MS-Sen-B: State Supreme Courts Rules for Barbour

Despite the state Attorney General going to bat for common sense and an early victory in district court, the Mississippi Supreme Court has sided with Gov. Haley Barbour's interpretation of state law. Democrats had hoped to have a special election in March to fill Trent Lott's seat, but the Court has ruled the election must take place in November, which is expected to provide the GOP nominee with substantial presidential coattails. Former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, the leading Democratic candidate for the seat, released this statement:

While it is disappointing that Governor Barbour seeks to anoint the next United States Senator from Mississippi instead of letting the people of this great state vote as quickly as possible in a currently scheduled March election and in accordance with state law, the Mississippi Supreme Court's decision today does not change the direction of Ronnie Musgrove's campaign for the United States Senate.

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The bad news today is not that we now have a longer campaign to run, but that Mississippi will be stuck for another nine months with the same type of Washington nonsense from Roger Wicker. People are fed up with outrageous earmarks like bridges to nowhere and teapot museums that do nothing for Mississippi's middle class.

Update: The DSCC has launched a site targeting Barbour’s appointment to the seat, Roger Wicker. And always the penny-pincher when not dealing with taxpayer dollars, Wicker didn’t buy the .org and .net domains for his campaign site, so you can probably guess where those lead now.