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.

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 »