State profile: Mississippi

Republicans now dominate Mississippi politics. Voters in the state have chosen Republicans in the last seven presidential elections, and the party has a majority in the state's Congressional delegation.

In November 2003 Washington lobbying legend Haley Barbour returned home to take the governor's mansion from the Democrats and he easily won re-election in November 2007, riding on a wave of approval for his response to Hurricane Katrina.

Although the Democrats still control the state legislature, it is hard to imagine anything other than a win here for John McCain in November.

KEY FACTS

Population: 2,910,540 (ranked 31 among states)

Governor: Haley Barbour (R)

Electoral college votes: 6

In the 19th Century, Mississippi became wealthy from slavery and cotton, but the economy was devastated during the Civil War and its aftermath.

By the 1940s, the state's economy was grounded in low-wage sharecropper agriculture underpinned by a system of violent racism, a state distinctly apart from the rest of the United States.

As the rest of the US edged towards racial equality in the 1960s, Mississippi clung to its prejudices and retained its segregationist laws.

IN CONGRESS

House of Representatives:
2 Democrat, 2 Republican

Senate: 2 Republican

Its white electorate rallied to resist landmark civil rights legislation and in 1968 segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace received 63% of the vote.

Modern Mississippi is freeing itself from its racially divided history, but it remains one of the poorest states in the United States. A fifth of the population is living in poverty while health, education and literacy levels are among the lowest in the country.

Efforts to improve the Mississippian economy were stymied in 2005, when the state was hit by Hurricane Katrina.

VOTE 2003

2004: Bush 60%, Kerry 40%

2000: Bush 58%, Gore 41%

1996: Clinton 44%, Dole 49%

The state had hoped to make money from the burgeoning gambling sector, centred around the floating casinos on the state's gulf coast, but most of the casinos were destroyed by the hurricane and many have yet to reopen.

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