It was at the DAILY LEADER’s reception for political candidatesthat the idea was born to host the newspaper’s first summertimepolitical rally Monday at 5:30 p.m.

“At the reception, one of our advertising reps, Debbie Keene,said it would be nice if we could do a ‘meet the candidates’ typeevent and have an open forum for them to speak, free to them andfree to the public,” said Advertising Director David Culpepper, whoorganized the rally. “We thought it was a great idea.”

Culpepper said the rally is for candidates to touch base withtheir voters, but it is also for the voters to make the personalconnection with their future county leaders.

“The reason it’s important is that you’ll be voting, and youneed to know who you’re voting for and why, and at the rally youcan put a face with the names,” Culpepper said.

Forty-seven county candidates will attend the event and willspeak in the random order they signed the list at the DAILY LEADERoffice.

“There are so many people running for different offices, and youfind that voters know names but not faces or what they stand for,”said Culpepper. “We’ve asked them to talk about their platforms andtheir visions, not the faults of the other candidates. We’ve allgot faults.”

Culpepper said the upcoming primaries hold some very importantcontests, and that they not only have a local impact, but an impacton the area and the state.

“There are some extremely important races, because you’ve gotsome circuit judge posts coming up, and the sheriff’s race is wideopen,” he said. “The District 92 House race is very, very importantbecause of the impact it will have on taxes, economic development,and things like the School of Arts. These are races that are allextremely important to the continued vision of Lincoln County andBrookhaven.”

He said long term the elections also had repercussions on thegrowth and expansion in the county.

“With proper leadership, industry will come, but without properleadership, it won’t,” he said.

Culpepper said the DAILY LEADER is grateful for theencouragement and donation of time, effort and supplies from manypeople, but especially Brookhaven Sound and Equipment for the soundsystem and Copiah-Lincoln Community College for the trailer thatwill be used that day.

The rally will take place in the parking lot behind the TrainDepot between Railroad Avenue and Monticello Street.