Noxapater Debate

Monday night Gregg Harper, Charlie Ross, David Landrum, and John Rounsaville debated at the Catfish Opry in Noxapater. Y'all Politics Posters had these thoughts on the debate:

Mississippi Dawg: Talked to a few people who said that Ross did the best, but Rounsanville and Harper were very close behind. That makes sense being that Charlie has just run a campaign, and is in debate/public speaking mode. Folks said Landrum struggled badly, but he got better as the night went on. Also said that Rounsanville clearly showed he knew the policy and issues the best out of the four, and that Harper was very set in his ways and didnt think highly of bipartisanship....That is what I was told by a couple of folks who attended, and who are neutral in the race. Wish there would be a media report out on this.

My Two Cents: Of the media reps on the panel, Winston County online paper only updates on Thursdays and Macon Beacon doesn’t have a website. Looked on WCBI, Commercial Dispatch, Starkville DAily News and even WP paper.... nothing… nothing on Meridian or Laurel online papers either. Slightly frustrating.

JohnBully: I was present at the forum and the real winner at this event was the voters. We got an opportunity to hear directly from each candidate and ask specific questions that we wanted answered. The candidates were made available to everyone present both before and after the forum and almost everyone present got the chance to speak directly to each candidate. The crowd was very attentive during the forum and listened carefully as each candidate gave their response to the questions asked. Each candidate appeared to be well qualified to hold this position and several attendees afterwards commented that no one really stood out. Greg Harper was well spoken and spoke to the “Red Meat” issues and definately had the best closing statement. Strong and direct and not backing away from principles. He scored some points when he said he would have voted against the recent economic stimulus package because it “gave tax rebates to people that did not pay taxes”. Good Point. Charlie Ross was clearly the best in this setting primarily through his years of experience. Charlie was very good at reminded the crowd that we are at war and war has consequences which he is prepared to face. David Landrum did not stub his toe like many thought he would in this event. He is a formatable candidate and stung the others present when questioned about his contributions to Ronnie Musgrove with his reply that he had “given more to Republicans in the last 6 years than anyone else on the stage.” Ouch!! John Rounsville is excellent on the policies but should not have quoted Trent Lott’s Lott’s Rules, “80% of something is better than 100% of nothing”. I don’t think everyone in the crowd agreed and Trent Lott is not the feather in the hat that he once was. I really believe anyone of this men would make a great congressman. We are lucky to have the choices that we have in this distrist. One of the participants as he was leaving said, “I wish one of them was running for president.” How true. The Madison Journal and the Neshoba Democrat should have some coverage of the event since they were both there.

Here is an excerpt from the Winston County Journal's Report:

Republican debate draws crowd - The debate was emceed by Mississippi State University's Stennis-Montgomery Association's Lydia M. Quarles. Each candidate received a series of questions from a panel comprised of attorney Jim Mozingo, Joseph McCain of the Winston County Journal and Scott Boyd of the Macon Beacon.

Harper appeared most passionate when discussing how to stop illegal immigration while Landrum focused on tax credits for small business. Ross addressed the war in Iraq and the support of veterans with the most intoned statements among the evenings'squestions while Rounsaville highlighted the need for better trained and educated citizens in order to attract industry and how job force training was working for Mississippi.

Harper On Iraq: "The troop surge is working and we need to be there."

Ross On war Veterans: "Supporting our veterans is one of the most important things we can do....It may take fundamental reforms in the system but must be done if helps our veterans."

Landrum On Healthcare: "We have 47 million uninsured persons. Many work for small business and we need to find a way to help employees gain insurance.... National Healthcare does not work."

Rounsanville On Immigration: "We need to do more on a national level and take this issue seriously and get a handle on it."