Miss. Voters Choose Governor Nominees

Mississippi voters turned out in large numbers Tuesday to cast ballots in a gubernatorial primary in which an incumbent Democrat and a nationally known Republican faced token opposition.

Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour were expected to easily brush aside party opponents.

Barbour’s only opponent in the GOP primary was trial lawyer Mitch Tyner of Jackson, who had contributed to Musgrove’s campaign in 1999. Musgrove faced four opponents who raised little money and made few campaign appearances.

“If what we are seeing early is any indication, we could see a real good turnout,” said Joyce Lofton, Lee County Circuit Clerk.

Barbour, 55, a close ally of President Bush, has received $1.5 million from the Republican Governors Association. He is a longtime Republican power broker who oversaw the national party when Republicans won control of Congress in 1994.

Musgrove, 47, is known for signing bills before dawn, and traveling to small towns to hand-deliver checks for projects such as sewer improvements. He has received $1 million from the Democratic Governors Association.

The two candidates have raised more than $5 million each in their campaigns to lead one of the nation’s poorest states.

Musgrove and Barbour plan to ratchet up their well-financed campaigns after the primary to convince voters that only they can lift the state out of its economic doldrums.

Musgrove boasts that under his watch, Mississippi has approved its largest teacher pay-raise package and that the state landed a Nissan plant at a time when the economy was in a nationwide slump.

He also says Barbour has lobbied in Washington on behalf of the Mexican government to implement provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Musgrove said NAFTA has cost Mississippi 41,000 jobs, many in the beleaguered textile industry.

Barbour was RNC chairman when NAFTA was approved in 1993, but acknowledged his firm had a $35,000-a-month contract with the Mexican government starting in 2001 to lobby on several issues, including talks about Mexican trucks crossing into the United States.

Kentucky and Louisiana are the only other states with regularly scheduled governor’s races this year. In California, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis faces a recall election in October, unless his supporters succeed in delaying the vote until March.

The state GOP is eager to seat a governor. Kirk Fordice, who served from 1992 to 2000, was the only Republican elected governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction.

Mississippi is also holding primaries Tuesday for lieutenant governor and other offices, including a sheriff’s race in which the incumbent faces bribery and extortion charges.