By By Terry Cassreino / assistant managing editor
Nov. 10, 2002
Democrats wasted no time finding Ronnie Shows a new political target: some state senators want the Bassfield resident to challenge Amy Tuck next year for lieutenant governor.
And if anyone could oust Tuck from Mississippi's most powerful office one in which she serves as second-in-command of the state and also presides over the 52-member state Senate it might be Shows.
The outgoing 4th District congressman is friendly, personable and familiar with state politics. And he would enter the race with more than enough motivation that could easily derail Tuck.
Many Senate Democrats blame Tuck for not compromising with the House on congressional redistricting, a move that sent the issue to the courts and left Shows in a heavily-GOP district.
Shows last week lost his shot for a third straight term in the U.S. House, falling to Republican Chip Pickering in the race for the newly re-drawn 3rd Congressional District seat.
Shows and Pickering, who represents the old 3rd District, found themselves pitted against each other after congressional redistricting cost Mississippi one of its five U.S. House seats.
While Shows' loss wasn't a total surprise, Pickering's margin-of-victory was. Pickering received 64 percent of the votes cast, while Shows took 35 percent of the vote.
It was a race many political insiders thought would be much closer, with Shows taking anywhere from 45 percent to 50 percent of the vote. That didn't happen, saddling Shows with an embarrassing loss.
Historically, a defeat like that would translate into the political death of a candidate. Few people ever quickly re-bound from such a sound thrashing at the voting booth.
But Democrats believe Shows could be different.
Shows, they say, ran for re-election in a district that lacked his core Democratic base of working-class whites and blacks the same crowd that helped him win county, legislative and state races in the past.
In a state race, they say, Shows would benefit from a diverse voting bloc similar to his old congressional district. Couple that with his friendly down-home demeanor and he could be a formidable foe.
The big question: Is Shows ready to quickly jump into another political race that Democratic insiders say could attract the interest of Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell, state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville and others?
Shows understandably said little about his political future on election night but he did leave the door open for a possible statewide race. If he does decide to run again, he said, "we'll run to win."
Regardless of the candidate, some Democrats in the Senate want a change. Their frustration with Tuck has quietly grown behind-the-scenes since shortly after she won the lieutenant governor's office in November 1999.
First, she ousted longtime state Sen. Tommy Gollott of Biloxi as Senate vice president a Democrat who helped raise money for her race and also campaigned heavily for her on the Coast.
Then she snubbed Democrats in the Senate, giving some choice committee slots to Republicans who actively campaigned and supported GOP candidate Bill Hawks in the 1999 elections.
Some senators complain privately that they can't even meet with Tuck one-on-one to discuss potential or pending legislation. They say most contact is through her chief floor lieutenants.
And while anything would be better, they say, Shows may offer the best alternative: He's easy to talk with, he's politically savvy and he's a former state senator who served there from 1980 to 1988.
One senator, Deborah Dawkins of Gulfport, put it this way: "Give Shows time to lick his wounds from last week. If Tuck has a decent opponent, she could have problems."