Divisive race ends with win for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith
Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith returns to Washington as a solidly loyal supporter of President Donald Trump after he stumped for her in a divisive Mississippi runoff shaped by her video-recorded remark about “public hanging.” Hyde-Smith on Tuesday defeated Democrat Mike Espy, a former congressman and former U.S. agriculture secretary who was trying to become the state’s first African-American senator since Reconstruction. The election was rocked by the video, in which Hyde-Smith, who is white, said of a supporter, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” A separate video showed her talking about “liberal folks” and making it “just a little more difficult” for them to vote. Her comments, and the backlash to them, made Mississippi’s history of lynchings and violent suppression of black voting rights a theme of the runoff and spurred many black voters to return to the polls. In the aftermath of the video, Republicans worried they could face a repeat of last year’s special election in Alabama, in which a flawed Republican candidate handed Democrats a reliable GOP Senate seat in the Deep South. The GOP pumped resources into Mississippi, and Trump made a strong effort on behalf of Hyde-Smith, holding last-minute rallies Monday in Mississippi. Speaking to supporters after her win, Hyde-Smith vowed to fight for everyone in the state when she goes to Washington. “I want everybody to know, no matter who you voted for today, I’m going to always represent every Mississippian. I will work very hard and do my very best to make Mississippi very proud,” she said. Speaking to reporters later, she said Trump had called to congratulate her and said she’d “been through a storm” and “survived it with grace.” Her supporters said the furor over her comments was overblown. They also stuck by her as a photo was circulated of her wearing a replica Confederate military hat during a 2014 visit to Beauvoir, the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. “So many things are taken out of context,” said Elizabeth Gallinghouse, 84, from Diamondhead, Mississippi. “The fact that she toured Jefferson Davis’s house. You or I could have done the same thing. They said, ‘Put this cap on. Hold this gun.’ It was a fun time. She wasn’t trying to send any messages.” Hyde-Smith was in her second term as Mississippi agriculture commissioner when Republican Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to temporarily succeed GOP Sen. Thad Cochran. The longtime lawmaker retired in April amid health concerns. Her win Tuesday makes Hyde-Smith the first woman elected to Congress from Mississippi. The contest caps a campaign season that exposed persistent racial divisions in America — and the willingness of some political candidates to exploit them to win elections. With Hyde-Smith’s victory, Republicans control 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats. The GOP lost control of the House, where Democrats will assume the majority in January. In the final weeks of the runoff, Hyde-Smith’s campaign said the remark about making voting difficult was a joke. She said the “public hanging” comment was “an exaggerated expression of regard” for a fellow cattle rancher. During a televised debate nine days after the video was publicized, she apologized to “anyone that was offended by my comments.” But Hyde-Smith, 59, said the remark was used as a “weapon” against her. Espy, 64, replied: “I don’t know what’s in your heart, but I know what came out of your mouth.” Addressing his supporters Tuesday night at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Espy said: “While this is not the result we were hoping for, I am proud of the historic campaign we ran and grateful for the support we received across Mississippi. We built the largest grassroots organization our state has seen in a generation.” The “public hanging” comment also resonated with his supporters. “That really offended me,” said Charles Connley, 60, a black voter from Picayune. Some corporate donors, including Walmart, requested refunds on their campaign contributions to Hyde-Smith after the videos surfaced. Hyde-Smith and Espy emerged from a field of four candidates Nov. 6 to advance to Tuesday’s runoff. She will complete the final two years of the six-year term Cochran started. Shortly after the win Tuesday, Trump tweeted: “Congratulations to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on your big WIN in the Great State of Mississippi. We are all very proud of you!” Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Last US Senate race of midterms up for vote in Mississippi
