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McDaniel Needs to Recognize Cochran’s Win
Scott Coopwood
Thad Cochran’s win against, Chris McDaniel continues to be in the news – some two weeks now and going.
Last week, an entity calling itself “True The Vote” filed a lawsuit challenging the outcome of the race.
This is a chapter in Mississippi politics that needs to end. First, McDaniel refused to concede June 24 to Cochran and even by the end of this week, reporters continued to ask if he was going to support Cochran. McDaniel would not answer. Next, his supporters and campaign continued to state they believe voting irregularities took place in various parts of the state and that they are researching their other options. In fact, just a few days ago, three McDaniel operatives were in town of Cleveland trying to obtain information from the Circuit Clerk’s office … that they were not entitled to.
McDaniel appeared out of nowhere and came extremely close to beating Cochran in the primary and runoff elections. That means roughly 180,000 Mississippians voted for McDaniel. That in itself is amazing. However, all of this is beginning to harm McDaniel in the eyes of his supporters and others by not accepting the numbers and refusing to move on in a dignified way. This in turn is casting a shadow over his credibility which could hurt him in a future statewide.
Politics is a nasty business and everyone knows this. Losing a political race is not easy. Losing an extremely close race is awful. But, for the candidate who did not win, it is always best to move on once the people have spoken.
McDaniel’s campaign was well organized, well funded, and he was an excellent campaigner. Many felt he represented the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan who most Republicans consider to be the icon of the Party.
A large portion of Mississippi Republicans feel the Party has moved too close to the center and that “conservative values” are being blurred. Therefore, McDaniel’s message struck lightening with voters.
Cochran needs the support that McDaniel can deliver as Cochran now faces Democrat, Travis Childers in the upcoming November general election. McDaniel should endorse Cochran and ask his voters to help Cochran in November.
That is the appropriate step to take.
Scott Coopwood, a seventh generation Deltan, lives in Cleveland, Mississippi, with his wife Cindy and their three children. Scott is the publisher and owner of Delta Magazine, one of the South’s leading lifestyle publications, the Delta Business Journal, the first business publication in the Mississippi Delta; and Cleveland’s weekly newspaper, The Cleveland Current . Scott’s company also publishes two weekly e-newsletters. Coopwood publishing concerns now reach 250,000 people. Scott is also a 1984 graduate of the University of Mississippi. He can be reached at scott@coopwood.net
| Sat, Aug 31 |  | vs Furman | W, 76-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | vs Middle Tennessee | W, 52-3 |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | vs Oklahoma | W, 26-14 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | @ Arkansas | W, 63-35 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Georgia | W, 28-10 |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | 11:00 AM ABC or ESPN |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | 2:30 PM ESPN or ABC |
EarlVanDorn
July 8, 2014 at 9:09 pm
Cochran took out radio ads calling McDaniel and all of his supporters racists on the last day of the campaign. He paid Democrats to go to the polls. Cochran is neither ethical nor honest. It is our duty as Republicans to see to it that Thad Cochran loses one way or another, either in court or to Travis Childers in the fall.
RebelGuy007
July 9, 2014 at 1:12 am
As much as I hate democrats, I don’t think I could ever support Cochran. What is the difference between Cochran and a democrat, NOTHING! As a conservative and Republican, we cannot let the Republican party keep doing what they have been doing, and that is that they are starting to become less conservative and more liberal.
RebelGuy007
July 9, 2014 at 1:15 am
People like Scott Coopwood in the media and newspaper are trying to tell us how to think. We already have the nation media telling us to worship Obama and anything liberal. As a true conservative, I will never support Cochran, there is no difference between him and a democrat!
Mike Davis
July 9, 2014 at 12:13 pm
> “Cochran took out radio ads calling McDaniel and all of his supporters racists.”
Some third party groups ran ads and put out flyers correctly noting that Tea Party Express and FreedomWorks had announced they were sending poll watchers to negro precincts to make sure no “liberal Democrats” (aka, “blacks”) voted in the GOP runoff. There’s nothing wrong with bringing that to voters’ attention. It’s no big secret the Klan is still strong in Mississippi, or that Chris McDaniel has known associations with neoconfederate, secessionist groups.
> “He paid Democrats to go to the polls.”
Another lie. One black man, who lied about being a pastor and has a known reputation for being a liar was paid to tell that lie by a phony baloney blogger with a history of lying himself. Now, even after offering $1000 bounties for evidence of vote-buying, McDaniel still can’t show any proof.
McDaniel needs to get over it and move on. Lying about the winner just makes him, and his supporters, look like real losers.
EarlVanDorn
July 9, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Yes, all lies. Cochran’s campaign manager has resigned and Cochran has lawyered up. The FEC filing showing gross violations of election law was just a “clerical error.” Okay, let’s see how they fix it.
Mike Davis
July 9, 2014 at 8:26 pm
By amending the FEC filing, of course… Not really as big a deal as some seem to think., And I believe the Cochran campaign already announced they had contacted their attorney regarding the false allegations coming from McDaniel’s Lost Cause Brigade. Is there a point you’re trying to make?
EarlVanDorn
July 9, 2014 at 10:25 pm
Go ahead and amend. But until it is amended there is facial illegality. So nothing false about any allegations at this point. After these FEC filings are amended, perhaps you guys can clear this up.
Mike Davis
July 10, 2014 at 2:09 am
Fair enough. Consider this: The McDaniel campaign has filed four FEC reports since its inception and three of them have been amended. In fact, 54% of all FEC filings in 2014 have contained errors.
As long as we’re talking about honest mistakes, hopefully McDaniel can clear up that niggling question of whether his campaign illegally used contributions made by donors for the general election.
Oh, and yes, actually the wildly exaggerated claims of illegal crossover voting was a false allegation, as was Stevie Fielder’s complete fabrication about vote-buying. But those are just minor quibbles.