Jim Hood’s reluctance to endorse fellow Democrats running for statewide office in Mississippi is telling about the two-edged sword his party affiliation has become in this state.
While the Democrat label is good for drawing the African American voting bloc, it can be toxic among the majority of white Mississippi voters if they associate it with the liberal leanings of the National Democratic Party.
Tate Reeves, who is in a dogfight with Hood in the governor’s race, has made a campaign of trying to say Hood is a Nancy Pelosi clone. That really doesn’t fly with Hood’s record as an anti-abortion, pro-capital punishment attorney general, but if you’ve got the money to advertise an untruth often enough, people come to believe it.
That’s why Hood is trying to minimize the risk by keeping a safe distance from other Democratic candidates in Mississippi and elsewhere.