Mississippi voters are deciding the last U.S. Senate race of the midterms, choosing between a white Republican Senate appointee backed by President Donald Trump and a black Democrat who was agriculture secretary when Bill Clinton was in the White House. History will be made either way: Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, 59, would be the first woman ever elected to Congress from Mississippi, and Democrat Mike Espy, 64, would be the state’s first African-American U.S. senator since Reconstruction. Voter Elizabeth Gallinghouse, 84, said Tuesday she wanted to be a part of that history by helping to elect the state’s first woman to Capitol Hill. “We need more women in Congress, and I think we’re slowly getting there,” she said. Mississippi’s past of racist violence became a dominant theme after a video showed Hyde-Smith praising a supporter in early November by saying, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” She said it was “an exaggerated expression of regard.” More than a week after the video’s release, she said she apologized to “anyone that was offended by my comments,” but also said the remark was used as a “weapon” against her. Hyde-Smith was seen in another video talking about making voting difficult for “liberal folks,” and a photo circulated of her wearing a replica Confederate military hat during a 2014 visit to Beauvoir, a beachside museum in Biloxi, Mississippi, that was the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Critics said Hyde-Smith’s comments and Confederate regalia showed callous indifference in a state with a 38 percent black population, and some corporate donors, including Walmart, requested refunds on their campaign contributions to her. Michael King, 71, who was voting Tuesday, said he believed that criticism of Hyde-Smith was purely political, as people were “grabbing something to make her look bad at the last moment.” “I think the media hyped it up as much as they could,” said King, who said he voted for Hyde-Smith. Mississippi — which still has the Confederate battle emblem on its state flag — has a history of racially motivated lynchings. The NAACP website says that between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,743 lynchings in the United States, and that nearly 73 percent of the victims were black. It says Mississippi had 581 lynching during that time, the highest number of any state. Hyde-Smith was in her second term as Mississippi’s elected agriculture commissioner when Republican Gov. Phil Bryant chose her to temporarily succeed longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who retired in April amid health concerns. Tuesday’s winner will serve the last two years of Cochran’s six-year term. Hyde-Smith has campaigned as an unwavering supporter of Trump, who campaigned with her Monday, praising her at a rally in the northeastern Mississippi city of Tupelo for voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. “She stood up to the Democrat smear machine,” Trump said. With the Mississippi election undecided, Republicans hold 52 of the 100 Senate seats. Mississippi last elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1982, but Espy was trying for the same kind of longshot win that fellow Democrat Doug Jones had nearly a year ago in neighboring Alabama, another conservative Deep South state where Republicans hold most statewide offices. Espy campaigned as someone who would be able to bridge the partisan divide in Washington. He was endorsed by former Vice President Joe Biden, and three Democrats who are potential 2020 presidential candidates — former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey — traveled to Mississippi to campaign for him. “Why are we still fighting about the color line?” Espy said during a speech Monday night at a predominantly African-American church, noting that it was the 21st century. “This is a campaign that goes to the color line and it reached across the color line, across the chasm of racial division, across the chasm of racial acrimony,” Espy said. If white voters outnumber black voters 2-to-1 on Tuesday, Espy would have to win 30 percent or more of