Published: September 15, 2006 11:30 pm      

Dowdy: Party on right track

CLARKSDALE — Wayne Dowdy offered one simple, pointed message Wednesday night: The Mississippi Democratic Party is headed in a new direction thanks to the personal and financial support of its members and contributors.

Dowdy, chairman of the state party and a former Mississippi congressman, promised success this fall with the re-election of Democrats Bennie Thompson and Gene Taylor to the U.S. House and aggressive campaigns for open seats in the Mississippi Legislature.

“And we’ve got a candidate for the U.S. Senate that will mess up Trent Lott’s hair,” Dowdy said, referring to state Rep. Erik Fleming - the party nominee who is challenging Lott, a Republican who has held the Senate seat since 1989.

Dowdy’s comments highlighted a  fundraiser for the Mississippi Democratic Party, an event held at the Ground Zero Blues Club in historic downtown Clarksdale. The club is owned by award-winning actor Morgan Freeman and friend Bill Luckett.

Freeman, Luckett and more than 200 other Democratic Party supporters from the Mississippi Delta and across the state attended the fundraiser. Others present included Attorney General Jim Hood, Secretary of State Eric Clark and former Govs. William Winter and Ronnie Musgrove.

Also attending were several key legislators as well as state House candidate Linda Whittington, who is running in the November special election to fill the seat left open by the death of state Rep. May Whittington of Schlater. Linda is May’s  cousin.

The Clarksdale fundraiser was the first of several the party hopes to hold  in each of the state’s four congressional districts. Other fundraiser dates and locations have not been determined.

Fleming, who attended the fundraiser after making a campaign stop in Rolling Fork earlier in the day, said in brief remarks at the event that it’s time for Republicans to back down.

“It’s time-out for the Old Party,” he said. “They’re not ‘Grand’ anymore.”

While folks often talk about immigration problems, he said, Mississippi has its own emigration problems — with college graduates often leaving the state for other opportunities. It’s time to stop that, he said, by making Mississippi a better place to live.

Dowdy congratulated Democrats in the Mississippi Legislature for staunchly supporting such issues as public education and fair taxes.

And the party chairman also joked with Freeman. While traveling to Clarksdale for the party fundraiser, Dowdy said, he began thinking about what happened in California when actor Arnold Schwarzenegger became that state’s 38th governor in November 2003.

“If the Republicans in California can do it, then the Democrats in Mississippi can,” Dowdy said as laughs and cheers filled the Ground Zero Blues Club. “Ladies and gentlemen, the governor of Mississippi, Morgan Freeman.

“He certainly can play the role better than Haley Barbour.”