Barbour meets supporters tonight in Meridian

By By William F. West / community editor
Feb. 4, 2003
Likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour will be in Meridian tonight for one in a series of organizational meetings he has sponsored across the state in recent weeks.
The meeting is 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Northeast, 111 Highway 11 &80. Barbour, the former Republican National Committee chairman, has not formally announced his election plans.
But a spokesman for Barbour said the Yazoo City native and Washington lobbyist doesn't expect Democratic incumbent Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to conduct a friendly campaign.
Musgrove spokeswoman Lee Ann Mayo countered that the governor is maintaining a positive tone, as shown by his taking the lead in improving public education in Mississippi.
Musgrove and Barbour were on the road or making speeches and were unavailable for comment Monday.
Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, said he expects a hard-fought, Barbour-Musgrove showdown.
Wiseman said he expects Musgrove's camp to portray Barbour as a Washington insider who led the high life while serving as RNC chairman during the 1990s.
Wiseman said the negatives against Musgrove are the same as those in other states: Budget problems that have resulted from a weak national economy.
The Barbour File
Name: Haley Barbour.
Age: 55.
Hometown: Yazoo City.
Occupation: Chairman and chief executive, Barbour Griffith &Rogers lobbying firm, Washington, D.C.
Family: Wife, Marsha, and two sons.
Education: Law degree, University of Mississippi.
Previous positions: Executive director, Mississippi Republican Party 1973-1976; U.S. Senate
candidate,1982; director, White House Office of Political Affairs, 1985-1987; chairman, Republican National Committee,1993-1997.