While charting a new leadership course is the right thing to doin the governor’s race, incumbent Amy Tuck should maintain heroccupancy of the lieutenant governor’s seat.

As leader of the state Senate, Tuck was influential in passageof a number of important initiatives. Her stance on some of thoseissues contributed to the former Democrat’s switch to theRepublican party.

Tuck has been a strong proponent of tort reform measures toimprove the state’s legal climate. Further progress on thoseefforts could stall or even go backward should Tuck’s trial lawyeropponent assume Senate leadership.

Of note to southwest Mississippi, Tuck held fast duringMississippi’s congressional redistricting battle when the statelost one of its seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Inopposition to a plan weighted toward Democrats, Tuck’s actionshelped ensure voters had a fair chance to choose between eitherRepublican Chip Pickering –the eventual winner — or RonnieShows.

For Brookhaven and Lincoln County in particular, Tuck’s advocacywas vital in the effort to open the Mississippi School of the Arts.Some say that without the lieutenant governor’s steering of fundingbills through the legislature, the school for gifted arts studentswould not have opened this year.

Tuck has also pushed for a variety of educational and economicdevelopment initiatives to help move the state forward. With Tuckin the lieutenant governor’s office, the state can remain on apositive course for the next four years.