white votes, a tough task in a state with possibly the most racially polarized electorate in the country. But if black voters rise to 40 percent of the electorate and Espy wins 9 out of 10, he needs less than a quarter of white votes to squeak out a victory. “If Espy wins that race, it represents a huge breakthrough for America,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a longtime civil rights activist and former Democratic presidential candidate. “If he loses, it’s a brief statement about Mississippi being unrepentant.” Meanwhile, federal and state authorities are investigating seven nooses that were found hanging from trees outside the Mississippi Capitol on Monday, along with handwritten signs that referred to the Senate runoff and the state’s history of lynching. Hyde-Smith campaign hammered Espy for his $750,000 lobbying contract in 2011 with the Cocoa and Coffee Board of the Ivory Coast. She noted that the country’s ex-president, Laurent Gbagbo, is being tried in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. “I don’t know how many Mississippians can really relate to an income that can command a $750,000 check from one person for a lobbying job,” Hyde-Smith, who is a cattle rancher, said during a Nov. 20 debate. Espy, who is an attorney, said: “I found out later that this guy, the president, was a really bad guy. I resigned the contract.” Federal registration papers show Espy terminated the contract two weeks before its scheduled end. Espy resigned the Cabinet post in 1994 amid a special counsel investigation that accused him of improperly accepting gifts. He was tried and acquitted on 30 corruption charges, but the Mississippi Republican Party ran an ad this year that called Espy “too corrupt for the Clintons” and “too liberal for Mississippi.” Espy said he refused to accept offers of plea deals. “I put my reputation on the line, went through a trial, went through 70 witnesses against me, went through
Alabama Power prepared for Tropical Storm Gordon
Alabama Power is preparing for Tropical Storm Gordon as it strengthens this afternoon and heads toward the Gulf Coast. Alabama Power crews and personnel are ready to respond, if needed. Current forecasts predict Gordon will make landfall on the central Gulf Coast overnight Tuesday. The forecasts suggest Gordon could intensify to hurricane-strength before arriving on shore in Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana. The storm is expected to drop between 4 and 12 inches of rain in the western Florida panhandle, southwest Alabama, central Mississippi, eastern Louisiana and into southern Arkansas. Alabama Power crews are preparing for any damage or outages that may come when Tropical Storm Gordon makes landfall in the state later today. [Photo Credit: file/Alabama Newscenter] Forecasters say southwest Alabama, including the metro Mobile area, will be affected by high winds and heavy rainfall, with the possibility of flash flooding. Downtown Mobile also faces potential flooding. Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency at 7 a.m. Tuesday for Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and Washington counties. “All coastal Alabama residents need to prepare now ahead of tonight’s potential landfall near Alabama,” Ivey said. “I have directed essential state agencies to be on the ready should they be needed over the next couple of days.” Localized flooding is possible across the southern portion of the state. Dangerous wind gusts of up to 45 mph will be an issue as the storm makes landfall. Tornadoes also are possible. Based on current forecasts, the Mobile area will see the greatest impact from this storm in Alabama before it moves north and west on its forecasted track through Mississippi, Louisiana and toward Arkansas. Heavy rain and gusting winds could cause trees to fall. As always, safety is a top priority for all Alabama Power. Individuals, families and businesses in the projected path of the storm should take precautionary measures and make sure they have a hurricane plan, including a fully stocked emergency supply kit. Click here for specific tips related to hurricane preparedness. Alabama Power customers who experience storm-related outages can report them online via mobile devices at www.alabamapower.com. Customers also can call the company’s automated outage reporting line at 1-800-888-APCO (2726). Republished with the permission of the Alabama Newscenter.
