Partisan combat is a new way of life in state

The Clarion-Ledger, 7/29/7

As Election Day approaches, Tuesday, Aug. 7, we may see one of the last elections using the traditional rules of Mississippi politics.

That tradition gives us the freedom to vote for our candidates of choice in either party primary (though you can’t switch primaries from first to second) and then vote for anybody we want in the general election, splitting the ticket and voting for both Democratic and Republican candidates.

A federal judge has ruled, based upon a suit brought by a faction within the state Democratic Executive Committee, that we must register by party, Democratic, Republican or independent, and be admitted only to the party primary where we are registered.