President Bush makes stop to support Barbour
Published 12:00 am Monday, September 15, 2003
President George Bush waves to the crowd after stepping off Air Force One with Mississippi Republican gubernatorial nominee Haley Barbour and his wife, Marsha Barbour, Friday in Jackson.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)
[9/13/03] JACKSON During the president’s stop here to promote Republican gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour, at least one Vicksburg man got to shake hands with the nation’s leader.
“He came up to me and said Thank you for all of your good help,” said Mike Brown, a local businessman who helps with Barbour’s campaign in Warren County. “And I thanked him.”
Though Brown was sitting near the front of the 1,140 crowd at the Mississippi Coliseum, he said he had no idea he’d get to shake the president’s hand.
“It was strictly luck,” said Brown, who owns a trucking company in Vicksburg.
Of his first time to meet a president, Brown said, “It was a very interesting day.”
Bush addressed the crowd, thanking those for their contributions to his longtime friend’s campaign. Barbour, a Washington lobbyist who headed the Republican National Committee when Bush ran for governor of Texas, was a key political adviser to Bush’s father.
Bush encouraged supporters to continue to push for votes for the gubernatorial candidate.
“You’ve got to turn out to vote,” Bush said. “You’ve got to go to your coffee shops and tell the people who may not be quite as interested in politics as you are that there’s a lot at stake for Mississippi.”
Barbour will face Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in the Nov. 4 election.
In his address, the president also touched on the economy, education, the battle against terrorism and tort reform.
He said the state needs a governor who will “fight for real, meaningful litigation reform. You don’t want it said that the fastest growth industry in your state is the plaintiffs’ bar.”
And Brown, who’s lived in and out of Warren County his entire life, agreed with many of the president’s points.
“I think Haley Barbour can do what the president said he could do, which was lead the state in the right direction,” Brown said, who has traveled across the state on Barbour’s campaign trail.
Before Bush’s arrival guests were shown a video presentation of Barbour’s stops across the state before his campaign song, “We Can Do Better,” was played.
Political heavyweights U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and former Gov. Kirk Fordice also attended the luncheon, which costs guests at least $1,000 per plate of roast, potatoes, vegetables and dessert.
Officials hoped the luncheon would bring in about $1.2 million for Barbour’s campaign.
Barbour and Musgrove are neck-in-neck in fund-raising. The latest campaign finance reports show Musgrove had raised $5.5 million and Barbour had raised $5.3 million through late July. The next reports are due Oct. 10.