Mississippi lawmakers approve bill to create a state lottery
The Mississippi House reversed itself Tuesday and passed a bill to create a state lottery in the Bible Belt state where churches have long opposed it. The vote came during a special session, less than 24 hours after the House originally voted to kill the bill that the state’s Republican governor promises to sign into law. There was no debate Tuesday as a few representatives changed their votes from no to yes. Mississippi is one of six states without a lottery, and Gov. Phil Bryant had been pushing lawmakers for more than a year to create one. Supporters estimate a lottery could generate tens of millions of dollars annually, and Bryant says he wants the money to help pay for repair to crumbling highways and bridges. “This is a historic day in Mississippi,” Bryant said on Twitter. “Mississippi lawmakers rose to the occasion.” Supporters said it would take about a year to get a lottery up and running. The bill was opposed by politically powerful Baptist and Pentecostal groups and some people who called it a regressive tax on poor people in one of the poorest states in the U.S. The state’s influential casino lobby did not oppose a lottery but fought some lawmakers’ ultimately unsuccessful efforts to allow video lottery terminals in places like truck stops. Bryant pointed out that three of the four states bordering Mississippi have a lottery, and Mississippi residents drive to Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee to buy millions of dollars of tickets each year. The lottery bill passed the Senate Monday night but it failed initially in the House with 60 opposed and 54 in favor. The House subsequently passed the bill Tuesday with 58 in favor and 54 opposed. Tuesday was the fourth day of a special session that Bryant called, asking lawmakers to put millions more dollars into highways and bridges. More than 400 of Mississippi’s city and county bridges are closed because they are in bad repair. The state Department of Transportation says it needs at least $400 million more per year just to keep state highways from deteriorating. Supporters of a lottery estimate it could generate about $40 million for the state in the first year and $80 million in subsequent years. The Senate and House last week passed different versions of a lottery bill, and top lawmakers spent much of Monday working out the differences. The two chambers must agree on a single version before it can go to the governor. Republican Rep. Bill Denny said Tuesday that he has opposed attempts to establish a lottery for more than two decades, but he voted in favor this time because his constituents in Jackson want it. “Every time I go to the grocery store, ‘Bill, we need the lottery,’” Denny said. Democratic Rep. Greg Holloway of Hazlehurst voted against the bill initially and then for it Tuesday. “My people have contacted me,” Holloway said. “They want the lottery and I want them to have what they want.” Democratic Rep. Jeramey Anderson of Escatawpa voted for the bill Monday and against it Tuesday. He said he wanted a guarantee that a significant share of lottery money would go to education. “Killing the bill would have given us a better opportunity to negotiate,” said Anderson, who is running for a U.S. House seat. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I do support the lottery, but I support public education, as well.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Black lawmakers in Mississippi to protest over Confederate emblem on flag
In part of a sweeping debate about the public display of Confederate symbols across the South, some black legislators in Mississippi say they are boycotting a regional meeting that their own state is hosting this summer, to protest the rebel emblem on the state flag. The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus is asking the Southern Legislative Conference to push Mississippi to lose its status as the last state with a flag featuring the Confederate battle emblem — a red field topped by a blue tilted cross dotted by 13 white stars. All eight of Mississippi’s public universities and several counties and cities, including Biloxi, have stopped flying the flag because of the Confederate emblem. Most have done it since the June 2015 slayings of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The man later convicted in the killings was an avowed white supremacist who had posed for photos holding the Confederate battle flag. South Carolina removed a Confederate battle flag from the statehouse lawn soon after the slayings. New Orleans recently started taking down Confederate statues. The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus chairwoman, Democratic Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes of Gulfport, said Tuesday that the boycott is designed to put pressure on state House Speaker Philip Gunn. Soon after the Charleston shootings, Republican Gunn, who is white, said his Christian faith led him to see the Confederate symbol as “a point of offense that needs to be removed” from the Mississippi flag. But, he has not rounded up the votes to make a change. Gunn is chairman of the Southern Legislative Conference, with members from 15 states. The group holds its annual