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Early numbers show tight race { November 4 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_2402146,00.htmlhttp://www.gomemphis.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_2402146,00.html
Early numbers show tight race for Mississippi governor
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press Writer
November 4, 2003
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Republican challenger Haley Barbour were locked in a tight race Tuesday night for Mississippi governor.
The candidates campaigned from early in the morning until after polls closed at 7 p.m. Barbour's success in a race polls showed was too close to call, was seen by some as an early indicator of President Bush's popularity entering 2004.
In some places, including areas of populous Hinds County, voters were still standing in line waiting to vote after 8 p.m. They are allowed to vote as long as they're at the polling place before 7 p.m.
After the polls closed, Barbour campaign spokesman Quinton Dickerson said he was optimistic.
"The last week was a good week of campaigning for Haley," Dickerson said. "People were energized by the visits by the president" during campaign stops in the state this past weekend.
Musgrove, who continued campaigning among voters standing in line after 7 p.m., sounded buoyant in a late afternoon interview. Musgrove said he felt good about his chances for re-election because he believed he had helped boost education and create jobs during tough times for the national economy.
"We're one of the few states in the nation that hasn't cut essential services or raised taxes," said Musgrove, who made stops Monday in northeast Mississippi, the Delta and metro Jackson.
Heavy turnout was reported around the state on a day with blue skies and temperatures in the 80s.
John Bruce, a political science professor at the University of Mississippi, said though Musgrove and Barbour ran a tough campaign with ads criticizing each other, the two candidates took similar positions on many issues.
Bruce said he took statements about gun ownership, abortion and other issues off campaign Web sites and quizzed his students about which candidate had made the statements. He said many thought the statements came from Barbour _ but all the positions came from Musgrove.
"They're both conservative," Bruce said. "They're almost identical on a lot of issues."
Three lesser known candidates _ the Green Party's Sherman Lee Dillon, the Constitution Party's John Thomas Cripps, and the Reform Party's Shawn O'Hara _ also were on Tuesday's ballots for governor.
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The Musgrove-Barbour race was the most expensive in Mississippi political history. Barbour raised $10.6 million and Musgrove raised $8.5 million, the campaigns said.
Musgrove, 47, served two terms in the state Senate and one as lieutenant governor before winning the closest governor's race in Mississippi history four years ago.
With two lesser known candidates on the 1999 ballots, neither Musgrove nor the Republican gubernatorial nominee, former U.S. Rep. Mike Parker, won either of the two requirements _ a majority of the popular vote and a majority of the 122 House districts. Musgrove, however, led Parker by 8,342 votes.
The race was decided in the state House in January 2000. Representatives are not required to vote as their districts did, and Musgrove was elected 86-36 in the Democrat-controlled chamber.
Musgrove spent much of his term feuding with legislative leaders over how much money the state should spend. With the state economy in a slump, Musgrove said legislators were planning to spend more money than the state would collect. He once vetoed all budget bills and the House and Senate overrode his vetoes. Months later, when revenues fell short of legislators' projections, Musgrove was forced to cut millions of dollars from the budget.
While campaigning for a second term, Musgrove often pointed to two achievements: Luring a Nissan plant to Mississippi with a $363 million incentive package and winning legislative approval for a multimillion dollar teacher pay raise plan.
Barbour, 56, was Republican National Committee chairman from 1993-1997. He is chairman and CEO of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a top-ranked Washington lobbying firm whose client list includes defense giant Lockheed Martin, pharmaceutical company Bristol-Meyers Squibb and cigarette maker Brown and Williamson Tobacco.
Barbour was political director for President Reagan in the mid-1980s and was one of 10 people on George W. Bush's presidential exploratory committee in 1999.
A host of big-name Republicans traveled to Mississippi this year to campaign for Barbour. Among them were President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
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