There was the “Massachusetts Miracle” that sent Republican Scott Brown into the U.S. Senate seat held by liberal lion Edward M. Kennedy. Then there were gubernatorial elections that ousted Democrats. Next came early primaries with grim news for incumbents without much regard to their political stripes, including the ouster of 30-year U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Last week there was an election in President Barack Obama’s childhood district in Hawaii. It resulted in the election of Charles Djou to the U.S. House, making him only the third Republican ever dispatched to D.C. from America’s 50th state.

This week, primary voters set the stage for the November elections to select four Mississippians to serve in the U.S. House in the 112th Congress, yet while the Constitution says electoral power is with the people, a more accurate statement might be that party committees pick most of the winners and losers well before voters cast their ballots. Anti-incumbent fervor or not, the strategic allocation of gobs of money that flow to and through party bank accounts makes the difference in many districts.

The best friends of Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie C. Thompson, who has represented Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District since 1993, continue to be those who control Republican Party funds. From all appearances, they have again decided Thompson’s 23-county, mostly Delta district is not “in play” despite all the pro-conservative activity elsewhere.

This is not a change of position for the GOP. The party hasn’t really backed any candidate who has challenged Thompson in well over a decade, even though the former Bolton mayor and Hinds County supervisor does have what would normally be considered vulnerabilities.

For example, his own website lists only 19 legislative initiatives during this congressional session and many of them have been to name buildings. And despite his 17 years of pledging to bring about lasting improvements in his district — one of the poorest in the nation — statistical indicators on teen pregnancy, aid dependency, jobs, education quality, infant mortality and many others have steadily grown worse.

There are other factors. Most of the money for his campaigns and for the PAC he controls comes from outside the district and he is a reliable “yes” on any party initiative, including cap and trade, which, if passed by the Senate, would cause his constituents’ fuel and power bills to soar.

In the arena of scandal, Thompson was with Congressional Black Caucus members who participated in an illegally-funded “fact-finding mission” to the Caribbean. Thompson and most others on the junket had sufficient deniability about who paid the expenses to convince the House Ethics Committee to give them a pass. U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., wasn’t so lucky. Though Rangel, the trip organizer, said his staff may have known about the funding arrangements, he insisted he wasn’t told. Still, he’s had to temporarily step aside from his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Thompson reportedly remains under an ethics investigation in another matter. According to The Washington Post, eyebrows went up when the Homeland Security Committee, which Thompson chairs, held hearings on adding regulations to credit card company operations. The curiosity was because domestic commerce is not normally in the national security arena. Thompson’s response was that he wanted to learn more about identity theft, perhaps because terrorists sometimes use fake IDs.

Anyway, as things unfolded, some of the companies donated to Thompson’s campaign fund and no legislation has been offered. The Post said a Thompson staffer — one of 10 who served only short stints with the chairman before leaving — reported what smelled like extortion and said she was fired for reporting her suspicions. As with Rangel, Thompson said he knew nothing about any of this and the fact that no legislation followed the hearings and donations was purely coincidental. “We do hearings all the time,” he said. “Sometimes we are able to generate legislation earlier, and sometimes we have to (build) a public record.”

And speaking of coincidence, Thompson also held hearings for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster housing contractors and in the ensuing weeks, two of the companies’ executives, their lobbyists and family members felt moved to help Thompson with re-election funds.

Thompson won’t be challenged on these matters in his district and lack of funding for opponents is just one reason.

Another is that Thompson excels in what’s called retail politics. Rep. Thompson’s constituents know him. If they have a difficulty with local, state or federal government, they know they can call him. He operates person-to-person, not speech-to-speech.

Perhaps this is why Republican donors and party officials have chosen not to fund a serious campaign. “Can’t win ’em all,” has been their posture to date, and that will likely continue through November.

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Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. Write to him at Box 821668, Vicksburg, MS 39182, or e-mail cmitchell@vicksburgpost.com.