meeting July 29-Aug. 2 in Biloxi. Gunn said in a statement Tuesday that SLC “is a well-respected organization” and the meeting will “showcase the positives of Mississippi.” “It brings a great amount of economic benefit to the state, attracting nearly 1,000 people,” Gunn said. “This event is a good opportunity to stand with me, someone who has not wavered in my support of changing the flag, to promote all that is good about our great state.” Critics say the Confederate symbol is a divisive reminder of slavery and segregation in a state with a 38 percent black population, but supporters say it represents history that should not be forgotten. Mississippi has used the same flag since 1894, and voters chose to keep it in a 2001 election. Williams-Barnes told The Associated Press that the Black Caucus has not united around a new design proposal. “What we’re really wanting is a flag that charts a different future for our state, that charts a different future for our children and that is about a vision that unites people in the state with each other as well as unites Mississippi with other states in the nation,” she said. The executive director of the Council of State Governments’ Southern Legislative Conference, based in Atlanta, was traveling and did not immediately return a message. During the legislative session that ended in March, several bills proposed redesigning the flag and some others proposed financial punishment for universities that have stopped flying it. All died because Gunn and other leaders said there was no consensus among lawmakers to either reject or protect the flag. Fifty-one of Mississippi’s 174 state lawmakers are black, and 50 of them are in the Black Caucus. Williams-Barnes said a majority of caucus members voted to boycott the regional conference, and about 80 percent are planning to take part in the boycott. She said she will ask black legislators from other states to stay away, as well. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Donald Trump’s voter fraud expert registered in 3 states
A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned. Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show. In a post earlier this month, Phillips described “an amazing effort” by volunteers tied to True the Vote, an organization whose board he sits on, who he said found “thousands of duplicate records and registrations of dead people.” Trump has made an issue of people who are registered to vote in more than one state, using it as one of the bedrocks of his overall contention that voter fraud is rampant in the U.S. and that voting by 3 to 5 million immigrants illegally in the country cost him the popular vote in November. The AP found that Phillips was registered in Alabama and Texas under the name Gregg Allen Phillips, with the identical Social Security number. Mississippi records list him under the name Gregg A. Phillips, and that record includes the final four digits of Phillips’ Social Security number, his correct date of birth and a prior address matching one once attached to Gregg Allen Phillips. He has lived in all three states. At the time of November’s presidential election, Phillips’ status was “inactive” in Mississippi and suspended in Texas. Officials in both states told the AP that Phillips could have voted, however, by producing identification and updating his address at the polls. Citing concerns about voters registered in several states, the president last week called for a major investigation into his claim of voter fraud, despite his campaign lawyer’s conclusion that the 2016 election was “not tainted.” “When you look at the people that are registered, dead, illegal and two states, and some cases maybe three states, we have a lot to look into,” Trump said in an ABC interview. Reached by telephone Monday, Phillips said he was unaware of his multiple registrations but asked, “Why would I know or care?” “Doesn’t that just demonstrate how broken the system is?” he asked. “That is not fraud — that is a broken system. We need a national ID that travels with people.” Phillips has been in the national spotlight since Nov. 11, when he tweeted without evidence that his completed analysis of voter registrations concluded the “number of non-citizen votes exceeded 3 million.” Thousands of people liked and retweeted the claim, which led to a viral article three days later on InfoWars.com, a site known to traffic in conspiracy theories. Phillips also has previously tweeted about the dangers of “inactive voters” being able to vote in U.S. elections. “There is already law that compels states to remove inactive voters. Many don’t,” Phillips tweeted Nov. 29. According to media reports, five Trump family members or top administration officials also were registered to vote in two states during the 2016 election — chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon; Press Secretary Sean Spicer; Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin; Tiffany Trump, the president’s youngest daughter; and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser. The Houston-based True the Vote has challenged the validity of voter rolls in numerous states. On Friday, Phillips tweeted that the conservative group “will lead the analysis” of widespread voter fraud, and suggested in a CNN interview that it might release the underlying data in a few months. Shortly after Phillips appeared on CNN on Friday, Trump tweeted: “Look forward to seeing the final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Adam Goodman: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders are the ‘New American Transformers’
