Thursday, August 06, 2015

Low-information voters: Unknown truck driver who spent no money on campaign is Mississippi Dem nominee for guv

Truck driver and political neophyte Robert Gray raised and spent no money in his campaign for the Democratic nominee for governor in Mississippi. Gray's electioneering was limited to attending a couple of rallies. He didn't even vote for himself. Gray's mother didn't know he was running--although she voted for him--mom thought she was choosing a candidate with the same name as as her son's.

Gray didn't advertise. He produced no yard signs.

But Gray collected 51 percent of the vote in a three-way race. Attorney Vicki Slater spent over $200,000 on her effort to win the Democratic Party nomination--some of it was her own money.

This is your 21st century Democratic Party--it is dominated by low-information voters who have no idea what they are voting for when they enter the polling place.

An unknown winning a high-profile Democratic race is not unprecedented. Alvin Greene won the Dem nomination for the US Senate in South Carolina under nearly the same circumstances in 2010.

Even the chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, Rickey Cole, admits the existence of clueless people walking into the voting booth. "You hear people talk about low-information voters or elections," Cole said. "I think this may have been one of those."

On the positive side, Gray owns his own rig--so he's familiar with the struggles of small business owners. He faces Republican incumbent Phil Bryant in the general election.

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