By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
October 13, 2003
State Sen. Videt Carmichael, R-Meridian, is seeking his second term in the Senate. He was first elected in 1999 and represents District 33.
Carmichael faces independent Gilford F. Dabbs III of Quitman in the Nov. 4 election. District 33 includes Clarke County and part of Lauderdale County.
Carmichael serves in the Senate chairman of the Enrolled Bills Committee and vice chairman of the Juvenile Justice Committee. He also serves on the Constitution, Economic Development, Tourism &Parks, Education, Finance, Universities &Colleges and Veterans &Military Affairs committees.
He discussed his re-election campaign last week with The Meridian Star editorial board.
The Meridian Star: When you kicked off your re-election campaign, you defended your change from the Democratic to Republican party. Has that change been an obstacle in your campaign? If not, what has been the biggest obstacle for you in this race?
Videt Carmichael: That hasn't been an obstacle at all, to be honest with you. The biggest obstacle I guess has been the time being spent having to campaign. There's a lot of good things about campaigning. You get to see a lot of people that you normally wouldn't see, but it does take a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money.
The Star: What sort of approach have you taken in you campaign?
Carmichael: Early on it was trying to be where you need to be with whatever group that was meeting. Of course, I've done that since I was elected anyway. I've tried to be at everything I could. For the last several weeks its been as much door-to-door as I could do, and I still have a lot of doors to knock on before the end of this campaign.
The Star: Has the party switch come up at all, when you talk to people and if not, what are they talking about?
Carmichael: I won't say it hasn't come up at all maybe once or twice. It's never been a major discussion.
The main thing I'm hearing on the streets is the same thing everybody hears the need of quality jobs. What are we doing as a state and what are we doing working with our feds and local folks to bring in the manufacturing that we're losing because of the textile losses that we've had?