Pickering Seat Likely to Stay in GOP Column
Atop the list are two statewide names: Tate Reeves and Amy Tuck.
Reeves is Mississippi’s 32 year old state Treasurer, the first Republican to hold the office since Reconstruction. Elected in 2003, he is a strong fundraiser and has been a high profile state official. While some insiders have already assumed that he will be a candidate for governor in 2011, the Congressional open seat could have appeal for him.
Tuck, 44, is finishing her second term as Lieutenant Governor. She is term limited and cannot seek reelection. A former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2002, she is widely regarded as a strong campaigner. “Nobody works the crowd better than Amy,” says one savvy Republican about the woman everyone describes as “a political animal.”
But Tuck’s Southern populism, which includes support for extensive government spending on public works projects, means that she has a problem with some base Republicans, and she hasn’t always agreed with Governor Haley Barbour (R).
Other Republicans who are being mentioned include state Senator Charlie Ross, who recently lost the GOP primary for Lieutenant Governor, state Senator Walter Michel and State Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall.
Political Wire
8/17/7
