COA candidate Kelly Mims has ad with pictures of Haley Barbour . . . who is supporting his opponent

I think we are about to see a lot more of Haley Barbour on the national scene. In fact, at YallPolitics, we are instituting a HaleyWatch to follow his political efforts outside of Mississippi. But back to the point at hand.

Haley is so popular in Mississippi that even people he is actively campaigning against are trying to sneak in flattering shots of him in their campaign ads.

The ad is a good one and highlights Mims’s military service and family. That’s all “A grade” political imagery. But towards the end of the ad, Mims puts in a picture of him posing with Haley Barbour. The problem with that is Haley Barbour is BIG TIME on board for supporting Donna Barnes, who is the incumbent and Mims’s opponent. Barbour has been running fundraisers for Barnes throughout North Mississippi. In fact, Barbour appointed Barnes in 2003. Haley is “all-in” against Mims and for his opponent. Even under the guise of serving in the military with Haley as the commander in chief of the Mississippi National Guard, using the picture in a campaign ad with Haley actively supporting his opponent seems a bit gratuitous. Put a little more simply, the inclusion of a Haley Barbour campaign image in Mims’s campaign ad was no accident and it seems to be a blatent attempt to “muddy the waters” about who Barbour is supporting in this race.

We did a little piece on this race earlier in the year. As background, Mims ran as a Democrat in 2003 against Rep. Brian Aldridge (R-Tupelo) and runs a law practice that focuses on personal injury, automobile accidents and workers comp cases.

This will be an interesting race to watch on November 2. While all eyes will be focused on the top of the ticket with the Childers/Nunnelee race, this one will have implications for the makeup of the Court of Appeals. Turnout will be sky high and lots of folks will be at the polls based on the top of the ticket so we will continue to keep an eye on this one to see how it turns out.