J.L. Bailey is an unclassified graduate student. He can be contacted at [email protected].Step right up, folks, to “The Greatest Show On Earth.”
It’s Election Day and by the time most of you read this article, the polls will be open.
Election days should be exciting. Enthusiasm and anticipation should abound. The future of our state is driven, at least for the next four years, by those who vote today and the candidates elected.
Today we can also experience a big sigh of relief. At least a slight reprieve occurs from the last-minute onslaught of polls, mail-outs, phone, print and television advertising and those annoying knocks at the door by candidates leaving material on the doorknob.
Last Saturday, I received only two mail-outs from the Barbour campaign, down one from Friday. And how will I survive with no more commercials of a Bible-toting John Arthur Eaves Jr. preaching about “driving the moneychangers out of the temple”?
Amazingly, Gov. Barbour has been forced to scramble the last few months and crank up his campaign team for what surely he thought a year ago would be an easy re-election.
Haley and his Republican National Committee buddies dusted off their machinery as Eaves mounted an aggressive campaign appearing at times to be more Republican than Barbour. A person may be led to believe that if elected, John Arthur will travel each morning to schools and lead prayer services.
Other candidates in the statewide races heated up their brand of enticements while labeling their opponents as too inexperienced, wrong for the state or failing to save taxpayers millions of dollars.
In the Governor Lite race, current state auditor Phil Bryant presents a very convincing ad against his opponent, state representative Jamie Franks, by linking him to representing drug dealers in his law practice. A special effect even shows Franks in a rather unflattering picture as Bryant’s commercial attempts to convince voters that Franks would be weak in law enforcement because of his defense of certain clients.
The Franks campaign paints Bryant as having failed to perform his duties as state auditor, specifically, his lack of oversight in the Mississippi Beef Processors fiasco in 2004 that cost taxpayers $54 million.
Gone are the simple times when candidate Cliff Finch would run a campaign ad holding a black lunchbox or driving a bulldozer. His populist appeal sent him all the way to the governor’s mansion back in 1975.
Elections no longer carry the relative innocence that defined them several decades ago. Now they are very personal and, at times, distorted and mean.
Do these types of campaigns really reveal the true candidate? Are they helpful for voters? It seems that much effort is expended informing voters of whom not to vote for rather than presenting a true picture of each candidate.
Do we, for example, really know the true Haley Barbour? Is he just some multi-millionaire former Washington lobbyist, former Republican National Committee Chairman, lawyer and Yazoo City native? Television ads portray his actions during Katrina as offering a glimpse of the real Mississippi to those outside of the state. What else? Do we know much about his youth? Is he a good father? Did he play sports in high school? What novel did he last read?
And what about Eaves? We do know that he does not wear white suits like his dad. The Barbour campaign mailed a smear brochure that states, “Yes, I did sue the military,” citing a case Eaves handled as plaintiff’s attorney for Polish and German clients over an accident involving the U.S. Marine Corps. With that blurb endorsed by the Republican National Committee, one might believe Eaves was unpatriotic or worse.
As a person shovels through all the material, do we really know the true John Arthur Eaves Jr.? Is his campaign simply a public relations stunt to draw business for his law firm? Is he a good father? Did he ever play little league baseball? Does he show kindness and consideration for friends? What is his favorite movie?
Unfortunately, separating layer upon layer of distortions, half-truths and quotes out of context helps no one. It confuses voters. It makes our democratic process weaker. And we, the voters, remain in the dark.
When will we stand up and say, “Enough already”?
The statewide show is about to end. I’m feeling a bit sad.
This sadness, however, will be short-lived. The New Hampshire Presidential primaries are just around the corner. “The Show” keeps rolling.