Word: mississippi
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...himself an uphill fight. New Hampshire's economy screamed in the midst of the 1982 recession, with unemployment among the nation's highest at 9.2 percent. New, at a time when the most effective political rallying cry is "me!", New Hampshire boasts the fastest growing economy east of the Mississippi, Unemployment is at 3 percent. That's the national...
...both Mississippi and New Hampshire, Democrats thought they had a good chance to knock off incumbent Republican Senators in 1984. But two popular challengers are finding the going a great deal harder than they had expected...
With his broad shoulders, silver hair and deep, drawling voice, Thad Cochran seems a paragon of the old-fashioned Southern politician. He is not. As the first Republican since Reconstruction to win a Senate seat from Mississippi, Cochran, 46, personifies the changing face of the Deep South. A boosterish supporter of Reaganomics, Cochran is less conservative on civil rights and funding for public education. His easygoing geniality, moreover, has an appeal that extends far beyond his white, urban, upwardly mobile core constituency. Even Democratic Challenger William Winter concedes, "There is no way I would win a popularity contest with Thad...
...Winter managed to dither away his political strength. First, after his supporters won a bitter struggle to have him appointed chancellor of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss") last December, Winter waffled, accepting the post and then changing his mind a week later. Then he appeared even more irresolute by agonizing for two months over whether to challenge Cochran, making up his mind, some say, only 20 minutes before his announcement. Compared with Cochran's upbeat, exuberant performance, the bespectacled, scholarly former bond attorney's campaign is rather dispirited...
Though the state's conservative majority gives Cochran an edge, his victory could hinge on Mississippi's blacks, who make up 35% of the population, the largest percentage of any state. Blacks traditionally vote solidly for Democrats, but Winter, for all his progressive credentials, cannot rely on their automatic support. The reason: many black voters are disenchanted with a state Democratic Party that they claim takes them for granted. While most polls show Cochran winning 15% to 20% of the black vote, Cochran's own surveys register 26%. Cochran is convinced he can appeal to both blacks...