16. November 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Now that the election is over, the obvious question becomes : “Now what ?”

Well, first, I am going to give my wife & children some well earned time with their husband/ Daddy.  I and they need a time of rest & Spiritual renewal. To that end, we will seek to walk closer with our Lord.

Secondly, the campaign put me way behind on making a living and with a family of 11, that can make things tough.
So, I will concentrate on trying to catch up/ earn some income and we will “batten down the hatches” for the winter & try to stretch a little bit a long way.

Beyond that, we intend to remain in the fight on a number of fronts. We still stand for the Cause of Christ; for the family; for liberty; for limited government; for safe foods; for independence in food, fiber & energy; and for a economic & cultural renewal in rural Mississippi built around bottom up, decentralized agricultural prosperity.

 For the time being, we will leave the www.RileyforAgriculture.com web site live & I will be blogging there fairly regularly. At some point, we will likely be altering it to something not specific to the campaign with the same Conservative, populist, pro-liberty, small government Rural Renewal themes.

Also, you can keep up with what the Mississippi Constitution Party will be doing here in Mississippi through our site & blog here : http://www.mississippicp.com/ 

 And, for my personal rants on everything from farming to family to history to theology to politics to practical Christian living go to my personal web site www.lesriley.net where most of the action takes place on the Discussion Board ( which basically functions as a blog site).

*********************

We are considering things like  :
~~ Future Runs for Political office
~~ Helping other candidates that stand for the same things
~~ Continuing to build the Mississippi Constitution Party into a vibrant political force
~~ Standing for/ against issues in the state as the need arises
~~ Promoting/ hosting events aimed at the restoration of the Christian family as the cornerstone of our culture
~~ A Possible Radio program/ pod cast/ web cast
~~ Private Sector Efforts to promote Value Added Agriculture & Profitability for Family Farms

And more.

Keep in touch
Les Riley & Family

Posted in Constitution Party, 3rd Parties, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »

9. November 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

“Common Sense from the Piney Woods” is a conservative blog based in South, Mississippi. Here is his election analysis :

http://www.commonsensefromthepineywoods.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Just how impressive was Les Riley’s Showing?

Riley has a lot to be proud of

I have to give a big hand to Les Riley for his showing in the Ag. Commissioner’s Race. Riley was a big underdog from the start. He worked hard, he got his message out and he convinced many that he was the true conservative in the race. He worked the Internet blogs and interactive forums very effectively. He even caused Ricky Cole to follow his lead and venture onto the www.myHattiesburg.com forum community where they each laid out their platforms and took questions from forum members.

From what we’ve learned the Dem. base is 39% before the ballots are even cast and the GOP base is near 40%. Riley started with 0% and gained 7.04% of the popular vote or 47,724. That’s quite an accomplishment for the obstacles he faced. Beef Plant Spell the long time incumbent took the win with 50.8% or 342,884 votes. Cole took 42.1% of the vote or 281,685 actual votes. There were 672,293 votes cast in the race. Cole started the night with 262,195 (39%), and added 19,490 to that total. Spell started the night with 268,917 and added 73,967 to that number (hope he’s thanked Gov. Barbour for the coat tails). Riley started with basically zero and added 47,724 through campaigning.Considering that he spent a fraction of what the other two spent, it looks like Riley out worked them. Some will say a vote for a third party candidate is a wasted vote, I voted for Riley and will never consider it a wasted vote.

Posted in Constitution Party, 3rd Parties, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »

7. November 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Support Idealism over Cynicism — Vote Riley for Agriculture
www.RileyForAgriculture.com -
A Conservative Voice for Rural Mississippi - Smaller Government & Safer Food for All

Dear Friends of Freedom & Farming in Mississippi,

I called Commissioner Spell this morning to congratulate him on his victory. When I got off the phone, I heard Dr. Marty Wiseman ( Director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State) being interviewed on the radio about the election results and our race came up.

Dr. Wiseman, told the host that “third party candidate is like a red wasp. They sting & it hurts, but then they go away & die.”