There’s a new reality show in America generating ratings and rave reviews before an audience that had been waiting a long time for it to begin. It’s called “The New American Transformers,” but unlike the “Transformer” movies this series does not revolve around a galactic battle but something much more down to Earth. It is a story about Americans looking to transform a system that’s broken, in a country that’s lost its way, led by politicians who’ve become more interested in self-preservation than national revival. The search for newness, freshness, and a jolt of confidence explains why both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, hailing from wholly different universes of ideology and temperament, whether they win or lose, are scoring big today. Both are armed with declarations of transformation, from policy and politics, to America’s relations around the world. Sensing our system is progressively collapsing under its own weight, Trump and Sanders have come to embrace this truth. To their credit, the American people have as well. Trump and Sanders, separate yet together, have lent voice to what we’re feeling. Separate, yet together, Trump and Sanders rejected canned political hyperbole in favor of spontaneous declarations, in the moment and for the moment. Separate, yet together, they command the stage, despite doubts about their electability, despite the establishment’s desperate attempts to explain it away, or wish it away. After all, how do you stop a movement? How do you slow the momentum of candidates who simply refuse to play by the normal rules of the game? Trump and Sanders are not programmed by advisers, manipulated by donors, or controlled by polls. They’re refreshingly real, dependably candid, and totally human. Do they mess up at times, driving the pundits and prognosticators nuts? Yes. Do they sometimes fumble when asked to fully explain their remedies? Yes. Yet, Americans today are more interested in the honesty of intent, than the dishonesty of promises never pursued. After a Versailles–like ceremony where Dr. Ben Carson blessed the Trump insurgency with an outsider’s hug, The Donald says, “I try to be who I am.” Bernie Sanders, in denouncing the system amid a throng of believers, says “there’s too much shouting at each other; too much making fun of each other.” Now anyone who’s ever run for office, and those like me who have served them, understand all voting is emotional. We are not robots. We vote our feelings. Psychiatrists liken this to falling in love, a kind of inexplicable madness that while not always rational, is overwhelmingly emotional. Consciously or not, Trump and Sanders are wooing America, without the varnish of prepared speeches, without the crutch of poll-driven drivel, without permission from the establishment or the media elites. That same establishment is now out to stop them, at all costs, and they’ve settled on their choice of weapon: the negative ad. When an establishment candidate can’t sell himself or herself, their strategy is to air negative ads against everyone else. When the audience is not buying the establishment’s pick, they are made to feel stupid, uninformed, manipulated by ignorance. Yet this conventional dismantling of candidates is falling on hard times, outmatched by Sanders’ and Trump’s panache in made-for-television rallies built from enthusiasm and bred from frustration. Here are three reasons why. One. People don’t form impressions of candidates from negative ads, especially when the source is self-serving, the claims are questionable, and the intent is malicious. Two. After the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision opened the floodgates on negative ads, funded by outside groups with outside interests, they’re not unique anymore. Three. When any voter bonds with a candidate, that voter resents anyone who stands in the way of that relationship. No wonder Trump and Sanders are transforming the face of politics. In their world, it’s us versus them. In parallel, they have challenged party rules that preserve the interests of insiders, while challenging Americans to feel empowered again. Together, they have given us a choice: accept mediocrity in our domestic and foreign affairs, or expect excellence from themselves, and the nation. Together, they represent the agony and optimism of the American people. Given that choice, Michigan and Colorado Democrats sided with Sanders. Given that choice, Mississippi and Massachusetts Republicans flocked to Trump. By exercising that choice, the American people have begun to feel something the system long ago took for granted: hope. Meet the “New Transformers” — Sanders and Trump. Meet the new America, where democracy is alive, and well. *** Adam Goodman, a national GOP media consultant based in Florida, has created, directed and produced media for more than 300 candidates in 46 states over the past 35 years.
