Here is the story. I have no idea why the link comes out working like it does. Wyrd.
JACKSON, Miss. -- Two years after Mississippi voters decided to keep a Confederate battle emblem on the state flag, the Republican gubernatorial candidate is keeping the issue flying heading into next week's election.
In a TV ad airing in recent days, GOP nominee Haley Barbour said Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove had "attacked" the state flag when he pushed for a flag design change in the 2001 referendum.
Barbour's campaign office in Yazoo City has also been distributing "Keep the Flag. Change the Governor" bumper stickers ahead of the Tuesday ballot.
"Our campaign is not paying for them, but our volunteers just love them," Barbour said in a recent interview.
Mississippians voted nearly 2-to-1 in 2001 to keep the Confederate emblem on the state flag, rejecting an alternate design that would have replaced the Rebel X with a field of 20 stars to represent Mississippi as the 20th state.
Some denounce the Confederate battle symbol as a reminder of slavery and segregation, while others cherish it as an emblem of Southern history and heritage.
Barbour, a lobbyist and former Republican National Committee chairman, stated publicly before the election that he supported the flag with the Confederate symbol. He also uses the flag on his campaign literature and frequently wears a lapel pin with the Mississippi and U.S. flags.
Musgrove has said repeatedly since the referendum that he considers the issue resolved and that it is time for the state to move on.
Democratic former Gov. William Winter, who chaired a commission in 2000 and 2001 that recommended removing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, agreed.
"I see no reason in dragging it out as an issue in this campaign," he said, adding he was "disappointed but not surprised" that it has been raised again.
But Mississippi need look no further than Georgia, where Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes was defeated after removing the Confederate symbol from the state flag, to understand how explosive the issue is.
Republican Sonny Perdue, who beat Barnes, has since angered some Confederate heritage groups by not calling for a public vote on restoring the old flag design.
In a recent poll commissioned by The Associated Press and The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, 70 percent of Mississippians said the Confederate symbol should stay on the state flag, 26 percent said it should be removed and 4 percent said they weren't sure. The poll of 623 likely voters, conducted Oct. 21-23, has an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Musgrove, who has been trailing slightly in recent polls, said earlier this month he's not worried about his past position on the Mississippi flag hurting him as Barnes' action did in Georgia.
"Over there, the people did not speak," Musgrove said. "Here, I insisted that the people speak on the issue and we had a special election and a decision in less than 11 months."
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