Howard Dean wants it to end by July 1

Here’s an interesting piece from Reuters News Service with National Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean asking Democratic hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton to end the campaign by July 1, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

It’s interesting because over the past few weeks, I’ve read several articles quoting politicos saying the drawn out race is bad for the party. If the race were to go all the way to Denver and be decided by nearly 800 super delegates, it could cause a massive split in the party. Both sides haven’t indicated they'll budge, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Obama and Clinton are campaigning now for Pennsylvania’s 158 delegates, which will be up for grabs on April 22.

Having already settled the Republican nomination for president, Arizona Sen. John McCain will visit Mississippi on Monday, making stops in Meridian and Jackson to drum up support.

Zuber's campaign finance reform likely dead

Rep. Hank Zuber’s campaign finance reform measure, as Professor G.H. Dorr in the movie “The Ladykillers” would say, is “if not dead, in mortal danger of expiring” as of this afternoon.

Don’t know why, but the line from that Coen Brothers movie has stuck with me. In a conversation where he wanted to change the subject, Dorr, played by Tom Hanks, said with the precision of an academic, that his associates were likely flogging a soon to be dead horse with their discussion.

Anyway, nevermind that.

Here is the backstory. Monday, Zuber, a Republican from Ocean Springs, asked for an amendment to an elections-reform bill that would prevent candidates from keeping their war chests after the campaign is over. He said in some cases that amounts to more than $100,000.

Zuber had filed a bill with similar provisions, but it was killed in committee earlier in the session. He said Monday he believed that if the bill came up for debate, it would be a tough thing for legislators to vote down. Mississippi is the only state in which candidates are allowed to spend their campaign contributions on personal items, he said.

The bill would require candidates to give the extra money to another campaign, a political action committee or a nonprofit group, among others, once the campaign is over.

Monday the House of Representatives set the bill aside overnight to rule on whether Zuber's amendment could be inserted. Tuesday, the House leadership ruled his amendment could be added to the bill, but legislators tabled it at the request of Rep. Joseph Warren, D-Mount Olive.

Wednesday is the deadline to act on bills originating in the other house of the Legislature, which means legislators either have to pass measures or get them into negotiations with the other house, or they will die.

Zuber, who was frustrated, said after the amendment was tabled that his reforms are likely dead this session in light of the deadline, but he vowed to bring them back up next year. The bill has died in previous legislative sessions.

“It’s the fox guarding the henhouse,” Zuber said.

Gallup has Obama leading Clinton, both trailing McCain

For what it's worth, a new Gallup poll was released Saturday. Click the link to get it.

Gallup researchers report Sen. Barack Obama is back with a slight lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic race for the nomination. Republican Sen. John McCain now has a very slight lead over both Democrats as the favorite to win the race for the White House, which is further proof this is a very close race as it stands now. McCain had been trailing both Democrats in previous polls.

You may not be as interested in polling data as me, but if you are, enjoy.

Baria comments on dead insurance bills

During the chaos of Tuesday's deadline to move bills out of committee that originated in the other house of the Legislature, Sen. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, released a statement about the Senate Insurance Committee failing to take up Hurricane Katrina related insurance reforms this session. The last bill died Tuesday. Baria had submitted seven of his own, which the committee also killed.

Baria said Tuesday:

"Today (Tuesday) is the deadline for committee action on the Premium Payer Bill of Rights (HB 498) and Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Clarke has announced that he intends to let it die via “pocket veto." This is the same maneuver that Sen. Tommy Robertson employed last year to kill the cigarette/grocery tax swap. As a result of this move, the legislature will have allowed another year go by without taking one single step to reform the way insurance claims are handled in Mississippi after a catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina.

He continues: "The House version of the bill, which was stripped down version of the Senate bill, would have placed the all-important burden of proof on the insurance company in a “slab” case. The Senate version would have also voided the grossly unfair anti-concurrent clause exclusion as a matter of public policy. This is the provision buried in policies that allows the insurance company to deny claims when wind causes damage, but water later flows into the structure.

"It has been said alternately that the issue needs more study or that the legislation would impose mandates on the insurance industry, but neither reason holds much water. In the two and ½ years since Katrina no study committee has ever been appointed. Concerning mandates, there are no mandates in the bill except that a requirement that the rights of consumers and duties of the insurer be spelled out and attached to every policy. This “mandate” may add $.05 to the cost of a policy.

"While recovery has stagnated on the Gulf Coast due to insurance issues, and thousands of claims remain unresolved, the legislature will let another year go by without action. This is a disservice to all Mississippians, not just Coast residents. The next time a catastrophe strikes it may be somewhere else in Mississippi and it will be too late to correct the problems in getting claims paid that were exposed by Katrina."

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant on the immigration bill

Gov. Haley Barbour signed Senate Bill 2988 into law on Monday. The controversial bill, which was recently passed in the Legislature, would require employers to verify that a potential hire is a legal U.S. citizen before they are put to work. I wrote about it in today's Sun Herald, but I didn't have the comments from the lieutenant governor yesterday when I filed the story.

