STARKVILLE – The keynote speaker at the Golden Triangle’s premier annual fundraising event for the Boys Scouts of America never once mentioned the fact that he was engaged in a contested re-election campaign that is drawing national attention.

Prior to the speech, Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran was patient with old friends and well-wishers alike who interrupted his meal for a handshake or a bit of personal conversation. He posed good-naturedly with Scouts who wanted cell phone camera shots with the veteran senator.

At the table during the meal, Cochran listened with genuine interest as friends talked about their children’s latest baseball exploits and observed at one point that dinner really quite good for banquet food — and this from a man who has eaten a lot of banquet food over the course of his public service career.

Cochran’s speech centered on the contributions that the Scouting program has made in his own life. He spoke of a rare failure in pursuit of a merit badge as a boy. The lesson — to always be fully prepared when one is engaging in a competition — is one Cochran said has stuck with him for life.

He recounted earning his Eagle Scout rank in a troop at Byram — a fact that is still contained in his official Senate biography — and spoke of his belief that the Scouting program remains a vibrant laboratory for helping young people build character.

Cochran carried notes to the podium, but didn’t consult them. He spoke from heart. Cochran encouraged the Scouts to continue on their path, congratulated the adult volunteer Scouters, and thanked the donors to the BSA. Then he took his seat.

No mention of a campaign, no mention of the stakes of his re-election bid and no corny or veiled appeal to those in the room who were very much attuned to the political realities of the 2014 election in Mississippi. Reporters attending the event engaged him about the campaign before and after the event, but what the Scouts and Scouters experienced was a laid back evening with a fellow traveler — a salute to the Scouting program was someone who had shared their experiences.

The “ifs” of the Senate race in Mississippi in 2014 are momentous. If Cochran wins the race he’s favored to win and if the Republicans retake control of the U.S. Senate nationally, Cochran will once again be chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Given those facts, it would seem that Cochran would be justified in at least a small amount of urgency, a bit of tension if not downright worry. But the fact is Cochran’s demeanor at the Scouting fundraiser to which he lent his name to benefit 1,300 Scouts in Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Lowndes, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Webster and Winston counties was that of quiet determination and confidence.

As part of the evening’s festivities after Cochran’s speech, the Pushmataha Area Council honored a number of military veterans, including the late Herbert Lamar Ellis, the late John E. Reed Sr., the late Thomas E. “Tommy” Tomlinson, modern era servicemen Jonathan Sappington and Andrew Rendon, and World War II veterans Bradford Freeman and V.J. Robinson, and Vietnam veteran Gene Smith.

Pvt. Bradford “Hickory Nut” Freeman of Caledonia is one of two surviving members of Company E (Easy Company) in 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, the outfit known as the “Band of Brothers.” They called him “Hickory Nut” because he was just that tough, so the story goes.

Freeman, now 90 years young, walked proudly past a standing, applauding Cochran to receive an award from the Scouts along with the rest of the veterans. In a season increasingly dominated by scorched-earth politics, it was enjoyable to a man comfortable enough in his own political skin not to merely share a spotlight with old soldiers and young people, but to aggressively push the light toward them.

Cochran, like his fellow veterans and his fellow Scouts, has more than a passing acquaintance with seeing what he believes to be his duty and rising to it. Those who suggest Cochran isn’t prepared for the primary sprint simply aren’t paying attention.

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