Darryl Paulson: Conventions have been disrupted by credentials, rules, platforms
(Second of three parts) Political parties have held conventions in America since 1824. Many aspects of the convention have changed little in almost two centuries. This year, because the Summer Olympics are being held in August, both major parties will conduct their convention in July, with Republicans going first in Cleveland and Democrats following in Philadelphia. The first televised convention took place in 1940 when New York City’s NBC affiliate broadcast the Republican convention in Philadelphia. The other major networks quickly joined in and provided gavel-to-gavel coverage. As John Chancellor of NBC noted in 1972, “convention coverage is the most important thing we do. The conventions are not just political theater, but really serious stuff.” That attitude changed by 2004, when all the major networks cut back their coverage to several hours at night. As early as 1996, the networks were complaining that little of substance takes place. Ted Koppel, host of ABC’s Nightline, announced in 1996 that he was going home because the Republican Convention “is more of an infomercial than a news event.” What changed? It is true that many of the conventions of the 1940s through the 1970s made for great television. Platform fights were common, sometimes leading to a walkout of delegates. Just as explosive were fights over rules changes and the city of delegates. What made for good television, made for bad election results for the parties. They did not want to project an image of a divided party to the American electorate. Both parties instituted rules that made conventions less dramatic. The party image improved, but television now found conventions bland. During the first two days of the convention, the delegates decide on credentials, rules and the party platform. The credentials process determines the seating of state delegations and resolves any challenges to their legitimacy. The major credentials challenge in modern political history took place at the 1964 Democratic Convention. Two delegations from Mississippi both claimed to be the legitimate one. One delegation was the traditional, all-white Democratic delegation. No blacks were members or even allowed to participate in the selection of delegates. The other delegation came from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which was open to both whites and blacks. The MFDP argued that its members should be seated because the party was open to all races, supported the party platform and backed the election of Lyndon Johnson. Many in the all-white delegation opposed the platform and its civil rights plank, and many supported Republican Barry Goldwater for president. Johnson selected his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, to negotiate a solution. Humphrey’s solution was to seat the all-white delegation and several members of the MFDP. At all future Democratic conventions, race couldn’t be a factor in selecting delegates. Like most compromises, neither side was pleased. Platforms have often produced divided conventions. At the 1948 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, the delegates narrowly approved a stronger civil rights plank introduced by Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey. Southern Democrats walked out and met several weeks later in Alabama and selected South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond to lead the Dixiecrats. Democrats feared that the split would cause Harry Truman to lose to Republican New York Gov. Thomas Dewey, but Truman won by a slim margin. The 1964 Republican platform led to a split between the moderate and conservative wings of the party. When the Goldwater forces defeated a moderate civil-rights plank by a 2-1 margin, it was clear that the Republican Party had moved to the right. Disputes over party rules have also led to disastrous conventions. In 1968, there were only 15 party primaries for the Democrats. Party committees or party leaders chose most delegates. The party leaders selected Humphrey and not the anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy. In response to the 1968 fiasco in Chicago, the Democrats formed the McGovern-Fraser Committee to revise convention rules. The committee recommended that in the future, most delegates must be selected in primaries or caucuses, and that the delegates had to mirror the population of the state they represented. McGovern would be the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972. Some found it more than coincidental that the person who wrote the rules changes became the next nominee. Many Democrats considered McGovern too radical to win, and “ABM” committees (Anybody but McGovern) sprang up to oppose him. His opponents tried to stop McGovern by denying him all of California’s delegates that he won in a winner-take-all primary. The effort failed, but in retaliation, McGovern forces challenged Mayor Richard Daley‘s Chicago delegation as not meeting the diversity requirements. Daley and the other 58 members of the Chicago delegation were thrown out of the convention and replaced by a diverse slate elected by no one. For probably the first time in his life, Chicago Sun-Times journalist Mike Royko supported Daley. Royko said the new delegates contained only one Italian and three Poles. “Your reforms,” wrote Royko, “have disenfranchised Chicago’s white ethnic Democrats, which is a strange reform.” After McGovern lost 49 of the 50 states to Richard Nixon, the Democrats were back in the reform mode. This time, they created over 700 “super-delegates” who were party officials and elected Democrats who would be guaranteed seats at the convention and help to select the most “winnable” Democrat. If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination because she has the overwhelming support of super-delegates, look for Democrats to once again reform their rules. Republicans would never do that. They are still following the rules their grandparents made. (Tomorrow: Donald Trump needs 498 more delegates to avoid contested convention.) *** Darryl Paulson is Emeritus Professor of Government at USF St. Petersburg. He can be reached at darryl.paulson@gmail.com.
