DuPree, Luckett battle for Democratic nomination

In front of a packed house at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics, the top two candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor debated over issues of the state. 

Bill Luckett, an attorney and businessman from Clarksdale, and Johnny DuPree, mayor of Hattiesburg, answered questions from a panel of journalists. The two candidates tackled issues involving early childhood education, job creation, health care and the state budget. 

Luckett led with an opening statement after winning a coin toss held prior to the debate.

When asked about education, Luckett said that whatever Mississippi does in the long run, it has to start with education.

“A lot of parents don’t know what the value of an education really is,” he said. “We’ve got to break the cycle.”

DuPree believes early childhood education is the answer for improving many of the negative stereotypes about Mississippi. 

“Education is the way out,” he said. 

If elected governor, Luckett said he would bring his “can do approach” to help create more jobs across the state.

“The best job program, the best economic growth ... is a great education,” he said. “But it has got to start earlier than it’s starting now. It must start in Pre-k or early childhood levels.”

DuPree said the state of Mississippi needs all of the help it can get.

“We have got to find innovative ways to keep people out of jail and keep them in jobs,” he said. “And education is the answer.”

DuPree noted that there is a large discrepancy between the amount of money that is spent on an inmate and the amount spend on a student in public schools.

“We have an increasing amount of money that has gone to incarcerating people, and I think primarily because we have a middle man now, it’s costing us so much money,” DuPree said. “We have got to look at cutting the middle man out.”

Where health care is concerned, Luckett said he is in favor of providing the citizens of Mississippi with health care they can afford. 

“I’m all for making Mississippi a healthy state with good affordable health care,” Luckett said.  

DuPree said he supports President Obama’s reforms. 

“I support (President Obama’s) trying to help provide health care for those who can’t provide for it themselves,” he said. “We (Hattiesburg) just receieved an award last week from Blue Cross Blue Shield as the healthiest city above 10,000.”

Candidates also addressed the issue of the state’s budget.

In order to fix an already strained budget, Luckett said Mississippi should look to other states in modeling a budget. 

“Georgia has a good working model, we need to study other states’ successes and borrow from it,” he said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

The 2011 Mississippi Primary is Aug. 2. 

The other two Democratic candidates, Bill Compton Jr., a teacher from Meridan, and Guy Shaw, a retired tax assessor from Yalobusha County, did not participate in the debate.

For more information on DuPree and Luckett, visit their official websites, johnnydupree.com and luckettforgovernor.com.