Musgrove, who is challenging interim Sen. Roger Wicker in a special election to fill Trent Lott’s vacated Senate seat, needs an Obama-inspired wave of black turnout in the Mississippi Delta to compensate for lukewarm support among conservative whites.
But try to find a picture of Musgrove standing next to Obama.
It’s not on his desk, or on his fliers, or hanging on his office wall. And Republican researchers can’t find an Obama-Musgrove snapshot either — but it’s not for lack of trying.
“Wicker can attach himself to McCain and Palin, but Musgrove has got to put a little distance between himself and the national ticket — maybe a lot of distance — to get those white Democratic voters,” said Mississippi State University political science professor Marty Wiseman. “The tricky thing here is doing that while capitalizing on Obama’s coattails. If Ronnie doesn’t get huge turnout in the Delta, he’s sunk.”
Mississippi — which has the highest proportion of African-Americans in the nation, at 37 percent — is likely to be a national bellwether this year even if Obama fails to carry it. The race will not only determine the length of Obama’s coattails, but it will also provide a critical test for Southern Democrats trying to reclaim regional power through a coalition of energized black voters and working-class whites disgusted with the national GOP.
The race is tight but tilting toward Wicker, with the former congressman leading 49 percent to 42 percent in a late-August Rasmussen poll.
Politico
9/9/8
