Jeb to attend Mississippi governor’s signing of Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Former Florida Governor and likely presidential candidate Jeb Bush will attend a signing ceremony with Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant today at 10:00 a.m. at the Old Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi, along with members of the Legislature and other supporters of the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act that passed earlier this year.

Matt Kibbe, check the ACU ratings

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Unbelievable.

Wow. Did you know that Thad Cochran is more liberal than the Democrat he’s running against? I didn’t. #mssen http://t.co/4iXFe0Si5u

— Matt Kibbe (@mkibbe) August 8, 2014

So is Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks suggesting that conservatives vote for Democrat Travis Childers with an ACU rating of 39 percent over GOP candidate Thad Cochran with an ACU rating of 88 percent?

Mississippi GOP says no to McDaniel’s election challenge, Cuccinelli group funds McDaniel challenge

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Mississippi’s GOP has said no to Chris McDaniel’s request to question the result of the June 24 primary that declared U.S Senator Thad Cochran as the winner. Jane Timm writes at MSNBC (see Mississippi GOP won’t hear McDaniel election challenge):

“Our 52-member volunteer Republican State Executive Committee has been asked to spend just five hours listening to legal arguments and then overturn a United States Senate primary in which over 360,000 Mississippians cast votes,” Nosef said in a statement sent to msnbc. “It is neither prudent nor possible in a single day for any political committee to process and review the significant amount of complex evidence necessary to make such a decision, and attempting to do so would be prejudicial to both candidates.”

The candidate-who-cannot-let-it-go wants the Mississippi GOP to declare him the winner. But his chances look slim, according to election law expert Rick Hasen:

Cochran certified winner, McDaniel battles on, Milbank finds humor

By Lynn R. Mitchell

The heels-dug-in-the-sand campaign of Chris McDaniel, who recently lost the Mississippi Republican primary to Senator Thad Cochran, is the subject of the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank who found humor in the political situation currently taking place in the Deep South (see The tea party’s embrace of martyrdom):

Mississippi … sounds like what Brat did in Virginia

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Thad Cochran’s win in Mississippi Tuesday sounds like Dave Brat’s win in Virginia … courting Democrats and others:

There is no Republican primary in Mississippi.

That’s because state law allows any Democrat who didn’t vote in the Democratic primary (which means most Democrats) to vote in the Republican primary…and they did. In fact, Sen. Thad Cochran vigorously pursued Democrat votes, and if anecdotal turnout figures are correct, he got them in numbers adequate to squelch the insurgent campaign of state Sen. McDaniel.

A big difference in the reactions of the two who lost, however. While Majority Leader Eric Cantor was gracious in losing and threw his support behind Brat, Chris McDaniel is refusing to concede and has threatened a recount. Politico wrote (see Defiant Chris McDaniel declines to concede in speech to reporters):

Tuesday primaries hand defeat to MS, OK tea party candidates

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Results from the Mississppi and Oklahoma primaries Tuesday night show losses by tea party candidates. Political pundit Gregg Hilton wrote about Mississippi:

SENATOR COCHRAN WINS: In another huge setback for the Tea Party, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) has very narrowly won renomination by defeating State Sen. Chris McDaniel. AP has declared him the victor by a 50.9% to 49.1% margin.

McDaniel was ahead of Cochran in the primary, but that was reversed in tonight’s run-off.

Practically all of the polls were predicting a McDaniel victory. The liberal Daily Kos claims “We will see some real ugliness in the coming days, as the Tea Party realizes that alleged-RINO Cochran pulled out an unexpected victory with a big assist from black voters.”

Incumbent Thad Cochran wins over tea partier McDaniel in Mississippi

By Lynn R. Mitchell

In a tight race, Republican incumbent Thad Cochran pulled it out Tuesday night for a win with 51 percent over tea party candidate Chris McDaniel’s 49 percent.

From The Hill (see Cochran topples tea party in surprising Mississippi turnaround):