OPINION

Hall: Senate primary needs to end so healing can begin

Sam R. Hall
The Clarion-Ledger

The Republican primary for U.S. Senate has been on of the costliest in this state's history, and it's time for it to end.

The cost of which I speak is not monetary but human. Friendships destroyed. Marriages rocked. Careers torn down. Felony charges filed. Vile, raw emotional outbursts becoming near daily occurrences. Even a tragic suicide that left a family burdened with grief and anger and rage.

Many, many people are to blame. In fact, most of the people who have befallen some sort of tragic fate in this sordid campaign season made the choice that led to their current situation. The blame is theirs to shoulder.

However, it seems clear now that the only person who can usher us to the end is Chris McDaniel. This is not to say McDaniel has to concede the race to incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who has been declared the primary winner and GOP nominee.

If McDaniel does not feel he should walk away, then he should file his challenge posthaste. His attorneys — Mitch Tyner and fellow state Sen. Michael Watson — said at a much ballyhooed press conference that the campaign is in possession of enough evidence to file a challenge; however, no challenge was announced. Instead, the press conference that was announced nearly a week before it was held was nothing more than another platform to lob accusations and sound out more talking points.

In the meantime, McDaniel was embarking on a "Truth and Justice" tour, a chance for him to talk to his supporters, rally their support and assure them he is in the fight for the long haul. The tour was marked with more accusations of voter irregularities, stolen elections and improper acts by outside groups. What was missing, however, was any sense that McDaniel honestly believes that this post-runoff production is about anything other than himself. Watson assures us that it is, that it's about the integrity of the election process in Mississippi. But McDaniel's actions do not match that rhetoric. McDaniel's actions and words are more akin to the final days of a dirty, neck-and-neck election marred with genuine disdain for his opponent. That real point in this election has come and gone. Where we are now is not a time for campaigning but a time for truth-telling and honest gestures.

If the campaign has enough evidence to file a challenge, then they should file a challenge. A more likely observation: if the campaign had enough evidence to file a challenge, they would have filed a challenge already. McDaniel's most ardent supporters — those who have passion plenty but are lacking in intimate knowledge of the campaign's inner-workings — assail myself and others with the conviction that McDaniel is strategically holding back until all facts are gathered and the best possible case can be made. However, such conviction is naive and not politically strategic at all.

If the campaign had evidence of voter fraud that could overturn the election, they would immediately file a challenge for a number of reasons. For one, a court would be more likely to grant them unfettered access and issue injunctions halting the general election process if credible evidence of voter fraud was presented. For another, if McDaniel's efforts are truly about challenging the legitimacy of Cochran's nomination, then time becomes an invaluable commodity because McDaniel would face a general election if he was successful.

The lack of a challenge at this point — nearly a month after the primary runoff took place — indicates to me that McDaniel's camp does not feel confident the evidence they have is strong enough to overturn the election. Others agree — even supporters of McDaniel. Apparently even Club For Growth President Chris Chocola, arguably McDaniel's strongest national ally.

"McDaniel is going to have to make a decision at some point in how far he pursues this," Chocola told the Wall Street Journal last week. "If there's clearly evidence of wrongdoing, that there were ballot integrity issues I suppose it would be appropriate for him to pursue those, but it would have to be clear. I don't know that they're clear at this point."

But perhaps McDaniel's crusade is no longer about an opportunity to win in November. Multiple McDaniel supporters have told me privately that they feel he is "determined to burn down the Barbour machine," referring to the political influence and network started by former Gov. Haley Barbour and continued by nephews Henry Barbour and Austin Barbour. Such a rationale for McDaniel's current actions would strangely enough parallel Watson's assurance that this is not — in fact — about any one candidate winning an election but instead — at least in the mind of McDaniel and his supporters — is about the integrity of elections in Mississippi. In their minds, if the Barbour machine is allowed to remain, there can be no integrity in Mississippi elections.

Some would herald McDaniel as brave to martyr himself for a righteous cause. Others would label him a quixotic fool who is tilting at windmills. Either way, he has no excuse to continue this public fight with campaign tours, surprise appearances at rallies and soundbite-fueled press conferences where he doesn't even show up. Doing so is only perpetuating this ridiculously sordid election far beyond when it should have ended.

If McDaniel wants to challenge — even if it's solely in the hopes of lighting a match to what he perceives as a corrupt political machine and watching it burn — then he should do it now. Otherwise, he needs to walk away.

Too many people need to heal, and that can't happen until this crusade is over.

Contact Sam R. Hall at srhall@jackson.gannett.com, or follow @samrhall on Twitter. Read his blog, Daily Ledes, at clarionledger.com/blog/dailyledes.