The Candidates

WLBT - Crowded 3rd Congressional District Race - Nine men are running for the 3rd District Congressional seat left vacant by Chip Pickering. Seven Republicans and two Democrats are vying for your vote to fill Mississippi's 3rd District Congressional seat. We will start with the Democrats, Randy Eads and Joel Gill.

Eads lives in Starkville and owns a real estate investment company. To promote low unemployment rates and business growth, he would lower taxes for the middle class and introduce legislation requiring a minimum wage increase every two years.

Gill is a Pickens alderman and also works as a cattle broker. He believes illegal immigration is the greatest threat to our country. Gill wants employers who hire undocumented workes should face sizable penalties.

As for the Republicans, James Broadwater stands out from his opponents as the only candidate who wants to do away with the IRS and the income tax. Broadwater lives in Flowood and is a state government employee.

Rankin county attorney Gregg Harper lives in Pearl. He calls illegal immigration the "red meat" issue he will focus on. Harper also pledges to help children with special needs. Gregory Hatcher is a Meridian native. In office he pledges to focus on increased research and development for alternative energy sources.

Hatcher wants to create jobs and build wealth for people in the district. Bill Marcy served as a military police platoon sergeant with the national guard. The Madison resident says national security is his number one priority.

David Landrum has been in the news lately defending his voting record. One of his opponents John Rounsaville accuses landrum of not voting in the last seven years. Landrum says he has voted in the 2003 and 2007 statewide elections. The Air Force and US Army veteran, supports improving pay and benefits for the men and women in the armed forces.

Rounsaville is a Mississippi state graduate and served as Deputy Chief of staff for Congressman Chip Pickering. He then served as a policy advisor for Governor Haley Barbour. Rounsaville believes we need to win the war on terror by supporting our military in Iraq.

Charlie Ross recently ran for the Leuitenant Governor seat. Now the former State Senator from district 20 hopes to make a difference in Congress. The gulf war veteran wants to protect mississippi's military bases and opposes tax increases.

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Meridian Star - Candidates face off - James Broadwater: He took the restaurant campaign route Monday, visiting eateries in the Jackson Metro Area such as the Golden Corral in Flowood and AJ's Seafood Grill in Ridgeland. He plans to stay home and await results today.

Randy Eads: On Monday, Eads attended a Barack Obama rally in Columbus and had plans to speak at a Hillary Clinton event in Natchez. Today, he said he will continue to travel the district, campaigning at polling places, and will await election results at his home in Starkville.

Joel Gill: He said he will spend today the same way he spent Monday — traveling the district and dropping in on municipal officials and past supporters, and trying to get his message out to anyone he happens to encounter. On Monday, he also attended a Barack Obama rally in Columbus.

Gregg Harper: He spent the last week on a bus tour of the Third District, visiting almost every county in which he is on the ballot. Today, he plans to campaign by making phone calls, especially in the Rankin County area. He will await election results at the Hilton Hotel on County Line Road in Jackson — a gathering that is open to the public.

Greg Hatcher: He campaigned by making phone calls Monday, and has the same plans for today.

David Landrum: He campaigned around the district Monday, talking to everyone from radio stations to random restaurant patrons to try to drum up more support in the last hours of his campaign. Today, he had plans for an early morning speech to exercising voters at a health club, and will hold public a gathering at the Agriculture Museum on Lakeland Drive in Jackson at 8 p.m. to await election results.

Bill Marcy: He spent Monday trying to talk to as many people as possible by going door-to-door, and put flyers in windshields while he was at it. He plans to do the same thing today, and said he will campaign until the polls close tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Charlie Ross: He campaigned in Meridian Monday, visiting Naval Air Station Meridian and the National Guard Base. Today he will be out and about in the Jackson Metro area, meeting people, visiting restaurants, and his volunteers will be holding up campaign signs. He will await election results from a public gathering at the Sports Hall of Fame on Lakeland Drive in Jackson.

John Rounsaville: He has been traveling the district politicking at restaurants, and plans to go to polling places district-wide today to try and get more votes just moments before voters make up their minds.

Y'all's Take

Y'all Politics - Alan Lang - The 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary
Upsides and Downsides

Y'all Politics also has the audio of the David Landrum interview on Paul Gallo this morning.

