Republicans wins Kentucky and Mississippi governor race

Rep. Ernie Fletcher easily won the Kentucky governor's race Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to lead the state in 32 years, while the GOP hoped to take another Democratic governor's seat in Mississippi.

With 55 percent of precincts reporting, Fletcher -- who got a big campaign assist from President Bush in the campaign's final days -- led with 54 percent, or 339,688 votes, to Democratic Attorney General Ben Chandler's 46 percent, or 285,941 votes.

In both states, candidates tried out slogans and strategies that could well be used in the 2004 presidential race.

In Kentucky, party activists argued that a vote for Chandler would tell the White House its economic policy is a failure. Mississippi Democrats criticized Republican Haley Barbour as a "Washington insider" as Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top GOP officials came to campaign for him.

Democrats in Mississippi complained Tuesday of intimidation at black voting precincts, echoing an earlier clash over race in Kentucky's final days. In both states, Democrats alleged that GOP poll observers sought to suppress the black vote, though Kentucky activists said they saw few problems on Election Day.

Spending records fell in Mississippi's race, where Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, seeking a second term, was outspent by Barbour, a top Washington lobbyist and former head of the Republican National Committee.

Elsewhere, three big cities -- Houston, Philadelphia and San Francisco -- chose mayors. In New Jersey, voters could break the tie in the state Senate. Ballot items around the country dealt with gambling, mass transit and other issues, including a proposal to reduce stress in Denver.

A third Southern governor's race goes before the voters in Louisiana on Nov. 15. That race will decide who replaces term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Foster.

Democrats hold the governor's office in both Kentucky and Mississippi, though voters in both states supported Bush in 2002.

Each race turned on state issues, but as the highest-level elections before the 2004 White House contest, they drew close scrutiny from political strategists.

Each party will try to frame the outcome to its own advantage, said political science professor Alan Rosenthal of Rutgers university: "The winners will make it national, and the losers will make it idiosyncratic and local."

Recent polls showed the Democrats vulnerable. In Kentucky, term-limited Gov. Paul Patton is leaving after an infidelity scandal that soured voters. Fletcher campaigned on a promise to "clean up the mess in Frankfort."

Chandler's campaign tried to rally voters with criticism of Bush. "It sends a message to the rest of the country: We're tired of the biggest budget deficit in history," said former Democratic governor and Sen. Wendell Ford, stumping for the Democrat.

Democrats had complained that GOP plans to put poll observers at black precincts would suppress the black vote. But few problems materialized, according to a top state civil rights coordinator.

In Mississippi, state officials said they were investigating dozens of reports of irregularities, including allegations that observers followed voters into ballot booths or videotaped voters and their completed ballots.

"The Republican Party has run this election with a fist full of dollars in one hand and a Confederate flag in the other," said state Democratic Party chairman Rickey L. Cole.

Earlier, Barbour had revisited another issue that divided the races -- the Confederate flag. Recent ads reminded voters that Musgrove had supported an unsuccessful 2001 referendum that sought to remove the Rebel X.

Musgrove won his seat four years ago in Mississippi's closest governor's race ever. The Democrat-dominated state House chose Musgrove after he failed to win both the popular vote and a majority of state House districts, as required.

Unlike his opponent, Musgrove has distanced himself from national party figures.

The race broke state records, with Barbour raising at least $10.6 million and Musgrove at least $8.5 million.

Elsewhere, legislative elections in New Jersey could break the Senate's 20-20 tie. The Democrats narrowly hold control of the Assembly. Voters also chose legislatures in Mississippi and Virginia.

-- Philadelphia Mayor John Street faced his second challenge from Republican Sam Katz. Street got a bounce in the polls after it was learned that the FBI bugged his City Hall office; Street and his supporters have portrayed the investigation as an attempt by the Bush administration to bring down a black politician. Federal prosecutors have denied that.

-- Houston businessman Bill White led a field of nine going into the election. Mayor Lee Brown, the city's first black mayor, cannot seek a fourth term.

-- San Francisco was picking a new mayor; Willie Brown is barred from seeking a third term. Wealthy entrepreneur Gavin Newsom, who sought to get panhandlers off city streets, was considered the front-runner. A runoff was expected.

Can you say YES!!!

