Continued Democratic erosion in the Magnolia State

One more rung down the ladder of total domination:

JACKSON - Longtime Democratic Coast Sen. Tommy Gollott switched parties and vowed allegiance to Republican Gov. Haley Barbour on Thursday, temporarily throwing the balance of power in the Mississippi Senate to the GOP for the first time since Reconstruction.

Gollott, the longest-serving current state lawmaker, blamed his switch on a recent, heavy-handed move by the state Democratic Party. The party threatened to not certify Democratic candidates who support Republicans in other races.

"In my political career, I have supported the candidates I believed would do the best job of helping the people in my district on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, without regard to political party," Gollott said. "I have supported Gov. Haley Barbour because he has done an outstanding job helping us recover from the greatest natural disaster in American history. I do not intend to back away from supporting the people who have helped us the most."

Keelan Sanders, director of the state Democratic Party, in a brief statement said: "Sen. Gollott's decision is not much of a surprise. After all, Sen. Gollott has voted more often with Republicans and Gov. Haley Barbour instead of supporting fellow Democrats on issues that help all Mississippians."

But that attitude, says Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government, is the reason the Democratic Party has been losing ground in recent years in what was once a Yellow Dog Democrat state. More, here.