The American Spectator

p> BARBOUR IN THE CHAIR br> Former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour officially announced his run for governor, in what is already shaping up to be the most expensive political campaign in Mississippi history. Barbour, who will most likely face some challengers for the GOP nomination, is the frontrunner expected to face off against sitting Gov. Ronnie Musgrove next fall. /p>

Barbour has been systematically traveling the state building support for a run. He wisely stepped out of the limelight late last year when Sen. Trent Lott created a furor over comments he made about Sen. Strom Thurmond, and didn’t get roped into the internal Mississippi debate that ensued on Lott.

“Barbour’s clean on that front,” says a political consultant who has done work in Mississippi. “He’s a much better politician than he was twenty years ago when he last ran for political office, and he’s got a real shot at winning this thing.” Barbour ran for the Senate in 1982 and lost.

Musgrove, while popular, has overseen record budget deficits despite all the federal dollars that Republican Senators Lott and Thad Cochran keep pouring into the state for business development. Barbour is said to have already been amassing a war chest to finance a run, and unlike other candidates who must travel around the country to fundraise for campaigns, Barbour can draw on extensive contacts he has cultivated with bigwig Republican donors ever since his time as RNC chair.

“He’s certainly a national candidate, who will make this race a national race in the media and elsewhere,” says the consultant. “Barbour should make this race fun.”

p> LAST SHALL BE FIRST br> Sen.