Wicker confident of GOP in state
Former North Mississippi Congressman Roger Wicker, who had an iron grip on his old district but isn’t as well known south of Jackson, faces his former roommate in a nasty battle for the U.S. Senate seat vacated with Trent Lott’s retirement.
To keep the seat, Wicker faces Democrat Ronnie Musgrove, a former governor and veteran of three statewide races, two of them successful. Since Gov. Haley Barbour appointed Wicker to the interim seat, Wicker has been trying to become well known on Lott’s South Mississippi stomping grounds.
The 57-year-old has north Mississippi roots. He is the son of retired Circuit Judge Fred Wicker and the late Wordna Wicker, and a 1969 graduate of Pontotoc High School. At the University of Mississippi, Wicker was the Associated Student Body president and made the Hall of Fame. He earned his bachelor’s and law degrees there.
Lin Jacobson, now a Pascagoula insurance agent, became friends with Wicker when they lived next door to each other in the 1970s, when Wicker was a law student and Jacobson an Ole Miss undergrad. On weekends the two grilled steaks or hung out on the porch at their apartments, but for much of the week Wicker studied, Jacobson recalled.
Sun Herald
10/26/8