Both candidates have some tough issues to overcome in this Senate race. Roger Wicker is running as a Republican when the fundamentals in the electorate are not exactly favorable for Republicans. He also has not run statewide. No matter how much you are liked in your own district, running statewide is a different ballgame. Ronnie Musgrove has run successfully twice statewide and unsuccessfully once. But Musgrove has other real issues. First, he is running in Mississippi as a "conservative Democrat", yet he is forced to support Barack Obama. Those two concepts are, by definition, mutually exclusive to anyone with a lick of common sense. And though Musgrove is a gifted politician, he has to craft a weird narrative as a "Washington outsider" that will caucus with Democrats to support Harry Reid for leadership, but vote against the Democrats on "God, guns, and pro-life" issues.

Panelist questions were predicatable and ran the gamut from the Bailout to Iraq to Katrina recovery to some specific charges of "mudslinging" and whether or not Wicker ever voted for a pay increase. However, the game changing question came as a submission by an unnamed MC Law School student who asked, Who are you supporting for President, and why?. Ronnie Musgrove was caught flush and stammmered around for a few moments before saying that he supported his "party's nominee" (Barack Obama). Wicker replied head on that he supported John McCain and Sarah Palin and challenged Ronnie Musgrove to say directly that he supported Barack Obama in his response. Musgrove refused to give him the soundbite that would have been undoubtedly hung around Musgrove's neck over and again in campaign ads in the last 30 days. Wicker closed that question by rhetorically asking, "How can you claim to be a fiscal conservative and support Barack Obama?" Wicker clearly drew blood through that exchange.

Otherwise, Musgrove and Wicker went at it steadily on issues that we have seen in both campaign's ads. Musgrove hit Wicker on allegedly voting 9 times to increase his own pay. Wicker's retort was that the last "up or down" vote on Congressional pay was in 1991 - three years before he became a congressman. Musgrove still said that Wicker makes $30K more per year now than when he started. Wicker hit Musgrove repeatedly on the Beef Plant scandal and the sources of his current and past campaign contributions from people like Dickie Scruggs. Wicker, I think, missed the golden opportunity to say that "Musgrove has accepted campaign money from people that were convicted of giving it to him". Musgrove remained pretty slippery on those issues and has superior skills to twist the attention to another issue.

Both candidates offered strong answers on Iraq and both seemed to grasp what the War on Terror means to the United States. Musgrove is the father of an Iraq war veteran. Wicker is a third generation veteran himself. Though Musgrove was long on rhetoric about Wicker being bad for veterans, his assertions were devoid of any evidence and flew in the face of common sense of Wicker (a veteran himself) being "anti-veteran".

Another exchange of interest centered on lobbying. Musgrove aggressively wailed on "pay to play" and asserted that Wicker "funnelled" $60 million to campaign contributors. Musgrove also wailed on the "special interest" and the corrosive effective of lobbyists. Wicker, in pretty deadpan fashion, recounted when Musgrove was in Wicker's congressional office lobbying for something, which was pretty effective. Wicker hit Musgrove on taking Dickie Scruggs money. Musgrove hit back with the fact that Zach Scruggs used to be a Wicker staffer, which came as news to me.

With the rules expressly barring any audience outburst, the only overt laugh line was Wicker's. The question came to Wicker, "How do you sleep at night with all of these negative ads about your opponent, when you were once roommates?" Wicker didn't miss a beat and said, "I campaign really hard."

The final exchange of the night was golden for Wicker. Musgrove's final statement attempted to invoke Ronald Reagan's "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?". Wicker then went to work. First, he said that Haley Barbour asked Mississippi voters that question in 2003 and the result was Ronnie Musgrove getting voted out of the Governor's office. Then he stated that voters need not wonder about where he stands on issues. He cited his spotless pro-life record and endorsements. He talked about being a veteran, pushing through veteran's benefit legislation and his involvement with VFW. He cited his second amendment credentials and NRA endorsement. He cited his fiscal conservatism by his support of the Bush 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. He talked about his demonstrably strong record on immigration, and finished with his commitment to increase domestic energy production to achieve energy independence.

