Funny Business In Mississippi-- At Least For Democrats

As of June 30, Mississippi senior Senator Thad Cochran had only raised $773,953, not much for a U.S. Senator. It gave rise to some talk that he might be thinking of retirement. He was born in 1937 and by the end of his next term he'd be 82. Elected in 1978, he's the second most senior Republican in the Senate. And, for a mainstream conservative like Cochran, a Cruz-ified Republican caucus can't be much fun. But when you realize that the last time he was up for reelection he only spent $518,625, you have to reconsider his lackadaisical fundraising as proof he might be retiring. Cochran hasn't announced he's running yet, only that he would make his intentions known before the March filing deadline.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has said he would probably run if Cochran retired. But he made it clear that he thinks Cochran "has been phenomenal-- I’ll support him if he runs again." Cochran, who beat his last opponent, Democrat Erik Fleming, 766,111 (61.4%) to 480,915 (38.56%), may need that support-- although not because of anyone the Democrats are putting up against him. (So far, the Dems have no one.) Yesterday, right after Cochran voted with most Senate Republicans to back away from defaulting on the nation's debts, several extreme right-wing SuperPacs-- Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund, the Madison Project, FreedomWorks band Club for Growth-- announced that the are backing an extreme right-wing teabagger, state Senator Chris McDaniel, in a primary race against Cochran. McDaniel was running against Rep. Steve Palazzo (a Club for Growth target) but switched to the Senate race yesterday. More on Palazzo below.

As you can see from the video above, McDaniel, a former Hate Talk Radio host, is the smarmiest kind of greasy candidate you'll find anywhere-- and is sure to go over well among Mississippi teabaggers. At his repulsively emotional announcement ceremony, he told his followers that "the lights of liberty are going out across this country and millions of people feel like strangers in the land," although he hasn't accused Cochran of marching across Georgia with Sherman (yet).

Last month we mentioned a libertarian gun loon, Tavish Kelly, was going to run against Steve Palazzo (MS-04-- Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Laurel), who beat far right Blue Dog Gene Taylor in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010. Well, even with McDaniel out of the race, Kelly isn't getting much traction and… Taylor says he may jump into the Republican primary. Despite what some misguided centrists say about how swell Blue Dogs and New Dems are, Taylor was always a Republican in all but name and his reemergence as one shouldn't surprise anyone. He certainly wouldn't have to readjust his voting habits.

Gene Taylor is considering a run for the 4th District congressional seat he held for two decades, but if he runs it probably will be as a Republican.

…"By 2010, about two-thirds of the people in the district identified themselves as Republican," he said. "I don't know how much that has changed, if at all. I did notice that a lot of the people I served with at the state level have switched parties.

"Let's face it. You can't accomplish anything if you don't get elected."

The downside to being a Republican, he said, is the party is much tougher on those who don't toe the party line. But he said he wouldn't let that influence his voting.

"I was never a very good Democrat," he said. "So I could be just as bad a Republican."

He said he couldn't run as an independent because even if he were elected, he wouldn't get a good committee assignment -- the two parties make those assignments.

Yesterday a Daily Kos blogger who often cheers on Blue Dogs and New Dems, pointed out that when Republicans tried recruiting Taylor in 1994, he was dismissive of their overtures. "I personally would feel like a prostitute. I still believe the average working person's best interest is best served by the Democratic Party. If I switched, it certainly wouldn't be out of any moral conviction or professional conviction. It would just be to further my political situation, and that is the wrong reason to do it." As the Kos blogger pointed out, like most prostitutes, its just a matter of finding the right price.

Do you wonder if Cochran can be defeated on a platform of not being conservative enough for a bunch of Confederate Know Nothings? Have you watched this iconic Mississippi video lately?