Treasurer and Lt. Governor Candidate Tate Reeves visited The Clarion-Ledger editorial board, and since I was there, I popped in for a listen.
A few observations:
A few observations:
1. Reeves, who I like and respect, kept talking about his positive campaign, but then turned around and attacked his opponent, Billy Hewes, on comments he had made about Reeve’s record. In about 10 seconds, Reeves went from “Watchdog” to “attack dog”
2. He mentioned his opponent started off the race negative. Not necessarily — if you count Hewes’ excellent “going through the drive-thru ad” earlier in the year. But Hewes (who was getting waxed in early polls because of poor statewide name recognition) came out negative, blaming Reeves for not stopping bonds that the Legislature Hewes was a senator in had passed. Yes, I know — it’s confusing. It’s not that unusual for a way-behind candidate to come out negative. It’s just interesting to me, if Reeves is still so far ahead, why is he using so much energy to attack back. Makes you wonder if he’s worried.
3. Reeves did not like a question he got from a member of our Reader Editorial Board about long-time Republican Godfather Billy Mounger supporting Hewes. If he could have shot lasers out of his eyes, I think he would have.
Tate isn’t flashy, but he’s solid. No doubt he is intelligent and capable. He has a ton of campaign cash at his disposal. And he’s obviously still the front runner. But it will be interesting to see what the next five weeks or so brings until the August 2 primary.