As Mark Twain quipped, “Reports of my demise have been greatly exagerated.”  I think Dr. Wiseman may need to go over to MSU’s entemology dept & check his facts. Unlike bees, wasps do not die after they sting and can sting multiple times.I am writing to thank the voters of Mississippi for giving me nearly 50,000 votes (7%) – even though we did not have the resources or name recognition of my two opponents; to thank the handful of media outlets that gave our campaign a fair hearing; to let people know that Les Riley and the Constitution Party have a lot to build on and will be heard from again; and to declare victory on several fronts — even though we weren’t able to get enough votes to take the office this time.1) We won because we did our duty. Stonewall Jackson & John Quincy Adams both made similar statements along the lines of “Duty is ours, results are God’s”.

Posted in 3rd Parties, Constitution Party, Lester Spell, Rickey Cole, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Smaller Government, How Agriculture affects Everything else, Mississippi Politics, Freedom in Agriculture | Print | No Comments »

7. November 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Posted in Rickey Cole, Lester Spell, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »

31. October 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

State Snapshot

Previous Photo Next Photo

SHARING A LAUGH — Prior to a Tuesday night debate at MSU, state agriculture and commerce commissioner candidates (from left) Leslie Riley Jr., Lester Spell and Rickey Cole shared a laugh backstage at the university’s McComas Hall theater. Spell is the Republican incumbent, while Riley and Cole are candidates of the Constitutional and Democratic parties, respectively. Sponsored by the student Stennis-Montgomery Association, the debate drew an audience of approximately 260.  (Oct 24, 2007 Photo by Kristen Hines)

Posted in Rickey Cole, Lester Spell, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign | Print | No Comments »

30. October 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Mississippi Prayer Warriors is a non partisan Christian political web site. They sent me a questionare a few weeks back. They posted this today :

http://mississippiprayerwarriors.org/lesriley.html

Leslie Riley, Jr. Speaks with MPW

1) How does faith play a role in shaping your views, platforms, and voting practices?
It plays the central and dominant role.
At the beginning of the Great Commission, Jesus Christ declares :”ALL authority in heaven & on earth has been given to me” and Romans 13 tells us that “all authority comes from God.”

Government is a God-ordained institution. Those who would govern should do so in the fear of the Lord and giving due dilligence to govern within the parameters God has given the civil magistrate. ( This is even tru for unbelievers — Psalm 2).
This is even more for a sinner who has been saved by the grace & mercy of Christ. The way we live affects the reputation of our Saviour. Beyond that, Jesus Christ is not only our Saviour, but our Lord. If the way we think & live — not only in the realm of politics, but in our families, our communities, our workplaces, should be under the — should be changed if we have truly been transformed from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His Son.

As far as my platform goes. I would encourage you to go to read the Constitution Party platform which is the most distinctively, unappologetically Christian platform you will find. My general views on politics and the Christian in a nutshell can be found in this peice I wrote after the 2006 Congressional elections — before I decided to run for Ag Com.

2) Do believe that your constituency see you as a leader of faith?
I would hope so, but I would be much more concerned that my Lord would see me as a faithful servant & child.

3) How could our organization pray for you specifically?
Pray for protection for me & my family and that we would be granted wisdom, discernment, boldness, & humility.

4) What upcoming issues do you see as particularly requiring a faith-based decision?
If you will see my first answer, I think it will basically answer this question as well.

Rev. R.J. Rushdoony once said : “All ideas are inherently religious”. By this he meant that a person’s understanding of the nature of God, the nature of man, and the relationship between the two will determine what you belive about everything else.

In light of the fact that God’s Word says “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof ” and other such claims of Supreme, undivided, Sovreign authority, there is no square milimeter of creation that is outside of His rule. We cannot, therefore, separate & compartmentalize issues. Our faith governs our views on ALL issues.
This does not mean that we attach Christian words and phraseology to everything we do, but rather we live out our faith in the way we make decisions and the decisions that we make. ( James 2)

I certainly covet your prayers.
Thanks for the opportunity,

Leslie Riley

Posted in Constitution Party, 3rd Parties, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »

30. October 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Six months ago no one thought we would get over 1-2%. Now a Republican site is guessing that I’ll get 20%. We are gaining ground, keep putting the word out.

http://rightofmississippi.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/2007-mississippi-statewide-election-predictions/

2007 Mississippi Statewide Election Predictions
Right of Mississippi 2007 Predictions:

This is on record 7 days out, we have carefully studied all of these campaigns for nearly a year now and this is our best guess on the final outcome.

