Childers v Nunnelee

Tupelo Daily Journal sets the stage for the 2010 election in Mississippi's First Congressional District.

State Sen. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, is pondering a possible race for Congress, and this week he’ll go on a “listening tour” of Northeast Mississippi to hear what people think.

“What I am attempting to do is get a feel of what my future leadership role should be – whether I should look for an expanded role in Jackson or pursue opportunities in Washington,” Nunnelee said recently.

As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Nunnelee is close to the zenith of power in the Mississippi Legislature.

But Nunnelee recently has been focusing on the possibility of a race for the 1st District U.S. House seat in 2010. Incumbent Democrat Travis Childers, former Prentiss County chancery clerk, won the seat last year in a special election and then secured a full two-year term in November.

If Nunnelee does decide to run for Congress, he’ll be trying to do what many of his colleagues have been unable to do – win an election to the U.S. House while serving in the Mississippi Legislature.

Nunnelee replaced Roger Wicker, who as state senator won the 1st District seat while serving in the Legislature.

Nunnelee, whose Senate district includes most of Lee County and a portion of Pontotoc, will conduct his “listening tour” across Northeast Mississippi, which makes up a substantial portion of the 1st District.

It will kick off Monday at 6 p.m. at the Tupelo Furniture Market, and includes later visits to Oxford (April 27), Corinth (April 28) and Columbus (May 7).

A Childers-Nunnelee matchup would pit two candidates from the more rural eastern side of the district anchored by Tupelo and Columbus.

Brad Morris, Childers’ chief of staff, said it is too early to be speculating about who will challenge his boss.

“Travis was just elected by the folks of the 1st District literally a few months ago because he shares their values and is independent enough to work in a bipartisan way,” Morris said, adding Childers is focused “on doing the job he was sent there to do.”

A hint of Nunnelee’s possible strategy against Childers came last week at the Tupelo gathering of a nationwide conservative protest of current federal spending.

Nunnelee held up a thick copy of the $787 billion federal stimulus bill and, while not mentioning Childers’ vote in support of it, said it “robbed from our future generations.”

Besides Wicker, there have been other successes. Gene Taylor, a then-state senator, was elected in the 1980s to the south Mississippi House seat he still holds.

And the legendary G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery of Meridian was serving in the state Senate when he was elected to the U.S. House, where he served from 1967 to 1997.

If Nunnelee chooses pursue the congressional seat, he said he would need to make that decision this year, though he might not announce it until 2010.