asked Senator Hyde-Smith to return its campaign contribution to her. And she still hasn't apologized for her remarks, which lends credence to the belief that she meant what she said. --Bob

No, it's not. But I believe it should get a participation trophy at least.

At Senator Hyde-Smith's insistence, there will be no press and no public and her one and only debate with Espy. And she insisted that questions for the candidates to pose one another be pre-submitted and asked by the moderator, rather than the candidates themselves. So we're learning that she's not willing to face the public and that she's not willing to take responsibility for her own words.

Or actions. A picture just surfaced of Hyde-Smith posing for a picture in a Confederate cap. The more I learn about her, the more I'm thinking that "public hanging" remark was accidental honesty rather than a slip. --Bob

Bob78164 wrote:At Senator Hyde-Smith's insistence, there will be no press and no public and her one and only debate with Espy. And she insisted that questions for the candidates to pose one another be pre-submitted and asked by the moderator, rather than the candidates themselves. So we're learning that she's not willing to face the public and that she's not willing to take responsibility for her own words.

Or actions. A picture just surfaced of Hyde-Smith posing for a picture in a Confederate cap. The more I learn about her, the more I'm thinking that "public hanging" remark was accidental honesty rather than a slip. --Bob

That's a shame. I'm sure you were completely open-minded about her before that.

This column from the Inquirer tells a bit of the history of Hyde-Smith's home town. She is a moderate compared to some past residents.

Why the blood of a 1955 Mississippi murder drenches today’s U.S. Senate race

jarnon wrote:This column from the Inquirer tells a bit of the history of Hyde-Smith's home town. She is a moderate compared to some past residents.

Why the blood of a 1955 Mississippi murder drenches today’s U.S. Senate race

Maybe. But she did attend high school at a segregationist academy — a school specifically set up so that white parents wouldn’t have to send their kids to school with black kids.

Okay, you may be thinking. She probably didn’t have a choice which school she went to. But she sent her daughter to one too. And in any event with that background she should have been particularly sensitive to the offense her remark about public hanging was bound to offer.

She may not be racist herself. But she sure seems to want the racists to think she’s a racist. —Bob

And that’s not even counting her support over the years for various measures that glorified the Confederacy. Or her Facebook post celebrating Confederate relics as “Mississippi history at its best.” —Bob

Just to answer the question originally proposed, yes this will be the most competitive democrat/republican state-wide contest in years. However, there is no way Espy will win here Tuesday. He will be the most competitive democrat in a decade but most of our state-wide races are determined in the Republican primary. Anyone convinced that a different outcome will be in the headlines Wednesday is welcome to offer up a cash wager.

lilclyde54 wrote:Just to answer the question originally proposed, yes this will be the most competitive democrat/republican state-wide contest in years. However, there is no way Espy will win here Tuesday. He will be the most competitive democrat in a decade but most of our state-wide races are determined in the Republican primary. Anyone convinced that a different outcome will be in the headlines Wednesday is welcome to offer up a cash wager.

I’m inclined to agree with you. Roy Moore barely lost and Hyde-Smith isn’t in quite as much hot water. Espy is making it close and Hyde-Smith is making it closer, but in the end I think too many voters will look past her apparent approval of open racism.

The interesting question is whether the business community will be equally forgiving. —Bob

Bob78164 wrote:

lilclyde54 wrote:Just to answer the question originally proposed, yes this will be the most competitive democrat/republican state-wide contest in years. However, there is no way Espy will win here Tuesday. He will be the most competitive democrat in a decade but most of our state-wide races are determined in the Republican primary. Anyone convinced that a different outcome will be in the headlines Wednesday is welcome to offer up a cash wager.

I’m inclined to agree with you. Roy Moore barely lost and Hyde-Smith isn’t in quite as much hot water. Espy is making it close and Hyde-Smith is making it closer, but in the end I think too many voters will look past her apparent approval of open racism.

