CLARKSDALE - Trent Lott's fall from political grace a year ago dashed the hopes of Mississippians who saw the then-Senate majority leader as presidential material.
A Mississippian has never occupied the White House, and in Lott - a polished, handsome politician with national name recognition - many in the state saw a native son who would finally break the presidential drought.
In the fall of 2002, when Lott suffered a rare lapse of judgement and decided to wax nostalgic about the 1940s segregationist candidacy of Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, a second prominent Mississippian had long been harboring - and pursuing - his own presidential ambitions, Republican insiders suggest.
Haley Barbour will be sworn in Tuesday as Mississippi's 63rd governor, but it's the possibility of a much grander inauguration that motivated the Yazoo City resident's re-entry into electoral politics after two decades as a successful lobbyist and Republican power broker.
Haley for President.
In 2008.
No joke.
Three prominent Mississippi Republicans, none of whom claimed first-hand knowledge of Barbour's presidential plans, told this columnist that all signs point to a Barbour run to succeed a term-limited President Bush, who is heavily favored to win re-election this year.
Contacted Friday, Barbour spokesman Quinton Dickerson discounted the presidential talk, saying the governor-elect is focused on serving Mississippians for the next four years.
Barbour's own actions, however, are consistent with a presidential aspirant.
There was the nagging question two years ago, when Barbour's name first surfaced as a possible gubernatorial contender, of why he would leave the prestige and wealth of a multimillion-dollar Washington lobbying firm that he built from scratch, divest himself of its substantial profits, and take a job in Mississippi that pays less than $200,000 a year.
I'm not doubting Barbour's sincerity about serving the people of his home state. One of the many failed components of Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's re-election campaign was trying to cast Barbour as a Washington outsider who came home to Yazoo City only to run for governor.
Fact is, Barbour never left.
As publisher of the weekly newspaper in Yazoo City during the late 1990s, I'd often go to the office on Saturday mornings to catch up on paperwork. A familiar site was Barbour strolling up the sidewalk, dropping his quarters in the coin-operated rack and pulling out his weekend copy of The Yazoo Herald.
When the work week ended on Friday, Barbour was on a plane to Mississippi to be with his wife and kids, who've never lived in Washington.
Barbour's affection for his home state is genuine, and voters rightly rejected Musgrove's suggestion that Barbour decided to re-embrace his Yazoo City roots for political expediency.
That said, there are many wealthy native sons - from John Grisham to Jim Barksdale to Bob Pittman - who are passionate about their home state and its success but who aren't giving up millions to run for governor.
If Barbour indeed has presidential ambitions, he needed an elected platform from which to make the jump. The jump from lobbyist and national party chairman to presidential candidate is improbable, if not impossible. Southern governors, on the other hand, have beaten a relatively smooth path to the White House over the past quarter-century.
See Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
For Barbour, the timing is right.
A Bush re-election victory this year leaves the GOP nomination wide open in 2008 with no obvious front-runners. The president's brother, Jeb, wants the job, but the GOP is unlikely to nominate consecutive Bushes. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani - and, to a lesser extent, New York Gov. George Pataki - have star power in the wake of Sept. 11, but a pro-choice New Yorker is unlikely to fare well in GOP primaries, where conservatives dominate. Barbour's biggest competition could be former U.S. Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who has kept a high profile by pinch-hitting for conservative talk-show host Bill O'Reilly on the Fox News Network.
If the circumstances are right for a Barbour presidential bid, so are his credentials.
Barbour shattered all fund-raising records in claiming the Mississippi Governor's Mansion. Imagine how much he could raise on the national level. The contacts Barbour built as national Republican Party chairman and as a successful lobbyist extend around the world.
In addition to his fund-raising prowess, Barbour, in just a few hours on the telephone, could put together volunteer networks in all 50 states, much like he did on a county-by-county basis in Mississippi.
After years on the Sunday morning and weeknight talk-show circuits, he's got good name recognition from coast to coast.
He's as skilled a campaigner and strategist as any Republican out there. Barbour charted new territory during his recent gubernatorial campaign by utilizing the latest technology to help turn out a record number of voters. (When's the last time we ordinary Joes got a phone call from the president of the United States asking us to vote for a Mississippi gubernatorial candidate?)
Barbour is comfortable before any audience. His Southern charm and easy mannerisms play well on television.
His biggest challenge will be defending some of his lobbying associations, from Big Tobacco to the Mexican government. But Barbour got good practice on that front, fending off Musgrove's relentless attacks during the fall.
The best Barbour scenario is a good four years as governor, fueled by a rebounding economy, setting up a presidential announcement in 2007.
Look out, Hillary.
