Bryant and Harper Speak Out Regarding Lawsuit Against Arizona

There was sharp reaction from some of Mississippi’s political leaders as the Justice Department made the long anticipated decision to bring suit against Arizona’s new law targeting illegal immigrantion. In the House, Rep. Gregg Harper was one 20 Republicans to sign on to a letter penned by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, supportive of the Arizona law and critical of the administration’s decision to proceed with the lawsuit.

You can read the entire letter here.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who sent out a press release yesterday praising the state’s use of e-verify while also pointing out that he commends Arizona for their legislation, said this to WLBT about the lawsuit- particularly language used by the bills’ opponents against its supporters: “Well, when they can’t fight facts from people who are opposing the federal laws that now exist, that should take care of illegal immigration that should say we’re going to secure our borders and those people that oppose that usually try to resort to terms like racism, xenophobia, all those types of things that have been used for so long for those of us that simply believe that we are a nation of laws rather than men and we have to enforce those laws.”

Speaking of illegal immigration… As the issue one again makes its way to the mainstream, the Federation for American Immigration Reform- an organization that seeks to “improve border security, stop illegal immigration, and promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest”- released a study showing the costs of illegal immigration throughout the United States. As a whole, illegals cost the United States around $113 billion according to the study. Mississippi’s share of that total is $106 million (which is relatively low compared to most states).

Needless to say, expect this to be an issue in 2010 as well as 2011. What will be interesting is how Democrats handle the issue. In 2007, both men at the top of the Democratic ticket- John Arthur Eaves and Jamie Franks- attempted to move to the right of Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant on the issue.

How big of an impact will Morgan Freeman have on Luckett’s race? Bill Luckett continues to circle the state looking to raise two things- his name ID and money. Over the past week or so, the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful has made stops in Bay St. Louis, Columbus, and Southaven. Meeting up with him in Columbus was friend, business partner, and supporter Morgan Freeman. Freeman has helped raise money for Luckett in the past and I have no reason to believe he won’t play a big role in Luckett’s campaign going forward. The question is: what kind of impact can he have? Freeman is certainly one of the most well known and well thought of Mississippians around the country and world even. As for now, I think Freeman could be very beneficial to Luckett in the Democratic primary where he faces off against Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree. The thinking is that Freeman will help attract the black vote, which will probably be Dupree’s strong point.

MS-01 as a “trend-setter.” Jim Herring’s latest blog post looked at the Congressional race in the First District between Alan Nunnelee and Travis Childers. He made several good points including one I want to reiterate. The race in MS-01 should be a bellwether for what happens throughout the night. With a relatively early poll closing time (8 p.m. EST; should have first precincts around 8:30), this could be one of the first races called. Here is how Herring put it: “In my judgment, the race between a Nunnelee and Childers will be close and a ‘trend-setter’ nationally. If Childers wins, look for the Democrats to lose some seats in the House of Representatives but retain substantial control with Nancy Pelosi re-elected as Speaker of the House (with the support of Childers). If Nunnelee wins, look for the Democrats nationally to have a long night.”

Steele stays on, No Henry Barbour. It doesn’t look like Henry Barbour- or anyone else for that matter- will be taking the reins of the RNC. The Associated Press is reporting that Michael Steele will stay on as chair of the committee despite sharp criticism from the party with regard to comments he made about Afghanistan.