Despite the fact that today is Black Friday, the election season is not completely over. On Tuesday, Nov. 27, Mississippi will hold its Senate run-off election between Dem Mike Espy and GOP Cindy Hyde-Smith. In typical Mississippi state wide elections, the GOP has a commanding edge. The Dems have not won a state wide race in that state since 1982.
However, this race is shaping up to be far from typical. Hyde Smith has done her level best in the last two weeks to lose her momentum, stumbling badly. Her astoundingly racist comments which were stated softly but still caught on video has her scrambling to get her campaign back on track. The country, however has now become focused on her blunders and Espy now appears to be gaining ground.
She apologized for saying “If he invited me to a public hanging, I would be on the front row.” That such a comment should come out of the mouth of a candidate for the U.S. Senate from any state would be reprehensible enough. But this woman is running in Mississippi where the lynchings of blacks was historically higher than any other state in the Union. She has appeared on Facebook in a Confederate hat bragging about Mississippi’s great history and has mentioned that it would be a good idea to somehow curtail the liberal vote.
In the few video clips of the recent single debate between the two, Hyde-Smith appears obviously ill prepared and inept. Her crib notes piled high on her lectern, she hardly could get through a single answer without referring to them. She couldn’t even articulate her apology about her ‘hanging statement’ without taking a peek at her notes. And this is the person Mississippi wants to represent them in the Senate?
She actually has been in hiding during the last part of her campaign. She nixed having three debates (Espy wanted three) as well as the suggestion from Espy that they not be able to use notes. She also demanded that no audience be allowed to view the debate in person and so the two debated last Thursday in an empty auditorium. It is clear that she did not want to take the chance of hearing hoots and howls that might have erupted from that live audience in response to her debate comments.
Now that the nation has had the time to catch up with the nuances of this race, the outrage over Hyde -Smith’s racist leanings continues to grow. Big and small donors are now demanding that their donations be returned. Hyde-Smith has almost overnight become a national example of what an ill suited, bigoted candidate looks like. She has become a disaster of a candidate, but will it make any difference in the outcome?
Time is running out. Mike Espy, a former Sec. of Agriculture under Obama, is seizing the moment and doing everything he can to close the gap. But it is still an uphill battle for a highly qualified black Dem candidate to beat a white Republican in Mississippi – no matter how blatantly racist and incompetent the GOP candidate happens to be.
If you are moved to give Espy a boost, there is a link at the end of the article below which provides an opportunity to sign up for get out the vote calls. Because, no matter what the polls reflect – it is all about who remembers to vote next Tuesday. Most Americans’ thoughts have turned to the holidays – and voters in Mississippi may totally forget to go to the polls. Some Mississippians may be so embarrassed by Hyde-Smith they may just want to forget about the election altogether and go shopping instead.
So given all this, maybe Espy does have the the upper hand. Let’s hope by Tuesday night, he has become the 48th Dem U.S. Senator to win a seat in the new session.