There are some things that just leap off the page tonight. Obviously, Obama put up a big number. Though probably 70-75 electoral votes were won in states by less than 3%, he turned Florida, Ohio and Iowa blue and Virginia and North Carolina will likely wind up in the blue column. Obama was a gracious winner. McCain was certainly a gracious loser.
Speaking of losers, Ronnie Musgrove didn’t seem to get the memo. As of this moment, he is trailing 56-44% and by about 120,000 votes with 99% of the precincts reporting. He has still not conceded to Senator Roger Wicker. This reveals a lack of class on Musgrove’s part that I am not sure that I have seen in Mississippi politics. According to the Sun Herald, Musgrove’s campaign staffer Adam Bozzi said that Musgrove would not concede Tuesday night because the campaign wants to see absentee vote totals Wednesday. Is he kidding?
From the now award winning YallPolitics Memory Division, we bring to you quotes from Ronnie Musgrove’s past. If you’ll remember, in November of 1999, Ronnie Musgrove was locked in a race with Mike Parker that was seperated by less than 1% (a few thousand votes) and awaited resolution in the Mississippi House. Musgrove immediately began leaning on Parker publicly to concede the race.
“It is a disservice to the people of Mississippi for the administration to have to wait,” Musgrove said, “because then it throws the entire office of the governor behind in developing an agenda and vision for the state.” – Clarion Ledger, 11/12/99
”Mr. Parker’s choice (to not concede) is a real disservice to the people of our state” – George Shelton, Commercial Appeal, 11/23/99
“People I have talked to from one end of the state to the other just simply say, ‘Look, the person with the most votes is the person who’s supposed to win.'” Ronnie Musgrove, Clarion Ledger, 11/10/99
I couldn’t agree more.
Maybe Musgrove’s auditioning for some appointed position from President-Elect Obama. Maybe Musgrove just hasn’t gotten the “all clear” signal from Chuck Schumer and the DSCC about what to do next. But certainly this display of selfishness and disregard for the will of Mississippi voters will hopefully mark the end of Musgrove’s elective political career in Mississippi. We will see if the press calls him out on it.
Wicker’s victory certainly was the national indicator that the Democrats would not get to 60 in the Senate. It looks like it will be in the range of 57/43 after everything shakes out.
Thad Cochran, of course, had a great victory, and Mississippi is lucky to have him for another term.
US House
There were not real surprises here. Bennie Thompson, Gene Taylor and Travis Childers all cruised, though Childers had a semi-competitive race. His 54% margin was likely not enough to scare off a serious contender in an off year election two years from now. Childers will have to vote for Nancy Pelosi and that may ultimately be tough for him to run away from.
Gregg Harper scored a huge win with a 63%, and he most likely will scare away any serious opposition. Harper has also put money to work in other races through his PAC and he may be in a position to build some long term leadership credentials in DC.
Supreme Court
If there was any suspense to the night, it was the fact that three of four Supreme Court incumbent justices that ran in Mississippi lost. Only Ann Lamar came out unscathed. Chief Justice Jim Smith, Justice Chuck Easley and Justice Oliver Diaz were all resoundingly defeated. Easley and Diaz were two more liberal voices on the court that will likely be replaced by more conservative ones in Chandler and Bubba Pierce.
Overall thoughts
In the worst year for Republicans in a half century and with a mediocre candidate, Mississippi can take solace in the fact that it is still a red state by +14%. The fundamentals for Democrats could get no better than today. This is the absolute sign that Mississippi is a conservative state. There is no progressive tide to speak of. Republicans should take the lesson that conservatism works in Mississippi, and they must prevent Democrats from trying to stake out a half-populist, half-social conservative existence.
Second, there was no massive tidal wave of new voters in Mississippi. Many (myself included) thought the “Obama effect” would push marginal races into the blue column in Mississippi, but it never really happened. Currently the total numbers show about 1.15 million votes cast statewide. After absentee/affidavits are counted, that might get to 1.2 million or so, and that would be a record. Several counties in the metro area that I looked into showed vote tallies actually grew as a percentage faster from 2000-2004 than from 2004-2008.
So now we get about the business of getting this state and this nation together. I don’t buy the argument that Republicans will magically huddle in the minority and retool, though certainly a leader of the party needs to emerge. Republicans will be largely irrelevant on the national scene for the forseeable future with only the power to obstruct by filibuster only in the most extreme cases. The Democrats have the ball nationally. It’s the government we’ve voted for. Let’s hope it’s government we deserve.
Magnolia Tribune
