Close Race in Mississippi

As I wrote here, Mississippi is holding a special election for the U.S. Senate seat from which Trent Lott resigned.

Mississippi has been solidly Republican for many years. But it can always be dangerous for a party trying to defend a seat in a special election, when the other party is in the ascendant.

I'm reminded of what happened here in Pennsylvania after Republican Senator John Heinz died in a plane crash in 1991. A relatively unknown Democrat, Harris Wofford, defeated a popular former two-term Republican governor, Dick Thornburgh, in the ensuing special election. Among other things, that campaign brought to prominence a then-unknown political consultant, James Carville, who worked for Wofford.

The Mississippi race is tightening, although Wicker still leads in the polls. Real Clear Politics reports one poll with a 13-point Wicker lead, but that looks suspect, when compared to other polls.

Here is a report in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, a Tupelo, Mississippi, newspaper, giving some colorful background on the campaign, from the local perspective (and, as Tip O'Neill famously said, "all politics is local").

This is one of the most closely-watched campaigns, in terms of how many Senate seats the Democrats will gain this year, and whether they will reach their goal of 60.