Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) on Wednesday said he’d decide whether to run for president after the November election.

Barbour, a GOP insider often mentioned as a candidate to challenge President Obama in 2012, didn’t rule out the possibility, but said he hasn’t seriously contemplated a presidential run.

“I’m not giving serious thought to running for president until after the November election,” Barbour said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.

The Hill
9/8/10

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Rep. Travis Childers, D-Mississippi

Childers is a pro-gun, pro-life conservative Democrat representing a conservative northern Mississippi district. But he’s a Democrat. And this year, being a Democrat in this GOP-leaning district, which John McCain won handily in 2008, could be a recipe for defeat.

Times Union Blog
9/9/10

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The Commercial Appeal got reaction from Alan Nunnelee’s side on the Anzalone Liszt Research poll conducted for Travis Childers showing the incumbent with a 46-41 edge over Nunnelee. Morgan Baldwin, campaign consultant for Nunnelee, said: “I can’t speak to the validity of their numbers, but as an incumbent, I wouldn’t be jumping up and down. Any time an incumbent is below 50 percent after Labor Day, he’s in trouble.”

Majority in MS
9/9/10

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The crime: both Speight and Tacker were partners at Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc., a company that refined soybeans to produce biodiesel. The company declared bankruptcy in 2006 and Speight and Tacker parted ways. Last year, the duo was indicted on ten counts of filing false statements to weasel $2.88 million out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Information contained within the falsified statements is not available to the public, but we assume that the charges somehow tie in with the company obtaining money from the government’s subsidy program even though it did not qualify to receive it.

AutoBlogGreen
9/7/10

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Will sign pledges on both, ask Childers to reconsider his opposition to repealing Medicare-cutting healthcare bill

TUPELO, MS – At his campaign headquarters this morning, State Sen. Alan Nunnelee will sign a pledge to protect Social Security by stating his opposition to privatizing the program, raising the retirement age, cutting benefits or raising taxes. Nunnelee says we could make Social Security solvent for the long-term by cutting wasteful spending and growing the economy.

The pledge reads, “I, Alan Nunnelee, pledge to never support privatizing Social Security, raising the retirement age, cutting benefits or raising taxes. I will also never support any bill that raids from Social Security to pay for something else. Social Security is a sacred promise that we made to our seniors, and I intend to keep it. I will work with members of both parties to protect Social Security by cutting wasteful spending and creating jobs so that our economy can grow – making the program solvent for generations.”

Nunnelee has previously signed another pledge important to seniors – to repeal ObamaCare, which cuts Medicare by $500 billion, and replace it with real reforms that lower healthcare costs without growing government.

The Republican nominee will call on Rep. Travis Childers today to reconsider his opposition to repeal and to sign one of the discharge petitions that would bring a vote on ObamaCare repeal to the House floor.

Alan Nunnelee Press Release
9/9/10

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JACKSON – Gov. Haley Barbour and the nonprofit Volunteer USA Foundation announced today the establishment of the National Disaster Recovery Fund to benefit states and communities who suffer long-term losses from a natural disaster such as a hurricane, flood or tornado.
Governors from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi are supporting the work of the Fund, as a way to supplement state and local relief efforts when a disaster strikes. The National Disaster Recovery Fund will operate specifically for the purpose of providing resources for long-term recovery – it will not take the place of immediate relief efforts already provided by existing organizations.

“Whether it’s a tornado or a hurricane – and we’ve had a lot of experience with both – each one presents unique challenges,” Gov. Barbour said. “There’s a lot more flexibility in working with nonprofit organizations than going through government bureaucracies, and in many cases, these nonprofit groups are in the affected community already, so they know the people and know the situation.”

Chairing the Fund is Bill Simon, president of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush serves as honorary chair.

“As a resident of Florida, I know all too well the destruction and turmoil that follows major disasters,” Bush said. “The chaos on lives and communities often lasts months and even years – long after insurance, government and immediate relief resources have been exhausted. That is the principle behind the National Disaster Recovery Fund – through national fundraising efforts we will work to rebuild lives in the challenging times that lie ahead.”

The National Fund will provide long-standing support by working with state leaders and contracting with trusted nonprofits in local communities. These nonprofits will determine how and where long-term recovery dollars are needed most and engage volunteer and faith-based organizations skilled in the areas of rebuilding and recovery.

