Mississippi U.S. Senate Race- A

Race of the Day

Mississippi U.S. Senate- A

August 25, 2008
71 Days Until Election Day

Status: Republican Incumbent
2004 Presidential Result: Red State (South)

Outlook: Safe Republican

This race is the regularly scheduled one for U.S. Senate in the Magnolia State and it is the one that should be the far less competitive of the two.

After some speculation as to whether or not he would seek a sixth term in the Senate, popular Republican Thad Cochran announced he would be a candidate for reelection and that effectively ended any hopes the Democrats might have had about this particular seat.

His opponent is a former State Representative named Erik Fleming, an African-American, in a state in which that racial group makes up a signficant portion of the Democrat electorate. With the help of that key demographic, Fleming had won the right to take on Trent Lott in a U.S. Senate race in 2006, but lost overwhelmingly as expected. Cochran should be an even tougher foe based on past political history in the state. After Fleming's last statewide defeat, he even lost his State House seat in a 2007 Democrat primary. But the former supporter of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche (who was thoughtful enough via some personal correspondence in 2006 to I believe sincerely reject that past association, after that matter of his biography had been discussed on a political website where I was commenting) appears to be intent on another landslide defeat.

Cochran campaign link:

http://www.thadforsenate.com/

2008 U.S. Senate races predicted: 7 D, 10 R
Predicted Senate balance of power thus far: 46 D, 36 R