The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 4/6/8
It has been 61 years since Mississippi was required to hold a special election for the purpose of filling the unexpired term of one of its United States Senate seats. It was in 1947 that a little known circuit judge from rural Kemper County named John C. Stennis emerged from a pack of candidates to claim the seat previously held by the deceased U.S. Sen. Theodore G. Bilbo.
This November, due to the resignation of Mississippi’s Republican junior U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi finds itself once again holding a rare special election for a U.S. Senate seat. Lott, who was first elected in 1988 and was re-elected to a fourth term only a year ago, chose for a variety of reasons to step down with five years remaining in his term.
When former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ronnie Shows dropped out of the race, only former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and former Republican 1st District congressman and current interim U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker remain to fight for Lott’s seat.
Musgrove and Wicker are two political veterans who know each other well since they both served in the Mississippi Senate together and were roommates.
Magnolia Tribune
