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House minority whip visits MSU |
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Wednesday, 27 August 2008 |
By PAUL SIMS
Starkville Daily News
A ranking congressional Republican visited Mississippi State University Tuesday in support of the party’s nominee for Mississippi’s Third District House seat.
U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., is the minority whip for the GOP in the House of Representatives. Blunt made the visit - at least in part - to back the campaign of Gregg Harper, of Pearl, won the party’s nomination earlier this year in a runoff with former state Sen. Charlie Ross. Harper will face Democrat Joel Gill, of Pickens, in the Nov. 4 general election.
Blunt shared his thoughts on the Democrats’ choice for their vice presidential nominee and the selection expected in the near term for the GOP — including his own prospects for being U.S. Sen. John McCain’s running mate.
“... Our state is a state that’s highly competitive politically. We’ve voted for the winner in every presidential election but one since 19 and 4. And so Missouri is a competitive political place. I do think that people in Missouri politics have a sense of what the politics of the country may be all about.
“But I’m certainly not interested in being on the ticket, but I’m interested in doing all I can to support the ticket and look forward to Sen. McCain’s choice for vice president in the next few days.
“And it does seem to me, in a state like mine, in a state like Mississippi, where people want to see the substance, more than they want to see the style, the longer this campaign goes on, the more people are looking at John McCain as a person who’s ready to be president, who understands what it takes to defend the country and understands what it takes to grow our economy,” Blunt said.
As for the Democrats’ pick of U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, of Delaware, to be Barack Obama’s vice presidential nominee, Blunt said: “... I like Joe Biden, I don’t know him real well, but I know him, I’ve worked with him and I think he’s a likable guy. But I think what Barack Obama did when he chose Joe Biden is really emphasize his greatest weakness which is the fact that he’s not prepared for this job.
“He was a state senator in Illinois four years ago. I don’t think there’s a single legislative accomplishment in the four years he’s been in Washington and his trip overseas showed, in my mind, a lot of his lack of insight as to the strong, important role that the United States has to play in a free world.”
Gill and Harper are vying to replace U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, a Republican, who announced last year he would not seek re-election.
Starkville is in the district’s northeastern corner, which runs diagonally across the state and is bordered to the east by Alabama and to the west by Louisiana. Much of the district lies between interstates 55 and 59 and includes Natchez, Meridian and segments of the Jackson metropolitan area. Blunt talked about what impressions he developed about MSU during his visit to campus.
In talking to the leaders in the research area and MSU Interim President Dr. Vance Watson, “It’s given me even an additional sense beyond what Gregg had shared with me about the important research that’s going on here. I’m particularly interested in the energy research,” he said, noting MSU’s involvement in competitions to develop a “car that makes more sense in today’s economy,” Blunt said.
MSU — through its Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems — won the ChallengeX competition two years in a row. In the competition students re-engineered a sports utility vehicle with advanced technologies that improve fuel economy and lower emissions while maintaining driver comfort and vehicle performance.
Blunt made at least two stops while in the Starkville area - the High Performance Computing Collaboratory, where he took a short tour, and CAVS, where he got a first-hand look at MSU’s entry in Challenge X.
Harper talked about Blunt’s visit and his work to support Harper.
“We had the opportunity to host him here for a little while in his effort to support our campaign and there was no doubt that we were going to bring him to Mississippi State University to ... let him know this is the premiere research and development university in the country,” Harper said.
It’s important to showcase MSU because “this is going to be an area that I plan to be an advocate for in Congress and then to help this university in every way that I can and I think it’s important I can showcase this university to some of the leadership in the House of Representatives,” Harper said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 August 2008 )
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