The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Editorial, 1/7/9
While Democrats control the Mississippi House by a healthy 74-to-48 margin and the Senate by a tighter 27-to-25 count, Republicans remain tough customers in the legislative process because of two factors – Gov. Haley Barbour and Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant.
Barbour and Bryant, both Republicans, exert enormous pressure on the legislative process for the GOP and provide significant political counterweights to the Democratic majority in both chambers at the state Capitol.
A former Republican National Committee chairman, Barbour brings superior political skills and a reputation for demanding strict party discipline and loyalty to his job as governor. Hence, Republican legislators and key conservative Democrats who frequently vote with them rarely buck Barbour on major policy issues.
But in his sophomore year as the leader of the state Senate and as the presumed heir apparent to Barbour’s leadership of the state GOP, Bryant is beginning to assert himself in the Senate and attempt to enforce some discipline and loyalty of his own.
Magnolia Tribune