The interesting question is whether the business community will be equally forgiving. —Bob

While I tend to agree with this, one thing I've read is that Chris McDaniel, the third-place finisher who got about 15% of the vote is not a fan of the Republican establishment in the state and that many of his supporters are still upset about the way he's been treated over the years. As a result, they may sit this election out. I tend to doubt that supporters of a hard-right candidate would do that, but it's been bandied about.

silverscreenselect wrote:

Bob78164 wrote:

lilclyde54 wrote:Just to answer the question originally proposed, yes this will be the most competitive democrat/republican state-wide contest in years. However, there is no way Espy will win here Tuesday. He will be the most competitive democrat in a decade but most of our state-wide races are determined in the Republican primary. Anyone convinced that a different outcome will be in the headlines Wednesday is welcome to offer up a cash wager.

I’m inclined to agree with you. Roy Moore barely lost and Hyde-Smith isn’t in quite as much hot water. Espy is making it close and Hyde-Smith is making it closer, but in the end I think too many voters will look past her apparent approval of open racism.

The interesting question is whether the business community will be equally forgiving. —Bob

While I tend to agree with this, one thing I've read is that Chris McDaniel, the third-place finisher who got about 15% of the vote is not a fan of the Republican establishment in the state and that many of his supporters are still upset about the way he's been treated over the years. As a result, they may sit this election out. I tend to doubt that supporters of a hard-right candidate would do that, but it's been bandied about.

Even if they do, she still came in ahead of Espy in the general. —Bob

Bob78164 wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote:
While I tend to agree with this, one thing I've read is that Chris McDaniel, the third-place finisher who got about 15% of the vote is not a fan of the Republican establishment in the state and that many of his supporters are still upset about the way he's been treated over the years. As a result, they may sit this election out. I tend to doubt that supporters of a hard-right candidate would do that, but it's been bandied about.

Even if they do, she still came in ahead of Espy in the general. —Bob

Complete results

Hyde-Smith (R) Incumbent 41.3% 389,952
Espy (D) 40.9% 386,312
McDaniel (R) 16.4% 154,866
Bartee (D) 1.5% 13,849

If everyone votes the same way, Hyde-Smith would win 57-43 in the runoff. But if many of McDaniel's supporters sit this out, it gets a lot closer.

silverscreenselect wrote:

Bob78164 wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote:
While I tend to agree with this, one thing I've read is that Chris McDaniel, the third-place finisher who got about 15% of the vote is not a fan of the Republican establishment in the state and that many of his supporters are still upset about the way he's been treated over the years. As a result, they may sit this election out. I tend to doubt that supporters of a hard-right candidate would do that, but it's been bandied about.

Even if they do, she still came in ahead of Espy in the general.

Complete results

Hyde-Smith (R) Incumbent 41.3% 389,952
Espy (D) 40.9% 386,312
McDaniel (R) 16.4% 154,866
Bartee (D) 1.5% 13,849

If everyone votes the same way, Hyde-Smith would win 57-43 in the runoff. But if many of McDaniel's supporters sit this out, it gets a lot closer.

Is it not possible for 100,000 voters to come out now in support of either candidate?

Estonut wrote:

silverscreenselect wrote:Complete results

Hyde-Smith (R) Incumbent 41.3% 389,952
Espy (D) 40.9% 386,312
McDaniel (R) 16.4% 154,866
Bartee (D) 1.5% 13,849

If everyone votes the same way, Hyde-Smith would win 57-43 in the runoff. But if many of McDaniel's supporters sit this out, it gets a lot closer.

Is it not possible for 100,000 voters to come out now in support of either candidate?

That's what Trump and Obama are working on. But the Republicans had a 140,000-vote edge. So for Espy to win, more Democrats must vote and some Republicans, disgusted by recent revelations, have to stay home.

Another factor I’d forgotten about. Mississippi is one of the least elastic states in the nation. Most Mississippi voters (on both sides) simply are not persuadable. Given the Republican advantage in registration that’s bad news for Espy. —Bob

Hyde-Smith won by about 8%, half of the margin by which Republicans outpaced Democrats in the first election. So, as lilclyde predicted, Espy did very well by Mississippi standards, but not well enough to win.