No love lost

By Staff
July 29, 2001
Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck made a pointed reference at the Neshoba County Fair last week that was immediately recognized by fair-goers and media who covered the various political speeches at Mississippi's giant house party. She was talking about other officials with whom she felt comfortable working, people she said are doing good work for the state. Despite the fact that Gov. Ronnie Musgrove was seated behind her at the time, she did not mention his name.
It was something of a snub. Many veteran political observers believe Tuck is seriously planning to run for governor in 2003. From all indications, Musgrove intends to run, too. Her differences with the incumbent over, most recently, teacher pay, would certainly be one of the issues, should she decide to make the run.
Tuck is an aggressive, vigorous campaigner who connected with voters in her 1999 campaign for lieutenant governor. She has worked the political trail heavily since then.
But in many ways, should she decide to make the run, she would also be running against history. Mississippians have never elected a woman governor.
The political chess match, featuring Tuck and House Speaker Tim Ford against Musgrove, gets more and more interesting. There certainly is no love lost between the governor and lieutenant governor. And, Ford considered Musgrove's calling a special session on the date he called it as a personal insult.
How they interact next year will give additional indications of their own political plans. It might just renew some interest among voters in our election process.