JACKSON - A gentlemanly affair it was not.
The 1995 Neshoba County Fair debate between Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice and his Democratic challenger, Dick Molpus, was a raucous one. Supporters of both candidates booed and heckled the other.
The historic Founders Square showdown was anything but cordial - at times it was more a verbal brawl than a debate.
"I thoroughly enjoyed myself," Molpus, a Neshoba County native, said last week. "It was a spirited day with intense emotions on both sides."
Fordice said he was eager to debate Molpus, then secretary of state, in Molpus' home territory.
"It was absolutely wild is what it was," the former governor said. "We jumped at the chance of a debate because they were few and far between, particularly with a gloves-off format."
The 113th edition of the fair this week brings the second ever debate to tin-roofed Founders Square Pavilion, the political heart of the fairgrounds nestled in the red clay hills of east central Mississippi.
U.S. Reps. Chip Pickering, a Republican, and Ronnie Shows, a Democrat, share the stage Thursday at 2:10 p.m.
While the debate takes center stage, the fair includes a carnival and harness racing and draws thousands annually.
The freewheeling format of the Fordice-Molpus debate has been changed from a single moderator to a panel of journalists and a moderator. Sid Salter, an editor and political columnist at The Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Jackson, returns as moderator.
"We had every intention in 1995 of having a spirited and informative debate," Salter said. "At times the crowd got into it and at times the candidates got into it."
Salter, who has a cabin near the pavilion, said he expects a more subdued show from Shows and Pickering.
"Both of these guys are substantially more low key than Fordice," he said.
Likely to be absent from the debate are exchanges such as when Fordice asked Molpus to agree to not run negative commercials. Molpus did not answer, saying his ads would "tell the truth" and Fordice "is going to think they're negative."
Fordice riled up the crowd in response to a question about Molpus' public apology on behalf of the state in 1989 to families of civil rights workers slain in Neshoba County 25 years earlier. The governor bellowed that Mississippi should never look back and never apologize.
On the stage, the two sparred over everything from the striking differences in their campaign platforms to the order of the debate itself.
"I still have people come up to me to this day and say they couldn't remember when they enjoyed a political event more. It fit the aura of the fair. I don't know if it would have worked in a more genteel setting," Molpus said.
Fordice said another debate would be good for voters, even if it is toned down from 1995.
"At least you finally get to see two people running for political office kind of duking it out. It is an opportunity for those two to face each other in an open debate and in this critical election it is good for the population as well. I'm glad it is happening again," Fordice said.
Salter said in the aftermath of the Fordice-Molpus debate, people "don't remember the substance of the discussion, they remember the style."
"That's a danger to stump speaking and one of the reasons modern political consultants sort of cringe at the whole idea of doing something like this," Salter said.
Salter said the Pickering-Shows debate, while likely to be less intense, will still uphold the 100-year tradition of stump speaking.
"You have a very quiet and reserved Republican nominee and a very gregarious Democratic nominee who is comfortable in that environment. Pickering has been renting a cabin out there with his family (for years) and has made more of an effort than any other congressman to make a week of it," he said.
Central Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District, created because the state lost population in the 1990s, has put Shows and Pickering into the same district.
The new district encompasses the prime drawing area for the fair.
"I look for a big crowd. I think it is set up to be a good event," Salter said.
Shows is no stranger to the fair. As a state senator, highway commissioner and congressman, he has visited the campground many times, campaign spokesman Troy Colbert said.
"Events like the Neshoba County Fair are really disappearing from the American political landscape, and this is where people get to see the candidates up close and personal," Colbert said.
Pickering campaign spokesman Henry Barbour said the GOP congressman recognizes the importance of the race.
"Chip is clearly in a tough race. This is serious business and the fair makes for serious politics," Barbour said. "He will be working the fairground very diligently."
Barbour and Colbert expect the candidates to use the fair to draw contrasts between themselves.
The candidates will speak separately Thursday morning.
"Chip will arguably make the most watched speech of the campaign to this point … clearly it will be the most closely watched debate of this campaign," Barbour said.
Colbert said Shows is setting out to meet as many people as he possibly can.
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