As the Mississippi Legislature convenes a special session to consider $20 million for tornado recovery efforts, it is worth reexamining the records of the two men in the race for U.S. Senate:

Thad Cochran wrote the bill that was essential to Mississippi recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

As one Gulf Coast resident said: “When Katrina blew through and ripped apart the Coast it was Thad’s leadership that helped reweave the fabric of our community together.”

Chris McDaniel said if he had been in the U.S. Senate, voting for Katrina relief would have been, “not an easy vote to cast.” Amazingly, to this day he will not say if he would have voted for Senator Cochran’s bill.

Geoff Pender of the Clarion Ledger said anybody who questioned Senator Cochran doing all he could to help Mississippi in its hour of need, “needs their head examined.”

Will Chris McDaniel finally do the right thing?

A roundup of the coverage of and response to State Senator Chris McDaniel’s remarks on Hurricane Katrina relief:
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“The future of the state of Mississippi hung in the balance. Nearly a third of its economy was shut down. Whole cities had been obliterated. Without federal aid, the state would face an instant depression and recovery would take a generation … All other issues and politics aside, any Mississippian that faults Cochran for doing all he could do to help his state in its hour of need needs to have their head examined.” – Geoff Pender, Clarion Ledger, 2-23-14
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“That’s not an easy vote to cast” – Chris McDaniel, POLITICO, 2-19-14
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“Voting for aid for your own people after one of the worst disasters in U.S. history would be a tough decision? Really?” – Times Picayune Editorial, 2-21-14
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“I would have to see details of it. I really would,” McDaniel said. – Chris McDaniel, POLITICO, 2-19-14
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“In the days following the Burns article, newspaper editorials and numerous Republican leaders blasted McDaniel for his weak statement of support for Katrina relief.” – Bill Crawford, Daily Journal, 2-24-14
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“I don’t think any person from Mississippi would dream somebody running for senator in our state would not have enthusiastically supported that,” Barbour said. “Our delegation worked their fingers to the bone and I think this is the most important legislative achievement of Sen. Cochran’s career. I mean, the idea that anybody from Mississippi would find it a hard vote?” – Haley Barbour, POLITICO, 2-21-14
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“McDaniel added that, ‘some of the money [in the Katrina bill] was misspent,’ arguing that when it comes to government spending: ‘It’s one thing to provide immediate storm relief and to protect people’s lives and property, it’s quite another to benefit campaign supporters.” The state legislator declined to back up the implication that storm money was used in a corrupt fashion. Asked whether there was a specific instance of government abuse he had in mind, McDaniel responded:“Not that I can say.”  POLITICO, 2-19-14
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The rest of McDaniel’s post is absolutely ludicrous. First of all, the state senator from Jones County is essentially insinuating that Cochran — and, by extension, every other lawmaker who supported the bill — was somehow responsible for the $2 billion in wasteful spending on “guns, strippers and tattoos.”

“Really? McDaniel is going to tell the electorate that Cochran supported a bill that provided prostitutes and tattoos for people on the coast? That’s bunk!”Sam Hall, Clarion Ledger, 2-21-14
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“As best I can tell, he’s never directly answered whether he would have voted for the $29 billion in Katrina relief Cochran secured for the Gulf Coast.”  -Geoff Pender, Clarion Ledger, 2-23-14
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“I’m not going to do anything for you.” – Chris McDaniel, POLITICO, 2-19-14
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“When an Ole Miss student challenged McDaniel’s past description of Mississippi as a “welfare state,” McDaniel stood by that characterization.” – POLITICO, 2-19-14

As the Mississippi Legislature prepares to reconvene tomorrow for a special session called by Governor Phil Bryant to help provide disaster relief for victims of the recent tornadoes that struck Mississippi, the question is: will Chris McDaniel find this a, “difficult vote to cast,” as he did with Hurricane Katrina relief? Will he say, ”I don’t know,” if this will be a good thing? Or will he finally do the right thing for Mississippi and stop trying to appease his out-of-state backers?

Senator McDaniel promised Mississippians, ”I’m not going to do anything for you,” in the Senate. Will he finally do something?

The Mississippi Realtors have launched a website in support of United States Senator Thad Cochran’s reelection. The Realtors cite Senator Cochran’s support for flood insurance reform, rural housing, and opposition to mandatory 20% down payments for all conventional loans as reasons for their endorsement.

“I’m grateful for the Realtors endorsement. I recognize the good work they do ensuring Mississippians have access to opportunities for home ownership,” Senator Cochran said. “Many Mississippians are employed in real estate and related industries, and contribute a great deal to the economic health of our state. I am honored to work with them on issues important to Mississippi families and businesses.”

The website can be viewed here and the endorsement video can be viewed here.

In the wake of last week’s tornadoes that devastated multiple regions of Mississippi, Chris McDaniel was called out twice by writers of the state’s largest newspaper:

Stormy weather: McDaniel messes up 
Geoff Pender
Clarion Ledger

In the wake of one of the worst natural disasters in Mississippi history, U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel came off every bit as tone-deaf and Washington-centered as he’s accused incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran of being.

As 15 tornadoes tore through the state Monday, it appeared to be politics as usual for the McDaniel campaign. He was attending or planning “meet-and-greets,” and his campaign was streaming messages about McDaniel appearing on “The Blaze,” being endorsed by a political group and other campaign fodder.

Then on Tuesday morning, as people in the state he wants to represent in Congress were climbing through wreckage and finding and identifying those who lost their lives, McDaniel was given a national audience, on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

McDaniel made no mention of the devastation in his state. He was focused on illegal immigration and criticizing Cochran.

