Friday Election Notebook

MS-01: The NRCC launched a series of campaign attacks yesterday targeting vulnerable Democrats on healthcare, including Travis Childers. The ad said, in part, “President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are having some trouble coming up with the votes. As Democrat leaders continue to lose support for their latest healthcare push, they will be leaning heavily on Travis Childers to be a vote in the ‘yes’ column. Pelosi gave Childers a free pass the last time around, but it looks like that permission slip has expired.”

MS-01: I already linked to this last night in the story about the House jobs bill- also known as the HIRE Act in some circles- but it’s worth looking at Childers’ press release in support of the bill again. One thing I notice is he makes no mention of the cost of the bill- surely that wasn’t on accident. And second, he says it will create “some 300,000 jobs.” I would be careful of predictions. It didn’t work out so well for the Congressman in his press release in support of the stimulus bill last year.

MS-01: Kind of interesting find here. It looks like Angela McGlowan’s bestseller Bamboozled is available to read for free at Google books. In the intro (on page xxv), McGlowan, who attended Ole Miss, said she was “an opponent of the University of Mississippi’s Rebel flag.” You may remember fans essentially stopped waving the flag at games when sticks were banned in 1997.

MS-01: Alan Nunnelee will be making a healthcare policy statement on Monday at 9 am at the Nunnelee for Congress Campaign headquarters (438 East Main Street).

MS-03: Andy Taggart fired back at the state Democratic leaders who said people felt “disconnected” from Gregg Harper. Taggart said, “Considering that two of those candidates are Joel Gill, whom Harper defeated with nearly two-thirds of the vote just over a year ago, and Shawn O’Hara, who has run for virtually every office in the state, one might wonder who, exactly, it is that is most disconnected.”

MS-04: Joe Tegerdine, writing on his Facebook page, promoted the Fair Tax calling it “fair and simple.” He added, “It would be a boon to our economy and stop Congress from the manipulation and control it exerts over the American taxpayer.” To learn more about the Fair Tax, check out their website- FairTax.org.

MS-04: Gene Taylor introduced legislation yesterday to repeal NAFTA, saying 29 percent of manufacturing job losses since 1993 are linked to the bill. Regarding the timing of the bill, Taylor said, “At a time when 10 to 12 percent of the American people are unemployed, I think Congress has an obligation to put people back to work.”

MS-04: During a press conference which was original scheduled to be about the NAFTA repeal bill, the topic turned to healthcare as Taylor was joined by Rep. Bart Stupak- now one of the most noticeable Congressmen in the country for his role in demanding strict abortion language in any healthcare bill. Stupak said he doesn’t care about the process, or the press he has received, adding, “We can make it the (Gene) Taylor amendment. I don’t care. I have no pride of ownership.” Taylor responded, “No, because I’m not going to vote for the bill.”

2010 House: Brian Perry’s column this week looked at the 26 people who are vying for Congress from Mississippi, although many do not actually live in the district they are hoping to represent.