CHANGING THE FACE:

One more time: LeSueur challenges Bennie Thompson (DAVID LUSH, 1/08/04, Delta Democrat Times)

Buoyed by taking 44 percent of the vote in the 2002 general election, Republican Clinton B. LeSueur is even more confident that he is the candidate to unseat incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

Thompson, a Democrat, is a five-term congressman from Bolton. LeSueur works as a consultant with the Yazoo County Community Action Agency in Yazoo City. [...]

LeSueur said that he has traveled throughout the 2nd District and "I have heard the cries and complaints from the people. I am 110 percent up to the task of handling the job. I want to restore and maintain the Christian values of this nation."

Thompson came under particularly harsh criticism from LeSueur in the area of family values.

He said Thompson has voted for same-sex marriages and that he was going to support former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as the Democratic presidential nominee.

"And that's an absolute shame before God and this country," he said. "Howard Dean signed into law same-sex marriages as the governor of Vermont." [...]

Meanwhile, Bess Condon of Greenville, secretary of the Washington County Republican Party, said she is solidly behind LeSueur's candidacy.

"He's a very fine young man," Condon said. "He has 15 brothers and sisters. I've met his mother and the children. Several have graduated from Rust College. He has a good background of service in Washington.

"He appeals to both races and he wants to give back to the community," Condon said. "He's straight forward and honest."

Sooner or later, black Republicans are going to start winning these races.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 9, 2004 07:53 AM