Monday, January 15, 2007

Waiting for Barbour's State of the State

I am writing this from the Visitors Gallery of the Mississippi House of Representatives. It's about 5:20 p.m. and Gov. Haley Barbour will give his State of the State speech at 6 p.m. to a joint session of the state House and Senate.
I will attempt to blog from the speech. Don't forget: The Democratic Party will have its response live on Mississippi Public Broadcasting TV immediately following the speech. We taped the response earlier today. Sen. Alice Harden and Rep. Cecil Brown will give the response.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Jefferson Jackson Hamer Day Dinner proved success

A successful Jefferson Jackson Hamer Day Dinner in Jackson netted the Mississippi Democratic Party with nice coverage in at least two Mississippi newspapers on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006. Click here for a story in The Meridian Star about the party honoring former Gov. William Winter. And click here for a story in The Clarion-Ledger about the dinner.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Barbour stiffs MAEP in proposed budget

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour released his proposed budget on Tuesday, Nov. 14, for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2007. And, as expected, the budget shorted education by not fully funding the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.
The Mississippi Democratic Party issued a news release Tuesday in which Chairman Wayne Dowdy blasted Barbour for not supporting MAEP and ensuring all Mississippi children have access to at least an education equivalent to a Level 3, or midlevel, state accreditation. The money will be there to fully fund education and a teacher pay raise. Click here to read the statement.
The Mississippi Democratic Party also released an Education Fact Sheet that pointed out fallacies in Barbour's stand on education -- including the fact that the teacher pay raises he's trying to take credit for actually were passed under Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove. Click here to read the fact sheet.
Finally, check out The Sun Herald's coverage of the Barbour budget and you'll see that Dowdy was mentioned as criticizing the governor's proposal. Click here for the story.

Dowdy column hits The Clarion-Ledger

Wayne Dowdy's column on the Nov. 7 elections made in the Wednesday edition of The Clarion-Ledger -- at least the fourth newspaper in the state to publish the column since Sunday. This is good news as our message continues to get out in the state. And it can only help to build excitement among Democrats as we look toward the 2007 state elections.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Hopefuls consider gubernatorial race

The Clarion Ledger published a story on Sunday, Nov. 12,taking a look at the Democratic Party's hopes for the 2007 gubernatorial election. Click here to read the story.

Dowdy column hits Mississippi newspapers

Interested in reading what Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Dowdy has to say about last week's national elections? Check out the Hattiesburg American and The Meridian Star from Sunday, Nov. 12, and read Dowdy's column. You also can fread in the Monday, Nov. 13, edition of The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
Also, in the Harriesburg American, you can read a column by Jim Herring, the Mississipi Republican Party chairman. I must admit, though, I think Dowdy's is better and more thorough.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Reasons 13, 14 to vote Democratic

Here are the latest in the ongoing 20 REASONS TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC.

REASON 13 (Released Tuesday, Oct. 31) : North Korea. North Korea has tested a nuclear bomb built with weapons-grade plutonium. And guess what? It was done on Republican President George W. Bush’s watch, clearly signaling that the president’s North Korean policy – like much of his foreign policy – has failed miserably. It’s time Bush and the Republicans start protecting Americans. And it’s time for voters to make a change. By casting your ballot for Democrats in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House on Nov. 7, you will make a difference.

REASON 14 (Released Wednesday, Nov. 1): The growing death toll in Iraq. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq on March 20, 2003, a total of 3,055 coalition troops – including 2,816 Americans – have been killed fighting in the war-torn Middle Eastern country. The total includes all deaths through Tuesday. Last month alone, the U.S. death toll in Iraq topped 100 – making October 2006 the deadliest month for U.S. troops since January 2005 when 107 were killed.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Michael J. Fox commercial

Just in case you wanted to see the controversial Michael J. Fox campaign ad for yourself, here you go. Remember, this is the ad in which the illustrous Rush Limbaugh accused Fox of acting.

Some things never end

Looks like President Bush just can't get enbough of Sen. John Kerry. Bush took time on Tuesday to take a few unnecesary slams at Kerry. Instead, maybe Bush should be a little more concerned about what will happen to his ill-advised political agenda once the GOP loses its gripn on Congress. Click here to read The New York Times.

Pine Belt Senate race

If you are interested in the District 41 state Senate race, which is set for Tuesday, Nov. 7, click here and you will find a list of links at the Hattiesburg American to audio interviews with each candidate. All candidates were invited to meet with the American's editorial board.

Candidate forum in Greenville

The Delta Democrat Times in Greenville has coverage in the Tuesday edition of a televised forum in which candidates for the District 34 state House seat were grilled by a panel of journalists. Click here to read the story. And vote Democrat.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Reasons 10, 11, 12 to vote Democrat

20 Reasons to vote Democratic: The count continues.

Reason 10: Hospital tax. A change in federal guidelines led to a $90 million shortfall in Mississippi’s Medicaid program. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and the state’s Division of Medicaid then decided to tax hospitals in order to make up the difference. That’s right – Barbour took it upon himself to help cover the shortfall by charging up to a 1 percent tax on the gross revenue of hospitals. Plans changed when Barbour reported earlier this month he no longer planned to impose the hospital tax this fall. That move, however, doesn’t erase this key point: Barbour sidestepped the Mississippi Legislature and was about to impose his own tax – something that surely would have been passed on to hospital patients, many of whom scrape their bank accounts to pay for medical care. Why take any chances Barbour might try something similar again in the future? Make a difference. Vote Democratic on Nov. 7.

Reason 11: Help working families. Republicans in Washington certainly can’t point to helping rank-and-file Americans – not with consumer prices on the rise and employee wages on the decline. Yet that’s exactly what President Bush and fellow Republicans are doing. And this comes despite the fact that Republicans have blocked raising the national minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, handed out tax giveaways to oil companies and sold America into debt. The facts, however, speak for themselves. Can the United States and the working class – the man-on-the-street who barely makes enough to sustain his family – stand another term with Republicans at the helm? Vote Democratic on Nov. 7 and make a difference.

Reason 12: Stop the tax increases. Republican Gov. Haley Barbour likes to talk about how he opposes any kind of tax increase, including raising the state sales tax, the state income tax and even the state tobacco tax. But take a closer look at the governor’s first three years and you’ll find a different story – one in which many local governments were forced to raise property taxes to help fund public schools because Barbour has fought fully funding K-12 education. Barbour passed the buck. At the same time, Barbour opposes proposals to cut the state sales tax on groceries and increase the state tax on cigarettes – a confused, mixed message, to say the least. Everyone has to eat, but not everyone smokes.