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 The election, a runoff between Senator Thad Cochran and challenger
state Senator Chris McDaniel, has become a multimillion-dollar
referendum on the direction of the Republican Party. This year's
primary season has pitted the party's business-friendly wing against
groups that place a premium on small government.
Senior Republican lawmakers in Kentucky, Idaho and Texas, aided by
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, have turned
back primary challengers who argued that the incumbents are too
willing to compromise with President Barack Obama and his fellow
Democrats.
But the stunning upset two weeks ago of Representative Eric Cantor,
the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, by a
little-known candidate showed that clout in Washington is no
guarantee of victory back home.
Cochran, 78, has been re-elected by wide margins since he first won
a seat in Congress in 1972, and courthouses and research centers
throughout the state bear his name.
Cochran has channeled billions of federal dollars to Mississippi for
shipbuilding, highways, crop subsidies, disaster relief and other
projects. The state, which has the lowest median income in the
United States, depends on that money, and the jobs it creates, for
nearly half of its budget.
"If you've got a good thing going, don't ruin it," said retiree Jim
Cantey, 78, at a diner in Meridian, Mississippi.
McDaniel argues that Cochran's nuts-and-bolts approach is out of
step with voters in his deeply conservative state.
"We're not going to tear down the government. We're going to make it
back to its constitutional limitations," he said at a campaign stop
in Meridian.
Cochran has spent $4 million so far on his re-election, and business
groups such as the National Association of Realtors have poured in
another $4 million.
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McDaniel has spent $1.5 million, but he has been helped by more than
$7 million in outside spending by conservative groups such as the
Club for Growth.
McDaniel edged Cochran in a June 4 primary but failed to win 50
percent of the vote, prompting the runoff.
The winner will be strongly favored to defeat Democrat Travis
Childers in the Nov. 4 election, although Cochran's supporters have
argued that sexually suggestive remarks made by McDaniel on a radio
show could make the race competitive.
Republicans need to pick up six seats to win control of the 100-seat
U.S. Senate, which would give them greater leverage to oppose
Obama's agenda during his remaining two years in the White House.
They are expected to retain control of the House of Representatives.
(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by
Alistair Bell and Steve Orlofsky)
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