Down, dirty judicial races: Elections reshape Supreme Court

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 11/16/8

What happened in Mississippi’s 2008 judicial elections happened all over the country.

State elections for Supreme Court justices ended 2008 much as they began, punctuated by runaway spending, partisan pressure, angry accusations and costly, secretly-funded ads by third-party special interests that often drowned out the candidates.

Four incumbent Mississippi Supreme Court justices sought re-election. Three were defeated.

Nationally, 23 seats were contested in 13 states in 2008. Campaign finance reports,through final pre-election disclosures in the fall, showed that candidates had raised $29.4 million – almost identical to the figure raised at the same point in 2006.