AP on 3rd

Associated Press - Republicans seeking 3rd District seat look to seperate themselves - When it comes to the issues, Republican congressional candidates in the race for Mississippi's 3rd District are a homogenous group. They all want to reduce taxes, protect the nation's borders and promote family values - good topics aimed at a conservative, heavily Republican district that stretches from Oktibbeha County in the north to Adams and Wilkinson counties in the southwest. The deciding factor in the GOP race will be personality, said political scientist Marty Wiseman, director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.

Each of the top four GOP candidates has his own niche of voters, the political scientist said. Landrum, who owns a financial services firm, focuses on his business acumen, said Wiseman. He said Ross - an attorney, Harvard Law School graduate, Air Force pilot and former legislator - already has his base in place. Ross ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2007.

Wiseman said Rounsaville, a former Pickering aide, is the only graduate of Mississippi State University, the alma mater of the late U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis. He said Harper started working years ago to build the Republican Party in Rankin County.

Ross has picked up numerous endorsements from conservative groups, including Jim Gilchrist, founder of the National Minuteman Project. Ross said what separates him from other candidates is his record of performance as a lawmaker.

Of the leading GOP candidates with Web sites, only Rounsaville lists health care among his chief issues.

Rounsaville said on his site that the answer to the nation's health care problem is "giving more control to the individual consumer, which will drive down costs." He also said the people should be able to retain their health care plans when they switch jobs.

Election Coming Fast

Clarion Ledger Editorial - Voters in Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District will go to the polls on March 11 to formally begin the process of choosing a successor to retiring U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Flora. Pickering announced last year that he was stepping down after six terms in office to devote more time to his wife and five children. But for Pickering, as for the voters, this election to select his successor must seem very familiar.

When the late U.S. Rep. G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery stepped down in 1996 after 30 years on Capitol Hill, Pickering was one of 10 candidates seeking to succeed him. The field was large and campaign appearances and debates were large and unwieldy. Pickering was young and there were several strong candidates in the race. Even the "also-ran" candidates Pickering faced were sincere and knowledgeable and each brought good ideas and good intentions to the table.

After a grueling first primary, Pickering withstood a Republican second primary challenge from Bill Crawford to win his first election and moved on to face Democrat John Arthur Eaves Jr. in the general election. Pickering won handily.

With the election now less than three weeks away, voters must begin to choose Pickering's successor from this field of nine candidates. The issues are unlikely to change in that time frame, but the debates have revealed that a great deal of voter confusion remains.

The congressional elections will be held March 11. Runoff elections, if necessary, will follow on April 1. Then begins the long march to the November general election, when Mississippians will help choose a new president, elect U.S. senators and at least two new congressmen.

The candidates are working hard. But without strong voter participation, these officials will be chosen by a majority of a minority of Mississippi voters - which makes voter dissatisfaction a self-fulfilling prophecy. Vote!

Thanks Alan

Thanks to Alan over at Y'all Politics for his shout-out and linkage.

He says, "We have added the 3rd Congressional District blog feed. Look in the far lower righthand corner. They have done a kickass job of staying on top of the race. What they are doing on this race, like what we are doing on the Scruggs ordeal is the future model. MicroBlogging will serve as a transient means to hash out complex time-encapsuled issues that eventually fade to give ways to new blogs covering emerging items."

Thanks, y'all.

Thanks Jere

Thanks to Jere Nash for his shout-out.

He says, "Kudos go to Ann Ellis Simmons for maintaining websites for the first congressional district campaign and the third congressional district campaign. Both sites are great one-stop places to go to get information about the candidates and to readily access their websites. Check 'em out."

Voter Registration Deadline

AP - Mississippi primary registration deadline is Feb. 8 - "Mississippians who are not registered to vote, but want to take part in the March 11 presidential primary, have until Feb. 8 to sign up. The deadline to register is technically Saturday, Feb. 9, so he urged Mississippians to register by 5 p.m. Feb. 8, a Friday."

Issues Poll

Jackson Jambalaya reports on its online poll of important issues in the Third District campaign with good comments following.

JJ - Online Poll

Jackson Jambalaya has an online poll for the Third District race on which issue is most important.

On the Ballot

Besides the Congressional race, March 11 will also see Mississippi's Presidential Preference Primary.

On the Republican Ballot: Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter, Keyes, McCain, Paul, Romney, Tancredo, and Thompson.

On the Democrat Ballot: Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama, Richardson.

Hat Tip: Steve Rankin at Y'all Politics

Thanks for Shout Outs

Thanks to YallPolitics and WillBardwell for their notes about this blog.