• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

GOP Lobbyist Barbour Wins Governor's Race

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 November 2003, 06:00 CST

Washington lobbyist Haley Barbour unseated Mississippi Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove as the GOP swept both governors' races at stake Tuesday and consolidated party gains in the South. Rep. Ernie Fletcher decisively won in Kentucky, ousting Democrats from power after 32 years.

With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Barbour got 53 percent, or 404,466 votes, to Musgrove's 45 percent, or 341,966 votes. Fletcher, a three-term congressman, defeated state Attorney General Ben Chandler, polling 55 percent, or 593,508 votes, to the Democrat's 45 percent, or 484,938 votes.

Early Wednesday, Barbour declared himself the winner. "Tomorrow is a day to move on and put this day behind us and get ready to accentuate the positive," Barbour told a crowd of supporters at a Jackson hotel.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia's Democratic Mayor John Street handily defeated Republican businessman Sam Katz, 59 percent to 41 percent. And Democrats took control of the New Jersey Legislature, breaking a 20-20 tie in the state Senate and defeating the GOP's top Senate leader.

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

Mississippi Democrats criticized Barbour as a "Washington insider" as President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top GOP officials came to campaign for him.

In Kentucky, party activists argued that a vote for Chandler would tell the White House its economic policy is a failure.

State Republican Chairwoman Ellen Williams said Bush helped swing the race in western Kentucky, a conservative Democratic area which both campaigns said was crucial. Bush "lit that district on fire," she said. "The people in that part of the state are in line with Bush's conservative values."

Republicans went into the election holding seven of 11 governorships in the South, having turned out Democratic chief executives in Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia last year. With Arnold Schwarzenneger's victory in California last month and Fletcher's win, Republicans will hold 28 governorships nationwide.

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 claimed 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 Musgrove, seeking a second term, was outspent by Barbour, a top Washington lobbyist and former head of the Republican National Committee.

Under Mississippi law, unless one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the popular vote and carries a majority of the state's 122 House districts, the race would be decided in the state House - which is controlled by Democrats.

Mississippi also was holding elections for both houses of the Legislature; in Virginia, Republicans held their majorities in the state Senate and House of Delegates while Democrats prevailed in New Jersey legislative races despite Democratic Gov. Jim McGreevey's unpopularity.

Elsewhere, Maine voters rejected a $650 million gambling resort that opponents said would tarnish the state's outdoorsy image. In Denver, a "peace initiative" to reduce stress lost by a more than 2-1 margin.

Both the Mississippi and Kentucky races turned on state issues, but as the highest-level elections before the 2004 White House contest, they drew close scrutiny from political strategists. Voters in both states supported Bush in 2002.

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.

In Mississippi, state officials said they were investigating dozens of reports of irregularities Tuesday, 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. 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.

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.

In mayors' races:

- Philadelphia's Street defeated Katz in a rematch of their 1999 contest. 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 secured a runoff spot in a field of nine candidates, but who would face him in that election remained in doubt. 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.

More News in this Category