He did note that “all eyes are on Mississippi” right now, but he was referring to his tea party-fueled challenge of a longtime powerful incumbent Republican.

McDaniel at one point in the interview said, “For a change, instead of playing political games, let’s focus on what really matters.”

Indeed.

He did get Ingraham’s endorsement during the interview, and she called him “the closest thing to Jeff Sessions I’ve come across.”

The McDaniel campaign didn’t appear to shift into thoughts-and-prayers-are-with-our-fellow-Mississippians mode until later Tuesday, after my colleague Sam Hall ripped into them on clarionledger.com.

Most of the state’s other politicians, including Cochran, had shut down their political machinery and shifted into disaster mode, pledging all the help they can get for those affected. McDaniel missed a golden opportunity to appear, well, all senatorial and statesmanlike.

Mississippi politics 101 would have seen him out, shirt sleeves rolled up and tie off, trying to help those in need. Or at the least taking a break from hardball politicking and campaigning.

McDaniel is smart and energetic and has been working his tail off crisscrossing the state campaigning from sunup until late night. Much of this blunder is probably attributable to campaign handlers. But folks hammered by storms probably wouldn’t parse such details.

Note to McDaniel campaign: You folks need to have a long sit-down meeting and decide your platform on natural disasters in Mississippi. What with waffling about support of Katrina relief and this, quite frankly, McDaniel is starting to look like he’s not a good man to have in a storm.

As the GOP Senate primary enters its final month, McDaniel’s campaign still appears focused on appealing to the hard-right, tea party-type folks in the Republican Party. But he’s had them locked down from the get-go. They’re fired up, mad and ready to vote against Cochran.

To win, McDaniel is going to have to broaden his appeal and make more people want to vote for him, not just against Cochran.

And when a close-knit, rural state like Mississippi gets hit with a major disaster, a politician needs to remember the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

McDaniel didn’t lie: “Not going to do anything for you”
Sam Hall
Clarion Ledger

When tornadoes were ripping through central and north Mississippi yesterday, I wasn’t all that surprised to see an email from Chris McDaniel’s campaign jump into my inbox. I assumed that it was a typical “our thoughts and prayers” email that is common.

Instead, it was a planning email announcing some upcoming campaign stops, including meet-and-greet events in DeSoto and Madison counties for today. It hit me the wrong way, and I almost fired off a snarky little tweet and posted something talking about how thoughtless and asinine it was to send out campaign emails on a day when Mississippi is suffering so much bad weather and loss.

But I let it go. The main reason: I wasn’t going to hammer McDaniel because one of his staffers was tone-deaf to what was happening outside the campaign bubble. Besides, it wasn’t a political email; just a planning piece. (Would have been smart to cancel those appearances today, though…)

Then the campaign sent out another email today, and that was the last straw.

“McDaniel Signs FAIR Immigration Reform Pledge, Calls on Sen. Cochran to Sign” is the subject of the email.

Republican Chris McDaniel, candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi, today announced he has signed the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) pledge to enact meaningful immigration reform aimed at restoring traditional immigration rates and protecting America’s interests, economic and otherwise.

“I am honored to stand along side FAIR and fight with them for common-sense immigration reform,” said McDaniel. “With tens of millions of adults sitting out of the workforce as a result of depressed wages and a sluggish economy, it is vital conservative Republicans stand and fight to complete the border fence. Sadly, career politicians like Thad Cochran repeatedly vote not to fund the border fence and encourage de facto amnesty,” McDaniel continued.

So, while the people of Tupelo, Louisville, Richland, Pearl, Brandon and places in between are trying to locate loved ones, reclaim lost personal treasures and grasp the reality of the devastation that has ripped across this state, Chris McDaniel is trying to score political points.

You remember when McDaniel said, “I’m not going to do anything for you” in relation to disaster relief? He was telling the truth.

Updated: A McDaniel supporter who didn’t like my post said I should look at the Mississippi Democratic Party’s Twitter feed for right after the storm. So I did. All last night was storm-related, just like state GOP. Today, six tweets: one storm-related, one overtly political, one about a meeting, one about voter registration and the others about an equality resolution. The state GOP: all storm-related.

State Democrats should give politics a rest as well. State GOP is doing it right. Still doesn’t change a single thing about what McDaniel and his campaign did, though, does it?

EAGLE PAC, which serves to advance The University of Southern Mississippi, released the following statement endorsing U.S. Senator Thad Cochran for re-election:

“Mississippi is fortunate to have a true statesman in the Senate that represents its people with integrity and shares the values that Mississippians hold so dear.

Senator Cochran has been a strong advocate for Southern Miss in Washington.  As a result of Thad’s commitment and dedication to Southern Miss, the university has garnered international respect in numerous fields such as polymer science, marine sciences, economic development and education.  Senator Cochran understands the critical role of higher education in ensuring that the private sector thrives.

After Hurricane Katrina Senator Cochran’s leadership was vital in assisting Southern Miss, as well as all of South Mississippi, recover from that devastating storm.  Whether the crisis is a hurricane, oil spill or tornado, Eagle PAC knows Southern Miss can count on Thad.

Because of his experience, knowledge and integrity, Eagle PAC believes that Senator Cochran will continue to advance Southern Miss’s interests and that he is the right person to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate.”

“I am grateful for the support of Eagle PAC,” said Senator Cochran. “The University of Southern Mississippi contributes to our state in many important ways. It’s educational focus, including being home to nationally-recognized programs such as its School of Polymers and High Performance Materials, create opportunities for our citizens. I look forward to continuing to work with Southern Miss to build Mississippi’s economy and quality of life.”