Senate appointment Barbour’s biggest clout yet

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Editorial, 12/9/7

Haley Barbour has leveraged the relatively limited powers of the Mississippi governor’s office as no one before him through a combination of political skills and relentless drive.

His legislative influence in the last term was without recent parallel. But in the long term, Barbour’s most momentous exercise of political power may have nothing to do with the Legislature. Instead, it may be the decision that rests in his hands alone – determining the next United States senator from Mississippi, a state that has had only four senators in the last 60 years.