For certain, Republican candidate Greg Davis has done more race-baiting than either of the two candidates.
A New York Times article today highlights some of this.
Former Gov. William Winter, a Democrat, expressed shock at the current campaign.
“I am appalled that this blatant appeal to racial prejudice is still being employed,” said Mr. Winter, who lost the 1967 governor’s race after his segregationist opponent circulated handbills showing blacks listening to one of his speeches. Mr. Winter went on to win the governor’s office 12 years later.
“I had thought we had gotten past that,” Mr. Winter said. “That was a tactic that was used against me in the 1960s.”
The chairman of the University of Mississippi’s department of public policy leadership, Robert J. Haws, said he had also noted the use of race in the contest. “Does this reflect a certain level of desperation?” he asked. Dr. Haws also said he had detected a “real reaction from people I know, Republicans” against the ads.
The Republican candidate, Greg Davis, said in an interview he was not raising racial issues, but was instead pointing out that his conservative values made him a better fit for the district.
“We’ve run ads against him with John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi,” said Mr. Davis, referring to Mr. Childers. “Just because one of them happens to be African-American has no bearing on it.” Mr. Davis, 42, is a former state representative who is now mayor of Southaven, a fast-growing Memphis suburb.
Davis has also released a couple of ads talking about Sen. Barack Obama’s endorsement of Childers. Here’s one ad, and here’s the other one. Both are pretty bad, though the first one is flagrant race-baiting.
While I’m appalled, I’m not surprised. I’m numb to the efforts of Republicans in Mississippi when it comes to race-baiting.
In 2003, Gov. Haley Barbour was helped along in his victory over incumbent Gov. Ronnie Musgrove with a “whisper campaign” based on the state flag. “Change the governor, not the flag” read signs and bumper stickers.
And if you are a Republican candidate, one of your campaign speaking engagements will most certainly be the CCC.
But when I saw that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released this mail piece, I was certainly not numb.
The claims are paper-thin, first off. It is grasping at straws and leaves Childers open to a defamation of character lawsuit.
Past that, it’s just not what we should do. It would be different if Davis openly campaigned for a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest to be moved to Southaven, or if Davis was caught with a white robe. Then, by all means, go after him.
But this is fear-mongering. This is cheap. This is base. This is not what Democrats should be about.
Childers should denounce it. He should denounce it now. And the DCCC should ask around Mississippi a bit before going with another stupid mailing like this.
