What BostonBoomer said:
Was the debate schedule gamed for Obama too?
Posted on September 23, 2008 by bostonboomer
We now know that the DNC did everything in their power to make sure Barack Obama would be the Democratic nominee for President. Never mind what the voters wanted, this is the year the DNC decided to nominate a black man. Anyone who thought Hillary Clinton was the better candidate was screamed at, called a racist, and told to either stand aside or get out of the Party. The DNC even scheduled their convention so the winner would accept the nomination on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. Accident? I don’t think so.
So, this is an interesting juxtaposition to the recent AP survey on race, the reports on the HIV crisis, Katrina rebuilding, and unemployment.
We surely know by now that McCain will fight and must have a plan as well. What might be his reasoning for agreeing to this location choice? Who would be his audience?
A quick check of Wikipedia on the state of Mississippi revealed this nugget:
[…On August 30, 2007, a report by the United States Census Bureau indicated that Mississippi was the poorest state in the country. Many white cotton farmers in the Delta have large, mechanized plantations, some of which receive extensive Federal subsidies, yet many African Americans still live as poor, rural, landless laborers. Of $1.2 billion from 2002-2005 in Federal subsidies to farmers in the Bolivar County area of the Delta, only 5% went to small farmers. There has been little money apportioned for rural development. Small towns are struggling. More than 100,000 people, mostly African American, have left the region in search of work elsewhere.[39] The state had a median household income of $34,473.[4]….]
As we know, McCain said he would have voted against the Farm Bill. However, the Farm Bill passage did not necessarily address family farms. In addition to the above stats on small farmers, the National Family Farm Coalition, (NFFC) reports that only around 13,000 minority farmers are left in the US.
Homeland Security might be another topic. Bennie Thompson (D), a Black Caucus Member, in the 2nd district, US House of Representatives, is in the states only minority majority district. He assumed office in 1993.
Mississippi received over 9.5 million in Homeland Security and Emergency Management Grant money in 2007 alone. See HERE.
Thad Cochran has been in office, since 1978, and is still head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, first from a confederate state. He is a graduate of University of Mississippi. (Ole Miss!)
A look at sourcewatch’s blur on him is interesting. See how in line you think he might be with McCain HERE.
Roger Wicker just appointed in 2007 to fill Trent Lott’s position, and also graduate of University of Mississippi. (Ole Miss!)
Republicans both.
Then there is the local drama and mood around the kerfluffle of the recent election:
Mudslinging in Mississippi
May 10, 2008
Ads rifle through candidates’ past relationships, tax returns and city budgets; facts left crumpled on the ground.
Summary
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/mudslinging_in_mississippi.html
Finally, the Clarion Ledger reports today, that the financial crisis isn’t as bad in Mississippi as other parts of the US. The Economic muddle in congress is likely to persist through Friday’s debate. At Ole Miss the candidates might be able to concentrate on homeland security, porkbarrel spending, appropriations, taxes, gas prices, hurricane damage and all McCain’s favorites.
Experts: Miss. dodging brunt of financial storm
Elizabeth Crisp • elizabeth.crisp@clarionledger.com • September 23, 2008
[OXFORD — Mississippi has seen plant closures, decreases in home sales and record numbers of subprime loans, but officials say the economy here isn’t as bad as in other areas of the country….]
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080923/NEWS0401/809230370/1001/NEWS
Grab and Keel 
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