This is a set of web collections curated by Mark Graham using the Archive-IT service of the Internet Archive. They include web captures of the ISKME.org website as well as captures from sites hosted by IGC.org.These web captures are available to the general public.For more information about this collection please feel free to contact Mark via Send Mail ||||| Democrats acknowledge GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is likely to win, but argue her flubs have given Mike Espy a narrow opening if everything breaks his way. | AP Photo/Evan Vucci Elections 'We don't want an Alabama': Hyde-Smith has Republicans holding their breath Democrat Mike Espy claims momentum in the final days of the Mississippi special Senate election, but Donald Trump heads to the state Monday to blunt it. 
 
 Republicans think Cindy Hyde-Smith will ultimately pull out a win in Mississippi's special Senate election on Tuesday. But they say the race has tightened — and after what happened in Alabama last year, they're on edge. 
 
 A swirl of controversy surrounding the Republican senator — stirred up by her comment about attending a "public hanging" — has given Democrat Mike Espy momentum in the homestretch, officials from both parties say. Hyde-Smith has never trailed in polling, and Democrats acknowledge she's likely to win, but they argue that her flubs have given Espy a very narrow opening if everything breaks his way. 
 
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 Henry Barbour, the Republican National Committee committeeman and a longtime Mississippi operative, said base voters in both parties are energized, but gave a slight edge to Espy’s supporters. He said he expects Hyde-Smith to win, though he added that Republicans should be concerned about the potential for a weak turnout. 
 
 “I think Espy supporters are probably a little more energized than Hyde-Smith,” Barbour said. “But I do think conservative voters realize this race is going to decide if we have a conservative or liberal representing us in Washington and that is very motivating to conservative voters. 
 
 “We don't want to have an Alabama,” he added, referring to Republican Roy Moore's 2017 loss to Democrat Doug Jones in a special Senate election in the deep-red state. 
 
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 Republicans are sending the full force of the party to Mississippi to prevent that scenario — starting with Donald Trump. The president is holding two rallies for Hyde-Smith Monday, events that officials hope will spike interest and turnout among conservatives during an oddly timed holiday season election. 
 
 “I will be in Gulfport and Tupelo, Mississippi, on Monday night doing two Rallies for Senator Hyde-Smith, who has a very important Election on Tuesday. She is an outstanding person who is strong on the Border, Crime, Military, our great Vets, Healthcare & the 2nd A. Needed in D.C.,” Trump wrote Sunday in one of a pair of tweets for the senator. 
 
 The RNC has more than 100 paid staff members on the ground as of this weekend, and has made more than 500,000 voter contacts since Nov. 6, a spokesman said. The RNC transferred $1 million to the National Republican Senatorial Committee earlier this month to help fund TV ads in Mississippi. 
 
 National Republican and White House officials, who’ve been reviewing polling over the past week, remain confident Hyde-Smith will prevail. They say surveys have consistently shown her with a lead ranging from the mid-single digits to the low double digits. A public poll conducted this past week by RRH Elections had Hyde-Smith up by 10 points. 
 
 Still, White House officials have long expressed unease about Hyde Smith and worry that she isn‘t ready for prime time. Earlier this year, two Trump aides implored Gov. Phil Bryant to appoint someone else to the seat following the retirement of longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran. But they’re convinced that Hyde-Smith will pull out a win, even if it’s narrower than it should be. 
 
 One Republican working on the runoff who requested anonymity to discuss private polling said the race has tightened recently, but expressed confidence Hyde-Smith would be elected. “A win’s a win,” the Republican said. 
 
 Dan Eberhart, a Republican megadonor who has contributed heavily to GOP Senate campaigns this year, said Trump’s rallies should eliminate any lingering concerns about the race. 
 
 “Trump will carry her over the finish line,” Eberhart said. 
 
 Democrats acknowledge Hyde-Smith will receive a significant boost from the president's rallies on Monday. But they say the appearances will provide a spark to their voters, too. 
 
 “When he shows up, of course he's going to fire up the Republican base,” said Bobby Moak, the state Democratic Party chairman. “But he also does the same thing with the Democratic base.” 
 
 Joe Trippi, a consultant working with Espy’s campaign, said the Democrat is probably losing by low single digits in the closing days of the race. Hyde-Smith outpaced Espy by about 8,400 votes, or just a single percentage point, on Nov. 6, while Republican Chris McDaniel took 17 percent. They are in a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 50 percent. 
 
 Democrats expect high turnout from their base, boosted in part by backlash to Hyde-Smith’s comments about being first in line to a public hanging if one of her supporters invited her, and a second remark about limiting liberals' ability to vote. A Jackson, Miss., newspaper also reported Friday that she attended a segregation academy for high school. 
 
 Espy called the senator's comments during the campaign a “black eye” for the state, and a recent TV ad by his campaign said she's reinforced stereotypes the state has worked to overcome. Multiple national companies, including Walmart and Major League Baseball, have requested their donations to Hyde-Smith be refunded because of the comments. 
 
 Trippi advised Jones during his improbable win in Alabama last year, and emphasized that Jones won by only 23,000 votes despite facing a historically bad opponent in Moore who motivated Democratic voters and depressed GOP turnout. 
 
 “We do think we have a real shot,” Trippi said, comparing Tuesday’s election with the Alabama race Jones won. “But if we win, it's going to be the same thing" — by a very small margin. 
 
 Republicans, meanwhile, have gone on the attack against Espy, airing TV ads highlighting the $750,000 lobbying contract he received from an Ivory Coast dictator earlier this decade. They’re also airing ads linking him to Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, hoping to prevent any crossover Republican support. 
 
 Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report. ||||| Around the time that inflammatory comments by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi invoking public hangings surfaced on video, Major League Baseball donated $5,000 to her campaign. 
 
 After word of the donation — the maximum legal amount — broke over the weekend, M.L.B. asked for the money back. 
 
 The contribution, first reported Saturday by Popular Information, is embarrassing to M.L.B., which has several initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion in its sport. Many of Hyde-Smith’s comments, some of which she has apologized for or attempted to explain, appear to contradict baseball’s mission. 
 
 “The contribution was made in connection with an event that M.L.B. lobbyists were asked to attend,” an M.L.B. spokesman said in a statement. “M.L.B. has requested that the donation be returned.”
– Major League Baseball no longer wants to play ball with the Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith campaign. The league, which made a $5,000 donation to the Republican's US Senate campaign in Mississippi, asked for it back after it was publicized by the Popular Information blog, reports the New York Times. "The contribution was made in connection with an event that MLB lobbyists were asked to attend," a league spokesman said in a statement, adding that MLB has asked for the donation—which was of the maximum legal amount—to be returned. Hyde-Smith's campaign reported the MLB donation on Nov. 23, well after her controversial joke about a public hanging made the news, though the league says it was made earlier. Walmart, Union Pacific, and other corporate donors have also asked the campaign to return their donations. Polls show that Democratic rival Mike Espy has narrowed Hyde-Smith's lead and is gaining momentum, though the Republican is still expected to win Tuesday's runoff election. President Trump is planning to appear at two Hyde-Smith rallies Monday night. "I think Espy supporters are probably a little more energized than Hyde-Smith," former RNC committeeman Henry Barbour tells Politico. "But I do think conservative voters realize this race is going to decide if we have a conservative or liberal representing us in Washington and that is very motivating to conservative voters." (Hyde-Smith went to a "segregation academy" in the 1970s.)