Mississippi voters will likely prove again Tuesday that ousting an incumbent U.S. senator is dang difficult — and in this case, thankfully so.

The best guess on Tuesday’s election pitting six-term Sen. Thad Cochran against Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel is that Cochran will win by a strong margin.

The race has become a bit polarizing for many Mississippi Republicans.

McDaniel pretty much checks all the boxes for an electable candidate.

He’s young and handsome. He has a beautiful family and can hit on each and every hot-button conservative issue:

4Obamacare is evil and must be immediately repealed.

4Taxes should be slashed.

4A good senator, like McDaniel hopes to be, vows to never vote for a tax increase.

4The federal government’s obsessive control over education is killing the country.

All of those topics are highly popular in Mississippi.

It’s also easy for McDaniel to beat up Cochran for his voting record. Political ads supporting McDaniel have regularly drubbed home the idea that Cochran has repeatedly voted for pay raises for himself and other such things that just sound pretty damning.

Interestingly, like most political ads, the drumbeats lack context.

Cochran has served in the U.S. Senate since 1978. A gallon of gasoline cost less than three quarters in 1978. A gallon of milk was less than $2. Of course the man voted for raises through the years. So did every other senator who served at the time.

About the only point on which pro-McDaniel political ads seem to hit the mark is in painting Sen. Cochran as old. He is considerably older than McDaniel. Cochran is 76, while McDaniel is nearly half Cochran’s age at 41.

Much has been made of Cochran’s age and the fact that he’s no longer a Mississippian, since he’s spent so much of his life in Washington, D.C.

For my money, the only reason to oust Cochran would be if Mississippians truly felt he is doing a bad job as senator. Not much truly tangible evidence has surfaced, at least not that I’ve seen.

McDaniel’s supporters have also made issues of Cochran’s alleged relationship with one of his long-time aids.

Exploiting that is what seems to have led a handful of McDaniel supporters to sneak into the nursing home room of Cochran’s wife and snap a photo.

It’s unclear how the handful of people who are believed to be responsible for this thought it would help the campaign, but the backlash has been profoundly negative.

McDaniel, who is serving his second term in the Mississippi Senate, seems to be using a playbook from another senator who six years ago sought a higher office and won — Barack Obama.

Read McDaniel’s campaign mantras emblazoned across his website and finding Obama-esque ties is pretty easy.

“Help us make a difference.”

“Now is the time.”

“You can make a difference.”

The urgent call for action and a personal appeal for help sounds a bit like the highly touted phrases in Obama’s 2008 presidential run.

“Change we can believe in.”

“Yes, we can.”

“Change we need.”

In Obama’s case, he managed to convince enough Americans that good intentions trump true leadership experience.

McDaniel hopes for the same ability in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Here’s hoping experience trumps good intentions in this case.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.