By Barbra Murray
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 7

Delegates: 33

Chairman: Sen. Thad Cochran

Hotel: Renaissance Philadelphia Airport (610) 521-5900

1996 Election:
Dole – 49%
Clinton – 44%
Perot – 6%

In 1948, the last time their party held its national convention in Philadelphia, Mississippi Republicans may have had to scrounge to fill out a delegation. Mississippi, as it had been since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, was a pillar of the Democratic South, and Republicans were few and far between.

The world of Southern politics has undergone a sea change since then, with huge numbers of white voters rejecting a Democratic Party they deemed as too liberal and joining the conservative but long-disdained GOP.

Symbolizing the rise of state Republicanism are two-term Sen. Trent Lott - the Senate majority leader - and four-term Sen. Thad Cochran. The elections of Lott and Cochran to the House in 1972 were beachhead victories for their surging state party.

Cochran moved to the Senate by winning a 1978 contest and has become a fixture on the Appropriations Committee, now chairing its Agriculture subcommittee. Lott, though he came to the Senate 10 years later, moved quickly up the leadership ladder.

Both will have significant roles in Philadelphia, Lott as the convention's temporary chairman and Cochran as chairman of the Mississippi delegation. Lott is up for election this year and is overwhelmingly favored to win a third term.

Two-term Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. is the delegation's other congressional figure.

The Mississippi delegation is brimming with other longtime party activists, including Clarke Reed, often described as the "godfather" of the state Republican Party. An attorney and founder of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, the septuagenarian Reed was Republican when Republican was distinctly uncool in Mississippi. He has been a force since the early 1960s, serving as the state party chairman from 1966 to 1976.

Haley Barbour, a lobbyist who was Republican National Committee chairman during the 1996 presidential campaign, is a Mississippi delegate.

Yet there are a number of delegates who are not Republican Party natives - including Lott, who started in politics as an aide to traditionally conservative Democratic Rep. William M. Colmer.

Another such delegate is Jefferson County Supervisor Charles Evers. The brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers was a longtime Democrat, but he condemned his party for what he called extreme liberalism and switched to the Republicans.

As a black Republican in Mississippi, Evers is a bit of a rarity but said he is working to change that. He said, "I have recruited over 100 blacks for the party. There are many more in the Republican Party than you think, but they're 'in the closet' because they don't want to be looked upon as different."

To his black critics who accuse him of betraying his roots, he said, "I am just looking to support people who can get things for Jefferson County. Period. I'm not against my people, I'm just for advancement."

MISSISSIPPI NOTABLES: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, the convention's temporary chairman; Sen. Thad Cochran, the delegation chairman; former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour; Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr.; former Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Clarke Reed; Jefferson County Supervisor Charles Evers, brother of the late civil rights leader Medgar Evers.