Bogus sample ballot portrays GOP’s Wicker as Dem
Whoever created and disseminated the ballot apparently did so in order to drum up votes for Wicker among supporters of Obama and other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Bennie Thompson.
The ballot even highlights long-shot Democratic Senate candidate Erik Fleming, who is running to unseat Wicker’s GOP colleague, senior Sen. Thad Cochran.
Fleming, like Obama and Thompson, is black. Democratic congressional candidate Joel Gill, who is white, is highlighted in the same way, as is nonpartisan state Supreme Court candidate Jim Kitchens, who also is white.
According to census data from 2006, Hinds County is 65.9 percent black. President Bush twice won Mississippi handily but Hinds County went 60 percent for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and 54 percent for then-Vice President Al Gore (D) in 2000.
The Musgrove campaign learned of the sample ballot when a citizen brought it to a campaign office, Bozzi said. The Democrat’s camp is investigating the document’s origins.
The Wicker campaign also is “trying to get to the bottom of this,” Annison said, “but at 5:30 on the day before an election, I’m not going to tell you it’s a priority.”
The Hill
11/4/8
Magnolia Tribune