It was by far the most focused I have ever seen Wicker. He was infinitely more effective in this setting than at the Neshoba County Fair as this was much less a display of style and more a display of command of the issues. He never raised his voice. He never got flustered. He had a command of the facts and of his record and Musgrove never managed to trip him up.

This race was always going to be close. This was a good debate. How much impact a debate that competes with high school football on a Friday night will have is yet to be seen, but Roger Wicker had a great showing and clearly got the best of the exchange.

"Make sure people get registered to vote," Wicker said Wednesday. "It is so easy now. ... It's the grass roots. It's the ground game. It's getting people to the polls to vote Nov. 4."

Wicker is married to U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, who was appointed to the post on New Year's Eve by Gov. Haley Barbour after former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott of Pascagoula resigned.

The Republican senator will face former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in the November election. The winner will serve the remainder of Lott's term, which ends in 2012. Wicker has been campaigning off and on with her husband since his appointment.

She described her husband, to whom she has been married for 32 years, as a man of principles.

"Of those 32 years he has been a public servant," Wicker said of the senator. "He's seen that as a calling and as a mission. I've watched him very closely and he has always served with dignity, honor and integrity. He has core beliefs that are based on his belief in God. He's guided by the Bible and what it teaches him. He doesn't need a poll or a finger in the wind to make a decision."

Wicker said her husband is also a man of courage.

"He has made some decisions that have caused us to get phone calls," Wicker said, "but, if he truly believes in something he is going to fight for it and stand up for it. He truly believes in the people of Mississippi. He loves Mississippi."

Wicker, a Republican, is running in a special election Nov. 4 to fill the remaining four years of the term. He is challenged by Democratic nominee and former Mississippi governor, Ronnie Musgrove.

Chris Cox, chairman of the NRA-PVF, cited Wicker's record of commitment to the Second Amendment as reason for the endorsement.

In a tour of Southwest Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Sam Mims stopped in Natchez to assess the damage done by Gustav.

Wicker said based on his other stops in the state he believed Natchez to be unique in the amount of downed trees and utility poles.

“We didn’t see that on the coast,” he said.

He said the damage to trees and utility poles looked like “more than any other place in the state.”

Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton and Adams County Board of Supervisors President Henry Watts accompanied Mims and Wicker on their tour.

Before the tour began Mims and Wicker met in the mayor’s office, with several city and county officials, to answer general questions about what necessary steps should be taken to get Natchez back to normal.

Much of the discussion centered on debris removal and the acquisition of state and federal funding available to the county and city.

“We want to be able to report to the state on the damage the county has seen,” Mims said.

Mims said the information given to the state could then be relayed to federal agencies.

And Middleton said he hopes Wicker and Mims’ awareness of the situation in the county will help local officials be able to cut through the red tape of acquiring federal clean-up money.

“It was an important meeting,” he said.

A portion of the tour had to be rerouted due to a large downed tree that blocked the road near the Roselawn Subdivision.

Shortly after the detour the four men had an impromptu meeting with Entergy executives in a parking lot on Liberty Road.

Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO of Entergy Mississippi, briefed the Wicker and Mims on the state of electricity restoration in the area.

Late last year Wicker was appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour in the wake of Trent Lott's retirement, until an election could be held. Wicker faces former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove on Nov. 4.

Wicker, who was representing a north Mississippi district in the U.S. House of Representatives when he was appointed, said he played a large role in getting Katrina-relief money. He said he and Mississippi Republican Rep. Chip Pickering went door to door talking to the speaker of the House and the leadership of the conservative caucus, who aren't always receptive to funding requests, to make the case for $5 billion in storm-recovery funds, just before the measure passed.

"Almost everything that we have been able to do from the federal level has my fingerprints on it in terms of Katrina relief," Wicker said in a meeting with the Sun Herald.

In the race to replace Lott, Musgrove has painted himself as a fiscal conservative. Wicker's campaign is hitting Musgrove over what he sees as Musgrove's failed record as governor. Musgrove has portrayed Wicker as purveyor of pork-barrel spending and an integral part of what he characterizes as a broken system in Washington.

"I've taken a hard line approach to my votes on illegal immigration," Wicker told the Hattiesburg American editorial board Tuesday. "My system has basically been two-pronged."

