Mississippi Today

Mississippians deserve timely gubernatorial debate, not fear and loathing

Published

1 year ago

October 6, 2023

There appears to be much political jackassery afoot in the candidate haggling over debate(s) in the Mississippi gubernatorial race.

At this point, just weeks away from the Nov. 7 general election, it’s still unclear whether Mississippi voters will be treated to such a televised debate. In the meantime, they can enjoy some childish fear and loathing about it from the candidates and campaigns on social media.

Here’s the deal:

Incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves doesn’t want to debate. This makes sense, politically. When you’re a well-known incumbent sitting on a lead and a pile of cash, facing a lesser-known and funded challenger, conventional wisdom is you have little to gain and much to lose from debates.

Plus, Reeves himself has said that extemporaneous speaking and charming a live audience is not his strong suit. He’s right.

Presley, on the other hand, really wants to debate. This makes sense. He needs the exposure.

Plus, Presley is an excellent orator, silver tongued, has the gift of gab. Compared to Reeves, he’s a regular Daniel Webster. Many politicos figure he’ll mop the floor with Reeves in a debate.

Ergo, Presley has been calling for debates for months, vowing to spar with Reeves “any time, anywhere” and agreeing to any debate requests he’s gotten. He’s accepted five invites to date. These include invites from WJTV and Gray TV stations — outlets with wide reach across the state.

Reeves had ducked the invites, and when pressed said he was busy and his campaign was working on it. Presley’s campaign made much political hay of this, saying Reeves was scared to debate or answer questions in front of Mississippians at-large. Presley’s campaign even ran an ad with a tracker and bloodhounds looking for Reeves, a la Sen. Mitch McConnell’s famous ads from the 1980s.

Facing these slings and arrows, plus the fact that Mississippi voters expect gubernatorial candidates to debate, Reeves had to do something. He recently told media his campaign was working with Presley’s campaign on debates — plural. Presley’s campaign promptly responded that this was a lie.

Then on Wednesday, T-minus 34 days until the election, Reeves announced he had accepted a debate invite, from Jackson television station WAPT, for a debate on Nov. 1 — just six days before the election.

Now, this appears to be a rope-a-dope move by the Reeves campaign. It appears likely his campaign invited itself to a debate with WAPT without any consultation of the Presley campaign.

Normally setting up a debate in a major race involves weeks of negotiations and agreeing to ground rules between the host and the competing campaigns. And most debates are held further out than six days from an election. That compressed timing would make it impossible for any candidate who mopped up in a debate to make political hay of it, or for voters to digest it and use it in choosing.

And the debate Reeves agreed to is, oddly, with the Jackson station with the smallest reach, lacking affiliates to broadcast the debates statewide. If only that station airs it, it would not be broadcast live in numerous key election battleground areas of the state.

This all raises some questions of whether WAPT practiced parity in formulating this debate, or worked with the Reeves campaign on organizing the event before even inviting Presley.

This prompted Presley to vow that he’s going to go ’round the state and have the five debates he agreed to, even without Reeves. He said he’ll bring an empty chair to stand in for the governor.

Now, as compelling as this would be to watch, it’s doubtful the media outlets would schedule valuable air time for Presley to argue with a chair.

And while Reeves’ desire to hold off on a debate until just days before the election and limit its reach seems absurd, Presley has gone around for months saying he’d debate Reeves anywhere, any time. He’s sort of backed himself into a corner on agreeing to whatever Reeves and WAPT cook up. The Reeves camp has already been chiding Presley on social media for wavering on whether he’ll do said ridiculous last-minute debate.

One would think Mississippi voters deserve better than all this, and deserve to see candidates debate and answer questions. It remains to be seen if — and when — that will happen. Until then, it appears the political jackassery over debates will continue.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1906

Published

4 hours ago

January 22, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-22 07:00:00

Jan. 22, 1906

Willa Beatrice Brown served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Credit: Wikipedia

Pioneer aviator and civil rights activist Willa Beatrice Brown was born in Glasgow, Kentucky.

While working in Chicago, she learned how to fly and became the first Black female to earn a commercial pilot’s license. A journalist said that when she entered the newsroom, “she made such a stunning appearance that all the typewriters suddenly went silent. … She had a confident bearing and there was an undercurrent of determination in her husky voice as she announced, not asked, that she wanted to see me.”

In 1939, she married her former flight instructor, Cornelius Coffey, and they co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics, the first Black-owned private flight training academy in the U.S.

She succeeded in convincing the U.S. Army Air Corps to let them train Black pilots. Hundreds of men and women trained under them, including nearly 200 future Tuskegee Airmen.

In 1942, she became the first Black officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. After World War II ended, she became the first Black woman to run for Congress. Although she lost, she remained politically active and worked in Chicago, teaching business and aeronautics.

After she retired, she served on an advisory board to the Federal Aviation Administration. She died in 1992. A historical marker in her hometown now recognizes her as the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license in the U.S., and Women in Aviation International named her one of the 100 most influential women in aviation and space.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Stories Videos

Mississippi Stories: Michael May of Lazy Acres

Published

20 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – rlake – 2025-01-21 14:51:00

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey takes a trip to Lazy Acres. In 1980, Lazy Acres Christmas tree farm was founded in Chunky, Mississippi by Raburn and Shirley May. Twenty-one years later, Michael and Cathy May purchased Lazy Acres. Today, the farm has grown into a multi seasonal business offering a Bunny Patch at Easter, Pumpkin Patch in the fall, Christmas trees and an spectacular Christmas light show. It’s also a masterclass in family business entrepreneurship and agricultural tourism.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1921

Published

1 day ago

January 21, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-21 07:00:00

Jan. 21, 1921

George Washington Carver Credit: Wikipedia

George Washington Carver became one of the first Black experts to testify before Congress.

His unlikely road to Washington began after his birth in Missouri, just before the Civil War ended. When he was a week old, he and his mother and his sister were kidnapped by night raiders. The slaveholder hired a man to track them down, but the only one the man could locate was George, and the slaveholder exchanged a race horse for George’s safe return. George and his brother were raised by the slaveholder and his wife.

The couple taught them to read and write. George wound up attending a school for Black children 10 miles away and later tried to attend Highland University in Kansas, only to get turned away because of the color of his skin. Then he attended Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, before becoming the first Black student at what is now Iowa State University, where he received a Master’s of Science degree and became the first Black faculty member.

Booker T. Washington then invited Carver to head the Tuskegee Institute’s Agriculture Department, where he found new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and other crops.

In the past, segregation would have barred Carver’s testimony before Congress, but white peanut farmers, desperate to convince lawmakers about the need for a tariff on peanuts because of cheap Chinese imports, believed Carver could captivate them — and captivate he did, detailing how the nut could be transformed into candy, milk, livestock feed, even ink.

“I have just begun with the peanut,” he told lawmakers.

Impressed, they passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922.

In addition to this work, Carver promoted racial harmony. From 1923 to 1933, he traveled to white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Time magazine referred to him as a “Black Leonardo,” and he died in 1943.

That same year, the George Washington Carver Monument complex, the first national park honoring a Black American, was founded in Joplin, Missouri.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.