Ross wins Madison

Madison County Journal - Ross wins county after mild turnout - While Republicans in the Third District congressional race favored Charlie Ross over two county residents, turnout was suprisingly high among Madison County Democrats in primary elections on Tuesday as Barack Obama outperformed his statewide numbers with 76 percent of the vote here, despite Hillary Clinton's surprise visit to Canton late last week.

Madison County Republicans favored Charlie Ross over Madison residents David Landrum and John Rounsaville in the Third District race. Ross finished with 3,220 votes, or 36.7 percent of all ballots cast, while Landrum finished with 2,710 votes or 30.9 percent of all votes. Gregg Harper came in third place in the county with 1,745 votes, or 19.9 percent, and John Rounsaville finished with 1,011 Madison County votes for 11.5 percent of ballots.

"I did well throughout the district, not only in Rankin County but in Madison County and elsewhere," Ross said. "With Republican voters, philosophy matters." He congratulated Harper, who surprised many by beating out Landrum, and called him a "strong candidate" in a "strong field" of Republicans.

Harper ran a grassroots campaign and spent the last week touring the district on a bus that Garth Brooks once owned. "Nobody kind of watching this race really thought we ever had a chance to ever make a run off," Harper said just before midnight. "But we knew it on the ground that we had the momentum that was growing and building for the last four or five weeks." Harper said he thought his recent 30-second television advertisement that showed his son Livingston, who has special needs because of "Fragile X" syndrome, really touched voters by giving them a glimpse into his family life.

Ross said despite the prognostications, he wasn't sure who could make it to the run-off with him. "I really didn't know who I would be in the run-off with," Ross said. "My focus was on getting into the run-off. I was confident I would be in the run-off."

A total of 8,768 votes in Madison County were cast in the Third District GOP primary that became controversial during the campaign's last few weeks, largely due to reports that Landrum had not voted in an election from 2000 to 2007.