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Sex and the Single Voter

"Single women are the hot, must-have demo for the 2004 presidential race. But will they put out this November?" Rebecca Traister explores this burning question in Salon.

AP Poll: Bush 45%, Kerry 44%, Nader 6%

AP reports today: "Bush was backed by 45 percent of voters and Kerry by 44 percent in the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Independent candidate Ralph Nader had 6 percent support. The numbers are essentially unchanged from AP-Ipsos polls taken in early and mid-March."

$141M bond bill for universities passes House committee

Andy Kanengiser of the CL reports: "A House committee today approved a $141 million bond bill for building projects at Mississippi universities, two-year colleges and state agencies. 'The needs are out there,' said House Speaker Pro Tempore J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis after the panel's voice vote. Compretta said the goal is to keep the building wish list below $200 million for 2004. 'This is the beginning of the process.' House Bill 1793 now goes to the full 122-member House Wednesday. The Senate is expected to consider its own higher education bond bill this afternoon."

Misused DHS funds investigated

Julie Goodman of the Clarion Ledger reports: "The state Department of Human Services is investigating whether millions of dollars in welfare money was used for such things as a down payment on a Jaguar and a trip to a Mediterranean country. The agency is looking into allegations contractors, such as day care providers, have improperly used funds, officials said. Investigators also are questioning whether portions of $89 million in 'rainy day' funds were mishandled between fiscal 2000 and 2002, DHS Executive Director Don Taylor said Wednesday. He could not say how much money might be involved."

House bill added $184M to school funding

The Sun Herald reports: "The House's $2 billion K-12 spending bill, which passed by a 103-18 vote Tuesday, would fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, a formula established in 1997 to ensure equity in spending for students in poorer school districts, and fund the fourth year of a five-year teacher pay raise plan. The House plan spends $184 million more on K-12 education than the joint Legislative Budget Committee recommendation. But the House plan faces a long, hard fight with the Senate and Gov. Haley Barbour, who have called some of the figures House leaders use to fund education "funny money.'"

[Fleming] A Come to Jesus Meeting

Where were you at 4:30 p.m. on March 18, 2004? I know where I was. I was sitting at my desk in the House Chamber, listening to Rep. Willie Bailey, D-Greenville, rail against a bill, House Bill 1435 to be exact. My colleague, Rep. Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, had introduced 1435 to make sure that affidavit ballots were counted in a election by making them, essentially, same-day voter registration forms. Sounds like a good idea, right?

That Old-Time ‘Southern Strategy'

Jack Bass writes for Salon: "The recent recess appointments by President George W. Bush of two controversial Deep South Republicans to federal courts of appeals indicates that the Republican 'Southern strategy' remains alive and well. Much of the Democratic opposition in the Senate to confirming Charles W. Pickering of Mississippi and William H. Pryor of Alabama focused on matters suggesting insensitivity to civil rights issues. Opponents cited the records of both men that included criticism of or efforts to limit important remedies or provisions of the Voting Rights Act."

NY Times Examines Barbour Role in Energy Policy

In a long piece Sunday, The New York Times examined Haley Barbour's role in Bush energy/environmental policies: "Just six weeks into the Bush administration, Haley Barbour, a former Republican party chairman who was a lobbyist for electric power companies, sent a memorandum to Vice President Dick Cheney laying down a challenge. 'The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore,' Mr. Barbour wrote, and called for measures to show that environmental concerns would no longer 'trump good energy policy.'"

Why Young Blacks Should Vote

Black America Web reports: "With the 2004 presidential election just eight months away and important political issues at stake, many are wondering why young blacks between the ages of 18 and 24 are less likely to get out and vote. Most of these young voters, political experts said, feel disconnected to the candidates and the issues surrounding this election. But a recent study conducted by Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies reported extremely high unemployment among young black men. That and higher tuition costs are two good reasons for this group to get out and vote in the upcoming election, observers said. The report stated that 'one out of every four African-American youth and one out of every five Latino youth between the ages of 16 and 24 are out-of-school, jobless and on the streets.'"

House clears bills to limit abortions

Emily Wagster Pettus of the AP reports today:"Abortion-rights supporters say opponents tried in roundabout ways to limit women's access to a legal medical procedure with three bills that cleared the Mississippi House Monday. Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, said mandating the reporting of complications is intended to discourage doctors from performing abortions and women from having the procedures. 'Women find themselves in this position. Men do not. And most of the people voting on this are men," Blackmon said. "We can stand up and ... shout to the top of the Capitol about how righteous we are, and not one of us as men is ever going to have to make that decision.'"

Kerry, Dems to Campaign in Mississippi

I'm happy to see the national Democratic Party taking Mississippi seriously. It's so insulting when national media, politicos or anyone else assume that all of our minds are already made up, or that we all think and vote alike (Barbour won just 52 percent of the vote in November, after all, and in an election where many people thought the candidates were near just alike; imagine the possibilities if voters believe they have a real choice). And those assumptions are self-perpetuating. The Clarion-Ledger reports: "With Mississippi's primary over, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign is mobilizing in the state. The senator does not necessarily need the South to win, however. Nor is it likely he will see any of Mississippi's six electoral votes from a state that has not voted for a Democratic president since Jimmy Carter in 1976. But Democrats here say Kerry's campaign, if nothing else, will be an opportunity to strengthen their party in the state and promote their philosophies in the months leading to Election Day on Nov. 2."

E-mail from Howard Dean

This went to his mailing list just now: "John Kerry and I had a very good meeting yesterday. During the campaign we often focused on what divided us, but the truth is we have much more in common beginning with our fervent desire to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas in November. The future of our country depends on this.

Bill Minor: Barbour's Nephew Lobbyist Raising Ire

Mr Minor writes: "Henry Barbour, the nephew who managed Gov. Haley Barbour's recent gubernatorial campaign, and his brother, Austin, have hooked up with Capitol Resources — an influential legislative lobbying group with a number of big corporate, gaming and oil clients. Capitol Resources, headed by two top lobbyists, Clare Hester and John Lundy, lists among its clients Kerr-McGee Corp., Lorillard Tobacco, Northrup Grumman Ship Systems and even the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. What especially got the effusive Holland's attention were quotes from one of the Barbour nephews that 'we're going to assist ... Republican candidates in raising money both nationally and at the state level.'"

Conservative LeSueur wins Primary

Clarion-Ledger reports:Clinton LeSueur trounced his opponents Tuesday in the 2nd Congressional District Republican primary, leaving him now to decide what campaign strategy to use against Democratic incumbent Bennie Thompson in the fall. ... LeSueur, of Greenville, will face Thompson in November for a second time. He won 44 percent of the vote against the congressman two years ago. He says he will hit the campaign trail promoting his conservative beliefs, including his objection to gay marriage. 'The people haven't seen anything yet. You're going to see a real campaign this round and we're definitely going to do double, if not more than what we did in 2002,' said LeSueur, 35, who has worked to put more male teachers in the classroom."

DHS shuts down centers

Pamela Berry of the Clarion Ledger writes: "By month's end, 34 family resource centers will close and more than 100 Mississippi families will be stripped of their child-care assistance in an effort to balance the state's Department of Human Services' budget."

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