Better MS Report

The Commercial Dispatch: As the midterm election approaches, Americans — north Mississippians among them — remain mired in recession and disgusted with Washington. Now as two years ago, voter ire has mounted against the party that happens to be in power. Republicans stand to regain control of the House of Representatives, and possibly even the [...]

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: The mostly negative campaign we have endured in the 1st Congressional District since the summer obscures the fact that the two major party candidates, Democratic incumbent Congressman Travis Childers of Booneville and Republican state Sen. Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo, are both good and honorable men with long records of public [...]

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: Secretary of State’ Delbert Hosemann’s constant drumbeat for turnout in Tuesday’s mid-term election is a point well made. Mississippi’s voter drop-off rate from a presidential year to a mid-term year is appalling even though the U.S. House seats lose none of their importance regardless of who holds them, and the [...]

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: Expect a strong turnout at the polls Tuesday after an early rush on absentee voting sweeps across the region. In county after county, circuit clerks have reported unusually large numbers of absentee ballots for a midterm election. Typically, high absentee voting means a high election-day turnout. “It’s crazy,” said DeSoto [...]

The Clarion-Ledger: Like our readers, this newspaper has endured another round of congressional elections and we are taken with the tedious tit-for-tat pettiness of the campaigns and the general lack of positive vision expressed by incumbent and challengers alike. The public continues to be turned off by the negative character assassinations, the guilt-by-association and the [...]

The Associated Press: During their only debate of the campaign season, both major-party congressional candidates in south Mississippi said Friday night that they want to repeal a federal health overhaul that became law earlier this year. Democratic incumbent Gene Taylor and Republican challenger Steven Palazzo took several verbal jabs at each other over their records [...]

The Associated Press: At 73, John Jones Jr. is old enough to remember when he and other black citizens couldn’t vote in Mississippi. He says he won’t miss the chance to cast a ballot in next week’s congressional race, and he’s supporting the Democrat who’s represented the area the past 17 years. “I guess I’m [...]

The Clarion-Ledger: First District Rep. Travis Childers recently rolled out a campaign commercial in northern Mississippi touting all the times he voted against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democratic strategist Jere Nash called that a critical turning point in a race he previously thought would be a certain victory for Childers. Republican state Sen. Alan Nunnelee [...]

The Sun Herald: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is so toxic in so many midterm races, Democrats are not only running away from her, they are not promising to vote for her as speaker if Democrats hold the House. Two lawmakers at opposite ends of the Pelosi spectrum — Texas Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, and [...]

The Sun Herald: Republican hopeful Steven Palazzo said he’s making at least five campaign appearances per day in the 4th Congressional District heading into the Nov. 2 midterm elections. Palazzo, a state representative from Biloxi, is painting a bleak picture of the future under the Democratic-controlled Congress as a means of persuading voters to consider [...]