GOP Senate Candidate Puts Himself On Dem Ticket

Republican Senator Roger Wicker is facing the fight of his life for reelection in Mississippi. So what is he doing to ensure another six years in Congress? He's apparently painting himself as a Democrat.

A sample ballot reportedly put out by the Senator -- who has been in office for less than a year and could very well lose his race to former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove -- seems designed to deceive voters into thinking he is on the same ticket as Obama-Biden.

The flier, which has been reported in the Delta and Jackson regions of the state, checks off and makes bold the name of every Democratic candidate on the ballot -- plus Wicker. The desired effect is to make recipients believe that, if they vote down the Democratic party line, they should check off Wicker's name as well.

The late-game scheming is reflective not just of how tight the Mississippi Senate race truly is, but how fundamentally the Southern political landscape has shifted with Obama on the ticket. The idea that a Republican Senate candidate in the deep South would actually want to be associated with a black presidential aspirant is downright mind-boggling. At the same time, Wicker may just be trying to stir up enough confusion to siphon off the needed Democratic vote to propel himself to victory. Either way, it's dirty.

Hat Tip: Phil Singer.

Update: The Wicker campaign denies involvement in an the sample ballot. Spokesman Ryan Annison, speaking to Talking Points Memo, says: "The honest to goodness truth is this is the first time we've seen it... At five o'clock the night before the election, I can't say that our opponent's press releases are a priority."

Comments

[DBtv]

Typical republic party crimi nality.

The days of ha te are over.

The New American Renaissance begins NOW.

[TheMediaRanger]

Don't be embarrassed, Mississippi. The Clarion-Ledger's endorsement of Barack Obama bought you a whole mess of free passes. (We also have something in common up here in Chicago, where the Tribune endorsed the first Democrat in its 150-year history).

Anyway, what would make this guy (or his supporters) think he was fit for public office?

[Beninn]

If you have already voted and are near an area where voters are waiting in lines, go and stand in line for someone who can't wait in the line for hours.

If you're in Florida, form a Sarah's Squad with your friends. Wait in line for a bubbe or a zaydah!

[MeiLing]

There's something wrong with this country where they make it difficult in some states for elderly voters. Every state should have a process where anyone who wants to can vote via an absentee ballot as we can in Hawaii. Better yet, every state should have a voting process like Oregon's.

The first taxes that need to be cut in this country is the one at the polls!

[lagumbo]

do not vote for wicker. He is telling you what he is about. Deception and not even voted in. What does this tell you about Wicker. Don't vote for this bumb.

[tom ellison]

He looks like Richard Gere.

[luckyrico1]

There is no sense of shame in the entire GOP. They are enough to make you puke.

[Beninn]

It's not enough for O to win. He's going to need the 60+plus majority in the Senate to do anything for the people. If he doesn't have it, he's going to cut deals with the Republicans to keep crossover Republican voters for 2012.

If you're in the central and pacific time zones and if the media calls the race for O soon after the polls close in the east, make sure you still go and vote! The down-ticket Democrats need you to vote, too!

[jinxed]

But, but, but if Republicans lose their filibuster rights they won't be able to stall all legislation and call the Dems do-nothings. Lets face the facts, Republicans are not interested in doing their job. They want power for powers sake and nothing else. This is what they have been doing for the last two years so they can call Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid every vile name in the book. Only trivial bills were not filibustered. The Republicans are not stupid just power hungry!

[bdwoolman]

Money hungry... Money hungry. The power was a route to riches. They looted the treasury. First to the Military Industrial Complex. (That's why the war. Even Ike warned about it.) Half a trillion in guns and butter to an increasingly privatized military.

Next to Wall Street. This when the plan to privatize SS got tanked. They have redistributed the people's wealth very effectively. Upwards. They have used their power to cut taxes on the rich and at the same time facilitate welfare for the rich. They are gone (or soon will be), but we are broke. They stole everything except the American spirit.. In a final push they are stealing what is left of environmental protection so they can loot the very landscape.

Why not? They all have huge properties in South America. There is no curse strong enough to characterize their perfidy.

[metatron1970]

Maybe it's a small sign of progress that they're actually trying to tie Wicker with Obama to gain an advantage. Earlier in the year during the Travis Chidlers/Greg Davis special election there was an enormous effort in GOP political ads to try to tie Democrat Childers with Obama, thinking Childers would suffer from the connection to "Obama and his liberal allies". It didn't work, and this is proof of just how much the Republicans must be running scared. (Now, instead of invoking Obama, political ads use "Hillary Clinton" as a code-word for ultraliberalism that's intended to besmirch Democratic candidates­.) On the absentee ballot I marked on Friday, the party affiliation of Wicker and Musgrove was not even mentioned. Gov. Barbour tried to put the race at the bottom of the ballot in an inconspicuous location but was forced by the Supreme Court to move it up to its rightful place, but I'm sure the GOP will try every underhanded tactic that they can get away with. I'm praying for miracles down here in Mississippi.

[wildervine]

ERRRRR!!! I live here in Mississippi and Wicker has run a very nasty campaign, but this took even me by surprise. Is there NOTHING that Repubs won't stoop to?? How embarassing (and infuriating) this is.

[fcsakes]

We're onto these liars...th­ey put gop in the tiniest little letters they could and the lightest print, like that wasn't going to be the first thing most people looked for.

[RRonin]

Here in Washington state the Republican candidate for Governor identifies himself in advertising and on the ballot as "prefers GOP". You wouldn't know he was a Republican. Another Republican candidate for the State Leglislature has copied the Obama sunrise on his posters with the word HOPE (that's his last name) and GOP in tiny print at the bottom.

[KarateKid]

Same thing in Illinois. Even on their websites. But, they won't get away with that on the ballot form and they know it.

[KarateKid]

Looks like our Republican visitors are already "warmed" up for tomorrow. LMAO.

[hilary916]

People who do this sort of thing are not worthy of the position they hold.

[Rog49Thomas]

In some third world countries, given the state of literacy, each party is assigned a symbol. It might be an animal - chicken, bull or another symbol. The symbol appears next to each candidate's name.

That way, all the voter can determine which party a candidate represents by the symbol.

Then he or she can make his or her mark.

As far as I know, no one has yet determined a fool proof way to assist such voters
(a) in remembering the party symbols and
(b) in making the correct mark.

Since the USA is well on its way to third world status, perhaps the next Congress can consider legislation to mandate the use of symbols for voting in our country.

And perhaps provide funding for research on the two topics mentioned above - a No Voter Left Behind Act , if you will.