The mudslinging isn’t over in Mississippi. Longtime incumbent Thad Cochran beat Tea Party favorite Chris McDaniel in the runoff primary vote 50.8% to 49.2%. The whole election between the Republicans was dirtier than a cup of Mississippi River water. Despite the millions of dollars national Tea Party groups poured into the state, Cochran won because he appealed to Democrat voters – who could vote in the runoff thanks to a lax voting law in the state – by bragging about his record of bringing pork spending into the state. McDaniel said he would contest the election results, saying, “[T]here is something a bit strange, there is something a bit unusual, about a Republican primary that’s decided by liberal Democrats.” And as National Review’s John Fund summed it up, “[T]he message was the antithesis of conservatism – that only an aging 76-year-old incumbent can bring home pork-barrel projects that largely benefit a business elite while the state’s voters are saddled with more federal debt.” More…