Race for Trent Lott's old seat competitive

Doris I. Alexander, 78, was one of those people who sat out in the sun just to see Wicker, despite being a longtime Democrat. "So far, I think he's doing a good job," said Mrs. Alexander, although she added that she plans to vote for Musgrove.

Even Musgrove, Wicker's former roommate when they were state senators, acknowledges he can't say "bad things about Roger."

That doesn't stop him from painting Wicker as a party-line Republican and a symbol of what Musgrove calls Washington's preoccupation with partisan politics rather than finding solutions.

"Washington is not working for us, whether you're talking about economy and jobs, whether you're talking about health care or whether you're talking about the high price of gas and food," Musgrove said. "Solutions seem to be escaping people in Washington."

Although Bush made a fundraiser appearance for him this week in Mississippi, Wicker is staking out some space between himself and the president and GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Agriculture still plays major role
Cotton may no longer be king in Mississippi, but agriculture still is. The state has more than 42,000 farms averaging 262 acres — a $6.4 billion industry responsible for one of every four jobs in the state. When Bush vetoed a $290 billion farm bill as a giveaway to wealthy farms, Wicker joined with Cochran and Democrats to override it, twice, though he didn't think about it twice. "I've taken tougher votes," he said.

One of McCain's signature issues has been his campaign against congressional earmarks, back-home pet projects that lawmakers put into spending bills. Mississippi has benefited greatly from decades and decades of earmarks by powerful Washington sons like Lott and Cochran, and Democrats like the late Sens. John Stennis and James Eastland, as well as longtime former Rep. Jamie Whitten.

"I'm not yet signed on the notion that a member of Congress that is accountable to the people should make no decisions with regards to specifics in a spending bill and every bit of spending should be done by a bureaucrat on the seventh floor of some building in Washington, D.C., who the voters never get to meet," Wicker said.

Taking views opposite from Bush on farm subsidies and McCain on pet projects may not be enough.

Barack Obama's presidential candidacy is sure to bring out black voters in record numbers. Thirty-three percent of Mississippi voters are black, and most are Democrats.

And Wicker's old congressional seat was just won by Democrat Travis Childers in a special election in May, a week after House Democrats also picked up a retiring Republican's seat in neighboring Louisiana.

President Bush's low polling numbers, dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and high gasoline prices have leaders in both parties suggesting that Democrats may have an easier time getting elected than Republicans, something Wicker acknowledges.

"Cycles come and cycles go, absolutely," Wicker said, relaxing in a chair after speaking to the firefighters in Vicksburg. "But in years where there's a Democratic tide, as there may be this year, Republicans still manage to win. When it's all said and done, Mississippians will look at 13 years of mainstream conservative Republican representation that reflects the values of Mississippi."

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