Crossposted (with small edits) at Cotton Mouth
There is a divide among Southern Republicans that hasn't really made it into the public eye yet in Mississippi. It is highlighted in Thomas Frank's book What's the Matter with Kansas? The divide is between the so called "Country Club Republicans" who care more about economic issues and are more libertarian on social issues and "Religious Conservatives" who tend to be moderate on economic issues, but are very conservative on hotbutton issues like abortion and homosexuality.
I believe that Phil Bryant (running for Lt. Gov.) is closer to the first variety and doesn't particulary care about the issues Christian Conservatives often focus on and if this gets out it could begin to open that rift in the Mississippi Republican Party.
Former Rankin County Republican Executive Committeeman John Goodman wrote in his blog that in 1990 he witnessed Phil Bryant speak in favor of a woman's "right to choose."
I saw Phil Bryant walk up and down encouraging his supporters to strip the pro-life plank. He yammered about a woman's "right to choose." I remember Tom Hamby, one of the RCREC members who supported the pro-life plank, getting up and
saying, "For God's sake, don't do this. This is the buckle of the Bible Belt."Phil Bryant went all-out to ensure no pro-life plank would ever be in the RCREC
party platform.
Goodman states that Bryant adopted the pro-life postion in an election year ploy the following year in 1991 when he defeated incumbent State Rep. Frances Savage.
Bryant was told if he wanted to get elected, he would have to run as a pro-lifer. Otherwise, Savage was going to defeat him. The Christian Right didn't care much for her, but they weren't going to vote for Bryant if he was pro-abortion (The thinking was: Why have a Republican pro-aborter in the State House?). So he became a gung-ho pro-lifer.
Also I noticed that in his Meridian Star interview he was asked the question:
The Star: Charlie Ross, in an interview with The Star, talked a lot about abortion and the rights of Mississippians to have guns. What are some of your platform issues and do you see those as important to the state?
He avoided the question saying that people aren't worried about guns and failed to even mention abortion in his response.
State Auditor Phil Bryant appears to be gliding along, hoping no one will notice anything but his name.