Governor: VERY SAFE GOP

Haley Barbour: 58.4%

John Arthur Eaves Jr: 41.6%

Lt. Gov: SAFE GOP

Phil Bryant: 56.1%

Jamie Franks: 43.9%

SOS: SAFE GOP

Delbert Hosemann: 55.9%

Rob Smith: 44.1%

Attorney General: SAFE DEM

Jim Hood: 55.3%

Al Hopkins: 44.7%

State Treasurer: VERY SAFE GOP

Tate Reeves: 60.1%

Shawn O’Hara: 39.9%

State Auditor: TOO CLOSE TO CALL/LEAN GOP

Stacey Pickering: 51.8%

Mike Sumrall: 48.2%

Insurance Commissioner: TOO CLOSE TO CALL/SLIGHT LEAN DEM

Gary Anderson: 51.0%

Mike Chaney: 49.0%

Commissioner of Agriculture: TOO CLOSE TO CALL

Lester Spell: 40.4%

Rickey Cole: 39.5%

Les Riley: 20.1%

The 3 of us here at ROM personally called through our address books and got responses from about 50 voters, hardly a random sample but it helped us please feel free to discuss and disagree, things could change in the next week and we will show updates if we make them. Make your own scorecard and we can compare in a week.

Posted in Lester Spell, Rickey Cole, 3rd Parties, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »

30. October 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Sid Salter is the political columnist/ editor for the Clarion Ledger & his column is published statewide. Mr. Salter has been very fair & balanced in its coverage of the Ag race. The most recent entry in his blog is no exception ( Salter’s blog post below) . . . let’s just hope he’s wrong about the 5 to 8% and we even get in excess of the 20 % that Right of Mississippi ( a Conservative Republican site) is guessing. We can still win. Keep working !
( the post about the Ag Com race is about half way down the page)

http://www.clarionledger.com/misc/blogs/ssalter/sidblog.html

Les Riley may well decide the Ag Commissioner’s race

While most of the attention has been on incumbent Republican Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell and his Democratic challenger Rickey Cole, the fact is that the deciding factor in that race may be Constitution Party candidate Les Riley.

Riley, who is a legitimate candidate with the ability to run the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, is not your average third party or fringe candidate. Riley is working hard, campaigning across a wide area with limited resources and has a following.

Superior resources and incumbency should be enough to re-elect Spell. But Spell’s consistent policy of throwing fellow Republicans, state legislators, Mississippi State University and anyone else he can under the bus by blaming them for the failed Mississippi Beef Processors plant will make it hard for a lot of Republicans to vote for Spell. There are a significant number of Republicans telling me they just can’t vote for him.

That leaves them in the position of either voting for Cole, a staunch Democrat, or for Riley. I think a lot of frustrated Republicans may park their vote with Riley.

That could put Spell shy of winning a 50 percent plus one vote majority needed to win and throw the vote into the Democrat-controlled House, which will almost certainly elect Cole.

If Riley can take from 5 to 8 percent of the vote, Spell will be in trouble.

Posted in Lester Spell, Rickey Cole, Beef Plant, Constitution Party, 3rd Parties, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Media Coverage, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »

30. October 2007 by P. Leslie Riley.

Statewide Voter Gude Answers

Please forward to everyone in Mississippi who you know who is interested in making an informed vote in this election.

The Clarion Ledger & League of Women Voters published their voter’s guide this past Sunday ( Oct. 28). In additon to the short profiles that went out with the paper, longer, detailed Q&A’s were done with all statewide candidates & published here :http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPECIAL02&template=vg

My particular comments are here :
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071028/SPECIAL02/71026054/1224

Also, if you have not watched the videos of all statewide candidates, please watch & forward. Myself & my Democrat & Republican opponents are at the bottom.http://www.etv.state.ms.us/televisio…ates/index.htm

Posted in Lester Spell, Rickey Cole, Constitution Party, Media Coverage, Riley for Agriculture Campaign, Mississippi Politics | Print | No Comments »