Key attributes of the Fund include:

• Stretch Resources & Fill Gaps – Provide funding for long-term recovery to communities and across states when needed after immediate relief efforts have taken place. Funds will be expended where government and insurance funds don’t cover the total, or where they don’t help at all.

• Rebuild Lives – Funds will be used to help rebuild communities by providing needs identified by local organizations including nonprofits like childcare centers and community centers. Quality volunteer labor will be used when possible in rebuilding efforts.

• Operate with Transparency – All donations over $5,000 will be listed on our website. The Fund will be audited regularly by an independent third-party.

• Operate with Honesty – Funding will be distributed through nonprofits that the community trusts – never directly to individuals. Donations will be used to help repair things such as roofs, destroyed fishing nets, and damaged nonprofit properties.

• Provide Refunds – Funds donated to respond to a particular storm will be used to assist those impacted by a specific storm or disaster or donations will be returned to the contributor.

The National Disaster Fund advisory board will provide oversight of the Fund and managed by a professional staff experienced in long-term recovery efforts. Current members include:

• Jeb Bush, honorary chair , former Governor of Florida
• William S. Simon, chair, president, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
• Rolfe H. McCollister, Jr., president & founder, Louisiana Business, Inc.
• Jack Norris, president, Gulf Coast Business Council

To learn more or contribute to the national Disaster Recovery Fund please visit http://www.nationaldisasterrecoveryfund.org or call 850.562.5300. Donations to the Fund and Foundation are tax-deductible.

Governor Haley Barbour Press Release
9/9/10

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Data suggests Republicans have momentum, but Democrats counter with internal polls showing their endangered incumbents doing well.

Republicans argue 2010 will be a “wave year,” touting poll numbers that back their claims.

“It’s a wave year,” said Glen Bolger, a GOP pollster. “The question is, ‘How high is the wave?’”

Seven other Democrats, including Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.), have recently released internal polls on their own accord. Childers’ poll had him leading Republican Alan Nunnelee by 5 points, but that was within the margin of error.

Democrats also touted Gallup’s weekly tracking poll Tuesday, which showed Republicans and Democrats tied at 46 percent among registered voters. It marks a shift after five consecutive weeks in which the Republicans held the advantage.

Republicans need 39 seats in the House to take control and 10 seats in the Senate.

Democratic pollster John Anzalone, whose clients include Blue Dog Dems like Bright, Childers and Kissell, noted that Democrats are only beginning to communicate with voters and said he expects “a ton of movement” over the next month.

The Hill
9/8/10

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Polling company partner Anzalone, according to the firm’s website, routinely works with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association.

A Nunnelee-authorized poll of 303 likely voters, conducted two months ago, showed him with an eight-point lead over Childers.

Childers, also of Tupelo, is seeking his second full term in Congress from the 1st District.

“I can’t speak to the validity of their numbers, but as an incumbent, I wouldn’t be jumping up and down,” Nunnelee campaign consultant Morgan Baldwin said of the poll results.

“Any time an incumbent is below 50 percent after Labor Day, he’s in trouble.”

Commercial Appeal
9/8/10

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Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who may seek the Republican nomination for president, is trying to sell the biggest load of revisionist nonsense about race, politics and the South that I’ve ever heard. Ever.

He has the gall to try to portray Southern Republicans as having been enlightened supporters of the civil rights movement all along. I can’t decide whether this exercise in rewriting history should be described as cynical or sinister. Whichever it is, the record has to be set straight.

In a recent interview with Human Events, a conservative magazine and Web site, Barbour gave his version of how the South, once a Democratic stronghold, became a Republican bastion. The 62-year-old Barbour claimed that it was “my generation” that led the switch: “my generation, who went to integrated schools. I went to integrated college — never thought twice about it.” The “old Democrats” fought integration tooth and nail, Barbour said, but “by my time, people realized that was the past, it was indefensible, it wasn’t gonna be that way anymore. And so the people who really changed the South from Democrat to Republican was a different generation from those who fought integration.”

Washington Post
9/7/10

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Unlike past efforts, the governor says he is losing weight in a healthy way. “I’ve tried every other crazy method in the world but you just lose weight and you gain it back.”

Christie isn’t the only GOP governor with a shrinking waistline. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s dramatic weight loss has fueled speculation of a possible 2012 presidential run.

Asked whether he, too, would like to be president some day, Christie laughed. “No way! Look at me!”

The Hill
8/7/10

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