Opponents of the bill, which include the Mississippi Manufacturers Association and immigrants' rights groups, said the plan puts too much of a burden on the employers to use the system, which has some problems, and it also punishes those workers who are only trying to seek a better life for themselves and their families.

The bill was authored by first year legislator Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula. On having his first major bill signed into law yesterday, Watson said he was "pumped." Fellow Pascagoula legislator, Rep. Brandon Jones, D-Pascagoula, made the presentation of the bill in the House. Jones and Watson are old friends, though they belong to different parties.

On Senate Bill 2988 passing Bryant said:

“I appreciate the Governor’s signing Senate Bill 2988, considered to be the most comprehensive illegal immigration reform in Mississippi’s history. The hard work of many people, including freshmen Senator and principal author Michael Watson, is to be commended in this long fought effort.

We believe E-Verify, the system mandated in the law, is a valuable tool to protect law abiding employers and the American worker. In fact, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security now refers to the E-Verify system as, ‘…the best means available for employers to verify electronically the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees.’ In addition, the Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez, stated last month that, ‘This program is proving to be a key component in promoting the integrity of the employment verification process of our workers’ (USCIS 2/08). However, I am sensitive to the Governor’s concerns regarding the need for clarifying language in this bill and have agreed to work in future sessions to address his recommendations.

Once again I thank Gov. Barbour for his courageous and consistent leadership in signing the Mississippi Employment Act of 2008.”

Howard Kurtz on the SNL effect

Washington Post Media Critic Howard Kurtz has a good piece up on the Web site today exploring Saturday Night Live's effect on presidential campaigns. Click on his name.

I'm a big fan of the show. It's interesting to read some of the behind the scenes stuff about the recent SNL sketches on the Barack/Hillary race, which have been making news. Kurtz also gets into some of history of SNL and presidential races including Darrell Hammond's portrayal of Al Gore in the 2000 presidential campaign. Kurtz, as always, touches on a variety of other subjects in the media this week. Enjoy.

Big crowd has formed in Jackson for Obama

There’s a giant line in Jackson to hear Sen. Barack Obama speak tonight. The doors opened not long before 5 p.m. and crowds started to pack the arena at Jackson State University, where the candidate is set to address a crowd in anticipation of tomorrow’s primary.

Word is the arena holds about 8,000 folks, but from the looks of the line outside, which snakes up the street and around the corner, there are about 20,000 or so who want to get in, according to a very rough estimate I came up with as I looked for parking.

Earlier in the day, Obama addressed a crowd in Columbus, and told them he wasn’t interested in a job as opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton’s vice president, according to an Associated Press account of the rally.

Tonight’s Obama speech is the last for me before the primary, having seen Hillary Clinton and her husband the former President Clinton speak in the last few days.

I will have an account of the Obama rally in tomorrow’s paper and the Sun Herald will keep you informed as Mississippi’s primary action unfolds in both print and online editions.

Obama coming to Mississippi too

Sen. Barack Obama will visit the state on Monday, making stops in Jackson and Columbus the day before Mississippians hold their presidential preference primary, campaign officials announced.

The details of the trip are still being worked out.

The unusually tight 2008 Democratic race has allowed Mississippi to attract attention from the both of the candidates. In most years, the races have been settled before primaries are held here. In addition to Obama, former President Clinton and candidate Hillary Clinton announced Wednesday they would visit the state this week in anticipation of Tuesday's vote.

Hillary Clinton will speak tonight at the Mississippi Democratic Party’s Jefferson Jackson Hamer Day Dinner in Canton. Bill Clinton will be in Tupelo on Friday.

Immigration up for debate today

The Mississippi House of Representatives Judiciary B Committee passed a Senate bill this morning that would require employers to use an electronic screening system for new employees to verify they are legal U.S. citizens.

The bill could come up for debate in the House this afternoon, and if it passes there, would wind up on Gov. Haley Barbour's desk to be signed into law. Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, who was elected last fall, authored the bill.

"I'm extremely excited that the Judiciary B committee in the House has decided to allow the full House to debate this bill on its merits," Watson said in a news release. "Hopefully, this is the first step in the right direction in curbing the illegal immigration problems our state and our nation are facing."

Staffers say Hillary isn't quitting, no matter what happens Tuesday

You may find this interesting. London's Evening Standard is reporting on its Web site today that Sen. Hillary Clinton will stay in the presidential race regardless of what happens tomorrow when primaries will be held in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Some have speculated that the votes in those states will decide the Democratic race.

As I've written before, after tomorrow, we will get a clearer picture of how much attention Mississippi's March 11 primary will get. Traditionally, our primary hasn't mattered much because we don't have many delegates and we usually vote after the races are settled. If Hillary is still in the race after tomorrow, our primary could be much more relevant nationally than it has been in recent years.