“One of the most important things we have got to do is create a job- friendly environment,” he said. “How do we bring more businesses to Mississippi and keep the businesses we (already have)?”
 DuPree, Democratic candidate from Hattiesburg, Miss., is also focused on job growth by creating or recruiting new jobs with small business incentives. He also advocates protecting the jobs Mississippi has by offering corporate tax incentives.
 
“Hopefully we are going to create an environment to create more jobs and help to develop small business growth,” DuPree said.
Education is a focal point of DuPree’s platform.  He said he has proposed the Mississippi Education Restructuring Program to improve Mississippi’s educational system.
“It’s a four-phased program to restructure education all the way from early childhood development and specialized education to gifted programs,” DuPree said.
MERP would include $85 million in tax breaks for teachers and parents, graduation coaches in every middle and high school, a statewide early development program, adopting a statewide literacy plan and reviewing funding priorities for community colleges and state universities.
Bryant said he is concerned with keeping taxes low and balancing the state budget.
“We want to put in a new performance-based budget system so we have more accountability in our state budgeting process,” he said.
Because the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor when the governor is out of state, Bryant said his experience as lieutenant governor has prepared him to serve.
“It is critical that whoever becomes governor be able to go to work on day one,” he said. “I balanced budgets for the last four years and brought business to the state; I helped redesign our educational system to reduce our drop-out rate.”
Bryant also served five years as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he was vice chairman of the Insurance Committee and authored the Capital Gains Tax Cut Act of 1994. He served as State Auditor for 11 years. He was appointed by Governor Kirk Fordice in 1996 and was elected twice after. 
“I clearly understand the potential for waste fraud and abuse and how to get the very best that we can out of government … and how to make sure people who know how to spend tax payers’ money do so legally,” he said.
DuPree said his position as mayor of Hattiesburg, experience on the Hattiesburg Public School Board and 10 years on the Forrest County Board of Supervisors has given him the relevant experience to serve as governor. He said he could apply the skills he has used to manage the city of Hattiesburg to govern the state of Mississippi.
“We have 800 employees with almost a 50,000 citizen population in Hattiesburg,” he said.  “The larger the size, the more things you have to contend with, (but) I think the procedure and the way you deal with things doesn’t change much. We’ve been successful in including people in solving problems in Hattiesburg.”
If elected, DuPree would be the first African American governor of Mississippi.  However, he said he is pleased his message has been more important than his race.
“I’ve tried not to highlight the fact that I’m African American. It’s apparent that I am, and I am proud to be an African American, and I am proud that the citizens elected me to be the Democratic candidate, but I am more proud that they listened to the message of change in looking at education and jobs as our top priority,” he said.
Bryant said he is the co-chair of Amendment 26 with Rev. Wildman of the American Family Association.
“The amendment is very simple. It simply says the child in the womb has the same rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that the rest of us do,” Bryant said. “That is something that I think all Mississippians should agree with.”
When asked whether he believes Amendment 26 will pass, Lieutenant Governor Bryant expressed confidence in the bill’s outcome. 
“I do (think it will pass). This is a very pro-life state and the voters are going to take the opportunity to vote for 26 on Nov. 8,” he said.
DuPree said because of his religious beliefs, he also plans to vote in favor of Amendment 26.
“I will vote for it, because I believe that life begins at conception.  My wife and I were teenage parents — she was 17 and I was 19 — when our first child was born. We did not (choose abortion) because our personal belief is that is where life begins,” he said.
DuPree said although he believes life starts at conception, certain personal situations and religious beliefs can justify how people would vote for the opposition. For example, when the woman’s health is held at balance, or in cases of rape and incest, the woman needs to have the choice.