What goin' on in Mississippi?

I don’t understand Mississippi. To quote the legendary Green Bay Packer coach, Vince Lombardi: “What the hell is goin’ on out there?” The Democrats should be powerful in Mississippi and they are not – not at all!
by Charlie Leck

Voting results in Mississippi are an enigma and have been throughout the state’s history! I thought the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1964 would change things in Mississippi. It has not.

In the 2012 Presidential election, Mitt Romney won in Mississippi by 11.5 points. Obama won only 43.8 percent of the vote.

37 percent of the population of Mississippi is black.

721,000 black citizens are eligible to vote in Mississippi.

The estimated turn-out of eligible black voters in Mississippi was estimated at 62 percent but that was actually higher than the percentage turnout of eligible white voters.

“What the hell is going on out there?”

This happened in a year when a black President of the United States was running for reelection. For whom were black voters in Mississippi voting?

I can see Obama losing in Mississippi, but he should not have lost by more than 11 points (as he did)! This is crazy stuff I’m trying to figure out here.

Why does Mississippi send some of the most conservative politicians to the United States Congress – politicians who do little or nothing for the black citizens of Mississippi? As of this past October, the unemployment rate in Mississippi was 8.5 percent. Unemployment among black Mississippi residents is currently 14.3 percent.

Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation.

Mississippi ranks first in the number of residents living below the poverty level.

“What the hell is going on out there?”

I need a top-notch political scientist to explain this to me.

Could it have anything to do with who is counting votes or how they are being counted in Mississippi!

With proper organization, Mississippi is ripe for a takeover by progressives and liberals (Democrats). This is a state that should not be in the red column. It should be a tooth and nail fight and election in every race, every year, but statewide democratic candidates to national positions should win.

Here’s how Democrats could get the upper hand in Mississippi (and the formula would probably work in George also)…

They must move their turnout of eligible black votes up to the 70 percent and even 75 percent point. Over 85 percent of eligible voters go to the polls in Minnesota. It sounds difficult but other states do it too, and much more is at stake for black people in Mississippi

Mississippi must get more of their black population eligible to vote. It shouldn’t be difficult when so much is at stake.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 voter registration project in Mississippi (a project in which I took part and have written about here many times). It would be a good year to again call on the nation to participate in a voter registration drive in Mississippi.

Mississippi should not remain a stagnant and forlorn state. It should not be in the blue column.

“What the hell’s goin’ on down there?”

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