Bush: Send Pickering back to Congress

By By William F. West / community editor
Aug. 8, 2002
JACKSON A presidential fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering drew more than 500 people here Wednesday.
Pickering is competing against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ronnie Shows for the right to represent a redrawn congressional district. The two incumbents are paired against each other in the Nov. 5 election because Mississippi lost a seat after Census 2000.
The stakes are high because Republicans have only a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The GOP lost its hold on the U.S. Senate last year when Vermont's Jim Jeffords declared himself an independent sympathetic to the Democrats. Jeffords' move not only hurt the GOP but also cost Mississippi's Trent Lott his position as Senate majority leader.
Pickering was once an aide to U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, who was with the presidential entourage on Wednesday.
Bush also used Wednesday's fund-raiser to express his displeasure with the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's refusal to elevate Pickering's father, Charles, from a U.S. District Court judgeship to a judgeship on the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Note: Only a limited number of reporters were allowed to attend Wednesday's luncheon. Julie Goodman of The Clarion-Ledger contributed to this report.