MISSISSIPPI: Tea Party Leader Suspected In Photo Scandal Commits Suicide

Via Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger:

Sources have confirmed that attorney Mark Mayfield has died of an apparent suicide. Mayfield, vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, and is one of the three men charged with conspiring with Clayton Kelly to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran. Mark Mayfield of Ridgeland, an attorney and state and local tea party leader, was arrested last month along with Richard Sager, a Laurel elementary school P.E. teacher and high school soccer coach. The arrest of Mayfield, well-known in political, business and legal circles, caused shock in Mississippi, in a criminal case and election that already had Mississippi in the national spotlight.

GOP Gov. Phil Bryant has expressed sadness at the loss of his "longtime friend."

MISSISSIPPI: Tea Party Challenger Loses GOP Runoff To Sen. Thad Cochran

Just like the primary, the runoff was very close. Cochran wasn't declared the winner until nearly all the precincts were in. Breitbart claims that McDaniel is already mulling a legal challenge to the tally:

A source close to McDaniel told Breitbart News that is considering legal challenges over ballots. Democrats who voted for Cochran on Tuesday but voted three weeks ago in the Democratic primary in the state were not allowed to vote in Tuesday’s election. Election results indicate Cochran's late appeal to Democratic voters paid off, with the incumbent senator picking up sizable vote totals in precincts with heavily black populations. Partisanship in Mississippi is largely polarized on racial lines, and Cochran allies paid key Democratic operatives to help turn out the vote.

Attention in the wake of the race is likely to focus on Cochran's efforts to drive Democratic turnout. A top election law expert, J. Christian Adams, as well as top Democratic party officials, said that Mississippi law prohibits individuals from voting in the Republican primary unless they intend on voting for the winner of the primary in the general election. However, some Cochran supporters openly said they planned to vote for the Democratic nominee in the fall. Additionally, allegations flew that Cochran allies were using “walking around money” to incentivize Democrats to the polls. Democratic Party chairman Rickey Cole, for instance, said Cochran operatives were paying people in the black community to donate to Cochran.

Trump Endorses Mississippi Teabagger

Cochran Didn't Know Cantor Lost

Adding fuel to the "indecent things to animals" flap, some today are truly wondering about Sen. Thad Cochran's state of mind.

Three days after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor became national political news fodder by losing a primary election to tea party challenger Dave Brat, embattled GOP Sen. Thad Cochran has seemingly no idea what happened. To repeat: A sitting U.S. Senator has no idea that the second-most important member of his own party in the U.S. House of Representatives was just unseated in a major primary defeat. During an interview with Fox News on Friday, Cochran was asked whether he believes Cantor’s defeat means anything for his own Mississippi GOP primary runoff election against Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel. The exchange that followed is… surprising.

Quote Of The Day - Sen. Thad Cochran

“[We’d] get back [to the Hattiesburg area of Mississippi] as often as we could because it was fun—it was an adventure to be out there in the country and see what goes on. Picking up pecans, from that to all kind of indecent things with animals.  I know some of you know what that is. The whole point of the story is not just coming here to visit cousins and get to know aunts and uncles better, you absorb the culture and you know what’s important to people here. I feel very comfortable here and have an identity with this area of the state that’s different than any other." - Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), in a speech that is being jumped on by Tea Party supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who will face Cochran in a runoff.

Breitbart wades in:

Cochran’s campaign spokesman Jordan Russell didn’t return a request for comment about specific details on what types of “indecent things” Cochran did “with animals” as a child, but Russell did brush it off to the Daily Caller. “I’ll check with my political correctness department and get back to you,” he told that publication. This could hurt other Republicans, Tea Party News Network’s Scottie Hughes said in an email to Breitbart News. “It’s funny, politicians like Cochran would have been the first to scream foul at this type of comment,” Hughes said. “They would have said he was insensitive, an embarrassment and cruel to animals. Yet do we see those like the senators who raised funds for Cochran at the NRSC this week coming out and denouncing his comments and withdrawing their support? Of course not. Maybe birds of a feather do flock together.”

MISSISSIPPI: Palin Stumps For Senate Tea Party Challenger Chris McDaniel

Sarah Palin was in Mississippi over the weekend in advance of today's GOP Senate primary in which Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel hopes to topple 36-year veteran Sen. Thad Cochran. The campaign exploded into scandal two weeks ago when a McDaniel supporter snuck into an adult care facility to photograph Cochran's wife, who is being treated for Alzheimer's. Also in Mississippi to support McDaniel was Frothy Mix.

MISSISSIPPI: Tea Party Leader Arrested In Nursing Home Photo Scandal

A Mississippi Tea Party leader and two other men have been arrested for conspiring to take a photo of GOP Sen. Thad Conchran's wife, who is under care for Alzheimer's in an adult treatment facility. Last week a blogger was arrested for taking the photo.

Authorities say the vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and two other men conspired with Clayton Kelly to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran. Mark Mayfield of Ridgeland, an attorney and state and local tea party leader, was arrested Thursday along with Richard Sager, a Laurel elementary school P.E. teacher and high school soccer coach. Police said they also charged John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg, but he was not taken into custody because of "extensive medical conditions." All face felony conspiracy charges. Sager also was charged with felony tampering with evidence, and Mary faces two conspiracy counts. The arrest of Mayfield, well-known in political, business and legal circles, caused shock in Mississippi, in a criminal case and election that already had Mississippi in the national spotlight.

RELATED: You'd think the teabaggers would back off of Cochran in light of this scandal, but yesterday the Koch brothers' FreedomWorks posted an ad which "exposes" Cochran because he once said something nice about President Obama.

MISSISSIPPI: Tea Party Blogger Arrested For Taking Photo Of GOP Sen. Chad Cochran's Alzheimer's-Stricken Wife

A right wing blogger that supports the Tea Party opponent of US Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) has been arrested for sneaking into an adult care facility and taking a photo of Cochran's wife, who is being treated for Alzheimer's.

Clayton Thomas Kelly runs a political blog called Constitutional Clayton, where he posted a story April 26 attacking Cochran and supporting state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who's challenging Cochran in the state's GOP Senate primary this year. The piece included a picture taken bedside in Rose Cochran's room at the nursing home, where she has lived since 2000. In a press release, the Madison Police Department said that Kelly "had illegally and improperly obtained an image of a vulnerable adult resident without their consent for his own benefit." He was charged with exploitation of a vulnerable adult, and his bond was set at $100,000. In a statement, the Cochrans' attorney, Donald Clark, said his clients' "privacy and dignity have been violated," according to the Clarion-Ledger.

McDaniel has denounced Kelly and claims that he has no official role with the campaign.

"I've reached out to Senator Cochran directly to express my abhorrence for the reprehensible actions of this individual. This criminal act is deeply offensive and my team and I categorically reject such appalling behavior. My thoughts and prayers are with Senator Cochran and his family," McDaniel said in a statement. "Politics is about the exchange of ideas and this type of action has no place in politics whatsoever and will not be tolerated."

Sen. Cochran's team isn't buying it.

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's campaign is questioning how Chris McDaniel's campaign manager, state Sen. Melanie Sojourner, apparently knew about Clayton Kelly's arrest before news of him allegedly sneaking into Rose Cochran's nursing home room and taking photos broke. Cochran campaign spokesman Jordan Russell said Sojourner left a voice mail message for Cochran campaign manager Kirk Sims at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday, offering condolences over Kelly's alleged actions and assurance McDaniel's campaign doesn't condone it. Russell said Sojourner indicated she had been concerned over the incident since Friday night.

Kelly's blog is here. At the moment the top post is in support of Mississippi's version of a "Turn Away The Gays" bill.