BOBBY HARRISON: Barbour faces choice for national image he wants

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 5/21/7

Regardless of whether Haley Barbour runs for president or is the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee at some point in the future, Mississippi’s 63rd governor wants to be viewed as a national leader.

Right now he has Mississippi’s perceived recovery effort after Kartrina as a feather in his hat on the national level. That recovery effort makes Barbour relevant nationally, but over the long haul he cannot maintain that status if he is tagged as the former Washington, D.C., tobacco lobbyist who blocked efforts to raise Mississippi’s shamefully low 18-cent per pack cigarette tax.