Study ranks Alabama school system No. 39 in nation
A new study put together by online financial services firm WalletHub ranks Alabama schools 39th in the country out of 51, according to its aggregated 2014-2015 data from various sources. The list puts AL schools just ahead of Mississippi, Idaho and New Mexico, and slightly behind Delaware, Hawaii and neighboring Georgia. Yellowhammer State schools were mostly given “C-” grades throughout the study’s methodology. For instance, the study rated Alabama 42nd in the nation on state spending on schools, which they said largely accounts for achievement gaps. Teacher-pupil ratios, average scores on the SAT and ACT college admissions tests, and the presence of local schools on the “Top 700 Best U.S. Schools” list were all according significant weight in measuring state school systems against one another. Massachusetts took home top honors at No. 1 in the nation, while Colorado, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Kentucky rounded out the top few. Louisiana, Arizona, Nevada, the District of Columbia and Alaska made up the bottom rungs of the national ladder according to WalletHub’s methodology. A recent post by Mississippi bloggers noted with surprise that the Magnolia State wasn’t pulling up the very rear in this year’s list: It shares a reputation along with other Deep South states as having low-performing schools on average. The new rankings come following another year of good news for Alabama’s voluntary pre-K system: A study listed it as the country’s best. Gov. Robert Bentley lauded that news but also noted that limited access to poor students prevents many from accessing them. The new study in full can be found here.
Bill would recognize 9-mile offshore limit for 3 Gulf states
Since July 2013, Mississippi has claimed its state waters extend nine miles south into the Gulf of Mexico, but the federal government refuses to recognize the declaration. Mississippi’s senior U.S. senator is trying to change the government’s mind. The feds have been standing by a 1960 U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined the offshore boundary for Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama was three miles out. The federal government also has not recognized Louisiana’s 2011 declaration of a nine-mile limit. On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee, headed by Mississippi Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, wrote the nine-mile limit for all three states in a funding bill for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other federal agencies. At stake is the Gulf states’ control of lucrative fishing rights and revenue from oil and gas production in near-offshore waters. “This would give these states greater influence in regulating Gulf state fisheries. Currently, only Texas and Florida enjoy nine-mile limits, and this provision would ensure parity among all Gulf Coast states,” Cochran said in a written statement. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration. “I am all for giving the state of Mississippi authority to oversee more of its own coast and allowing those with firsthand knowledge of the region’s needs, namely Mississippians, to have more influence its future,” Cochran said. The issue dates back to 1953, when Congress passed the Submerged Lands Act. The act established a coastal boundary for each state at three miles from the shore. The federal government retained control of water bottoms farther out. The act provided that Congress could vote to extend the boundaries up to 10 miles offshore if a state could prove the existence of a law or constitutional provision that established a boundary beyond three miles before that state joined the Union. In a 1960 lawsuit brought by the federal government, the five Gulf states argued that each qualified for an exception. The U.S. Supreme Court decided Texas and Florida had produced historical documents supporting a 10-mile boundary but it ruled Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana had not. After 30 more years of litigation, the government, the Supreme Court and the states in 1992 set a legal definition of where each of the three states’ coastline began — and from there the three-mile limit would be determined. The decree did not extend the three-mile limit. Louisiana wildlife officials said the state Legislature gave authority to extend waters in 2011, but only after it was recognized by Congress or approved in litigation. The Mississippi law of 2013 mimics the Louisiana law, but without the reference to Congress. Cochran said the bill recommends funding for an independent assessment of reef fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico, which will allow for an organization other than NOAA to conduct this research. He said NOAA is directed to count fish on artificial reefs and offshore energy infrastructure. The agency would also be required to incorporate this new, more accurate count into its stock assessments, which could potentially increase the allowable catch of red snapper for private anglers. “These provisions represent a straightforward effort to try to get past some of the contentious policies that have affected fishing in the Gulf,” Cochran said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
