MISSISSIPPI TURNING?A Holy-Roller Democrat

[Mass]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702044.html

MISSISSIPPI TURNING?
A Holy-Roller Democrat

By Dan Gilgoff
Sunday, April 29, 2007; Page B03

John Arthur Eaves baptized three of his four sons in the Jordan River, an event he highlights in a radio campaign ad. The candidate for governor of Mississippi thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned, calls for reintroducing school prayer and wants limits on riverboat gambling -- all hot-button issues among evangelical pastors. A baby-faced trial lawyer with a flair for self-promotion, Eaves is employing the same tried-and-true campaign tactics as many Republicans running in the South, the Midwest and other culturally conservative parts of the country.

But Eaves isn't just any old run-of-the-mill evangelical candidate -- he's a Democrat. And he's challenging not just any first-term governor, but Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a Goliath in the GOP, with possible designs on the White House.

...

But an Eaves victory would also be a shot across the bow to the Democrats' liberal base, raising the question of how far the party is willing to go in jettisoning its support for abortion rights, gay rights and a high wall of separation between church and state for a chance at electoral success. Eaves's campaign asks: Just how big should the Democrats' tent be?

The political calculus behind Eaves's candidacy is simple. By neutralizing the traditional GOP advantage on social issues, Democrats hope to focus on economic issues, where, particularly in poverty-stricken Mississippi, they believe they have the upper hand. Eaves, a graduate of Ole Miss and now a wealthy lawyer whose dirty-blond mane is a fixture in legal ads across the state, is an unabashed populist. He supports universal health care, large increases in public school funding and a so-called living wage. He attacks Barbour for opposing a "tax swap" that would slash the grocery tax and raise the tobacco tax and for pushing 50,000 low-income residents off state Medicaid rolls.

...

I do not know for you, but I have a serious problem with this person. Probably a good thing I do not live in MS, because I may have a real issue to vote for him (even in the GE).

The question is really: how big is the Democratic tent? Are some opinions incompatible with being a Democrat? Or should we accept to vote for anybody, as long as they have the Democratic label?

[Vincardog]

1. Are some opinions incompatible with being a Democrat? That is what the Primaries are for

[jody]

3. "opinions incompatible with being a Democrat?" No, but candidates should say their position on

a divisive issue is not that of the Democratic Party expressed in its Platform.

IMO the Republican Party is very aggressive in making its candidates support the party platform.

[BOSSHOG]

2. I'm a Mississippi Democrat

and I will not be voting for Mr Eaves however there's a very small chance any dem will be successful against bar-bore. He's got the populace believing he's a big katrina hero when in fact, the only reason he came anywhere near being a hero is because machinations in Washington. The party is somewhat small but noisy in the State. Happy to say a republican running for Governor in Louisiana has switched to the Democratic Party (Walter Boasso) an interesting character. His motives were a distrust of the gop state party fathers.

[Bake]

7. I've gotta agree with Boss ...

Eaves has two chances of even getting the nomination: slim and none, and Slim just left town. Frankly, I don't see much way Barbour DOESN'T win another term. Eaves came out months ago with a commercial themed "I believe ..." At first I thought it was an ad for his law firm, and I wondered why anybody would care whether their car-wreck attorney believed in Jesus Christ ... then it came out he was running for the Big House.

Oh, also it looks like Jackson won't be electing a new mayor any time soon either...

Bake

[bluestateguy]

4. Put him up against Haley Barbour, and white fundamentalist Christians will vote...for Barbour

Let's have two parties.

[Th1onein]

5. That ain't the question, my friend!

The Repukes do this sort of thing all the time. They put up a so-called Democratic candidate who is really Republican, to cost the real Dem more campaign funds and, hopefully, to split the Dem vote. It's dirty politics.

[yellowcanine]

6. Anyone who wants to do something unconstitutional like prayer in schools is no Democrat.

Sorry but that is a deal breaker for me, as is the hardline anti-choice position and the gay bashing (implied). Limiting riverboat gambling - ok, but why is this listed as an anti-Democratic position? Gambling is not a partisan issue most places. I would say there are as many liberal Democrats opposed to casino gambling as fundamentalist Christians. And who gives a crap where he baptised his sons, or even that he baptised them at all? This is a poorly written article. And no one is going to out fundy Haley Barbour and why would anyone want to try?