Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck switched parties earlier this month in what Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Jim Herring described as “a watershed event in the political history of our state.”
At her Capitol press conference, Tuck was flanked by GOP political heavyweights. Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott, Congressmen Roger Wicker and Chip Pickering, State Auditor Phil Bryant, Commissioners Nielsen Cochran and Dick Hall, Haley Barbour and others filled the steps around her. She brought together Republican factions that rarely stand together: Clarke Reed and Billy Mounger were both there; Kirk and Pat Fordice were both there. She received a phone call earlier that morning by President George W. Bush.
The theme of Tuck’s speech was that her values and beliefs were not “welcomed or shared by the Mississippi Democratic Party”; but that people must realize that she has “not changed. I am the same Amy today as I was yesterday.” Tuck said she was changing her party affiliation not her constituency affiliation. It didn’t take long for Tuck to switch into political rhetoric either. She said she was much more at home in the party of Cochran, Lott, Wicker, Pickering and Bush than in the party of Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi. Tuck described her journey of changing parties through several recent policy related decisions. In 2000, she refused to endorse Democratic nominee Al Gore or his “liberal agenda.” During the redistricting debate, Tuck said she stood for fairness when the Democrats wanted to “put party politics ahead of the interests of the people of Mississippi.” With tort reform, she said again “I found myself on the opposite side of the state and national Democrats.”
Democratic Chairman Rickey Cole described Tuck’s switch as like a family member that has a terminal illness, when you finally hear the news it is a relief. Despite Cole’s slight insensitivity considering Tuck’s own mother’s state of health, Amy returned this comment with a zinger of her own. She said, “I have found a cure for that illness by switching to the Mississippi Republican Party.”
Policy and switching aside, what are the implications of Tuck’s switch in 2003? She announced she would be running for reelection but will now face her Democratic Primary competition in the general election and her general opponent in the Republican Primary. Republicans that had been looking at running for lieutenant governor include Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, Federal Surface Board Commissioner Wayne Burkes and Madison Senator Tim Johnson. All attended the press conference at the Capitol. The GOP is now urging Davis to challenge Treasurer Marshall Bennett. Burkes supported the Tuck move and will not challenge her in the primary. And Johnson told the Madison County Journal last week that while he did not stand behind her on the Capitol Steps he does welcome her to the Republican Party and hopes they can resolve their personal differences.
However, Ridgeland ophthalmologist Randy Russell has qualified already as a candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Russell combines the political experience of directing the statewide term limits campaign with solid socially conservative credentials and strong support among tort reform advocates. He could make a strong run from the right against Tuck in the primary; though if she keeps the support of Cochran, Lott, Pickering and Wicker then the race is hers to lose. The moment that tort reform passed the Mississippi Senate, Tuck was assured of a challenge in the Democratic Primary by a candidate with radical trial lawyer lobby money.
She knew this going into the session and so effectively, when she chose sides in the tort debate, she chose parties for 2003. However, Congressman Ronnie Shows’ distaste for Tuck stretched back before the tort session. He blamed her in large part, accurately so, for blocking the Democratic Tornado Plan for redistricting. When districts were drawn in a geographically sound manner, Pickering had an edge over Shows in the new Third District and Shows began to look for revenge against Tuck.
Interestingly enough, no Mississippi congressman has ever been elected to the office of lieutenant governor and only one lieutenant governor (David Dickson 1822-1824) has ever been elected to congress (Dickson in 1835).
Republicans, off a recent victory over Shows in the 2002 Election, do not shirk from challenging a double-Ronnie ticket with Ronnie Musgrove and Ronnie Shows running for governor and lieutenant governor. In fact, one of the big beneficiaries in such a scenario is Haley Barbour, presumptive gubernatorial nominee for the Republicans.
Consider a Barbour-Tuck slate against a Musgrove-Shows slate. Every Musgrove attack against “Washington Haley Barbour” can be turned against “Washington Ronnie Shows.” Every dollar the radical trial lawyer lobby spends to defeat their nemesis Tuck, is a dollar less they spend to defend their less than faithful friend Musgrove. Democrats other than Shows are also considering a challenge: former Supreme Court Justice Jim Roberts (Pontotoc), Senator Barbara Blackmon (Canton), Representative Bubba Pierce (Leakesville) and Representative Jamie Franks (Mooreville) have all been reported as interested. Roberts would more likely challenge Musgrove in a primary or seek attorney general were Moore not to run.
Blackmon would be a real threat to Shows earning the nomination and she would enjoy the run at Tuck. While seriously considering a run for the post, Pierce will probably wait for some other year and run for reelection while Franks has yet to demonstrate a support base to make a challenge feasible.
Brian Perry is Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the Madison County Journal and Editor of MagnoliaReport.com.