Wicker said he has supported legislation to increase military presence on the country's border with Mexico and a more stringent employment verification system.

"We need to make sure the E-Verify system is as accurate and instantaneous as it can be," he said. "I know there are people who think it's inaccurate, (but) it seemed to be a system on the right track to me."

In a wide-ranging interview, Wicker said he disagrees that babies born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally should automatically become American citizens.

"I personally don't think that, and that alone, should confer citizenship on someone," Wicker said. "It would take a statute to be passed to say that interpretation of the 14th Amendment is incorrect. I would vote for such a statute to say something more has to take place than for the child to be physically born of illegal immigrant parents for that child to be a citizen."

Questions concerned issues like energy and oil drilling, the railroad industry and how Meridian contributes to that, and the recent mortgage crisis.

The VoteForBusiness Bandwagon started out on Friday to cover more than 8,000 miles in 32 states, including scheduled appearances at the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention.

The bandwagon is due to arrive at Structural Steel Services, Inc., 6210 St. Louis St., in the South Industrial Park in Meridian at 9 a.m. and remain until 11 a.m.

Featured speakers include Wicker and Moore Hallmark, executive director of the U.S. Chamber's Southeast Region.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations.

Wicker, who was appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour to fill retired U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's seat, will face former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, a Democrat, in the November general election.

At a press conference at a local oil field, Wicker said there’s a need for Congress to act now to lower gas prices.

Braving the high temperatures Wednesday afternoon, Wicker visited with oil company representatives gathered at the Jack Hosey Well in the Reddy Creek oil field.

Kerry Allen with Denbury Resources and Jay Fenton with Ventura Oil and Gas said the oil and gas industries in Jones County provide approximately 2,000 jobs and is a boost to the local economy.

Also Wednesday, Wicker expressed his frustration over the Senate adjourning without providing relief to the American people.

The senator reiterated his support for the Gas Price Reduction Act, which he says, “would open more sources of oil here in the United States.”

Wicker and Senator Thad Cochran helped introduce the Gas Price Reduction Act in June.

“The people of Mississippi and the United States are demanding action from Congress,” Wicker said. “The Gas Price Reduction Act will reduce prices at the pump and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

Allen said the bill “would no doubt lessen the U.S.’s dependency on oil import and create better national security.

“Since 1972, the U.S. dependency on imported oil has continued to increase,” Allen added. “We now import 60 percent of the crude oil we use.”

Fenton said now is a good time for the country to start reducing it’s dependency on foreign oil.

“Now is as good of a time as any to start,” Fenton said. “We’ve got to start at some time.”

Wicker said the Gas Price Reduction Act will mean that “Americans will have a lot more crude oil at its disposal. As a result, the price of crude oil will come down and the price of gasoline will be lowered.”

Whether that plan will ever be considered will be up to a Democrat-controlled Congress.

Wicker appeared Wednesday afternoon at the Reedy Creek Oilfield in the Sharon community in Jones County to express his frustration that the bill he co-authored with fellow Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran - Gas Price Reduction Act - never was brought up for discussion since being introduced in June.

"When the American people speak up, the elected leadership should follow," Wicker said. "I think that if the Democratic leadership in Washington, (Senate) Leader Harry Reid and (House) Speaker Nancy Pelosi, would simply let this legislation come to a vote, I think a majority of the House and the Senate would support (it) ... The question is, and I don't know the answer any more than you do, will Harry Reid let this come to a vote?"

So far, the answer has been a steadfast no, and Congress has recessed for five weeks.

Wicker, a former Congressman who was appointed by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to finish out the term of former Sen. Trent Lott, will face former Mississippi Democratic governor Ronnie Musgrove for that Senate seat in November.

Wicker has made energy production, particularly as related to the nation's dependence on foreign oil and the sky-rocketing cost of gas, one of his central election planks.

The act he and Cochran co-authored would open up more offshore drilling, delve into oil shale deposits in the West, encourage development of affordable alternative energy sources and crackdown on oil speculators.

"The people of Mississippi and the United States are demanding action from Congress," Wicker said. "(This) act will reduce prices at the pump and reduce our dependence on foreign oil."