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Republicans Win in Kentucky, Mississippi
(2003-11-05)

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans swept hard-fought governor's races in Kentucky and Mississippi on Tuesday, expanding their base in the South as Americans cast votes in state and local elections that could set the political tone for 2004.

Kentucky voters elected Rep. Ernie Fletcher as governor, putting a Republican in the office for the first time in more than three decades. In Mississippi, longtime Washington insider Haley Barbour charged into the governor's mansion, turning out incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove.

The double-barreled wins were good news for President Bush, who campaigned on behalf of both Republicans in races seen as possible bellwethers for 2004, when his re-election and control of Congress will be at stake.

Democrats held on to the mayor's office in Philadelphia as Mayor John Street won a bitter battle with Republican Sam Katz that turned on Street's claim he was the victim of a politically motivated FBI probe.

In Kentucky, Fletcher soundly beat Democratic state Attorney General Ben Chandler, grandson of former Kentucky governor, U.S. senator and baseball commissioner A.B. "Happy" Chandler, by a 10-point margin after a hard-nosed campaign that focused in part on Bush's economic policies.

"This really is a historic moment in this state," Fletcher said in becoming Kentucky's first Republican governor since 1971. "It really is a new era in Kentucky."

Chandler tried to tie Fletcher to mounting state job losses, repeatedly referring to the "Fletcher-Bush" economy. But Fletcher argued it was time for a change in the capital after a sex scandal engulfed Democratic Gov. Paul Patton, who admitted having an affair with a businesswoman he appointed to the state lottery board.

BARBOUR WINS MISSISSIPPI

In Mississippi, Musgrove lost the most expensive race in state history by an eight-point margin to Republican lobbyist and former national party chairman Haley Barbour, who blamed Musgrove for failing to attract new jobs or perk up a sour economy.

Barbour, who will be just the second Republican to govern Mississippi in the post-Civil War era, appeared to benefit from a heavy turnout among rural voters and the popularity of Bush in the southern state.

Strategists from both parties will pore over the results in Kentucky and Mississippi, both won by Bush in 2000, for possible trends heading into 2004. National Republicans were quick to point to the Kentucky results as a sign of Bush's strength.

"The Democrat strategy was negative attacks and tying Ernie Fletcher to President Bush and making this race a referendum on the president's economic policies," Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said. "The Democrats had their referendum and got their answer."

A third governor's race, in Louisiana, will be decided in a Nov. 15 runoff to choose a successor to retiring Republican Mike Foster.

Republicans already hold governor's offices in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, building on what has been a reliably Republican electoral base in recent presidential elections.

In Philadelphia, Street easily won a re-election bid enlivened by the discovery of an FBI surveillance device during a routine sweep of the mayor's City Hall office.

Federal authorities said the device was part of a corruption probe of city government. Supporters of Street, a veteran black leader in a city where 80 percent of voters are Democrats, called the probe a Republican ploy to win the mayor's office and boost Bush's 2004 chances in Pennsylvania.

In other local elections, Republican Orlando Sanchez and Democratic former Deputy Energy Secretary Bill White headed for a runoff in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, after neither captured a majority of votes in a crowded field.

In San Francisco, Democratic city supervisor Gavin Newsom and Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez will meet in a runoff in December to replace Mayor Willie Brown, forced to step down by term limits after a four-decade political career.

Republicans wins Kentucky and Mississippi governor race!

NOTE TO ALL DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: KEEP BASHING THE SOUTH!

(This is for you Dean: How many of them drive pickup trucks?)

Send it to the DNC for mass distribution.

More like foot in mouth (Bigfoot, that is!)

I asked to see what a METROSexual looked like and BAM!

Howard Dean

Howard Dean says he's running for President, and on paper he's quite a candidate.

He's the longest-serving Democratic governor. He signed the first law in the country to allow gay unions. And, he's got the endorsement of America's favorite president-that-isn't: Martin Sheen.

Google Search for Metrosexual

HELP!

metrosexual (aka Male Democrat)

(MET.roh.sek.shoo.ul) n. A dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side.
—metrosexuality n.

Example Citation:

The only problem facing the metrosexual in an otherwise carefree existence is the inescapable effects of ageing. If 30 is 45 in gay years, then 26 is retirement age for the metrosexual — and no amount of biotechnological, rehydrating, whale sperm dermo-care can alter that.
—Jonathan Trew, "I love me so much," The Scotsman, July 24, 2002

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