Hood
Conway
The celebration didn't last long for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.
A day after easily winning re-election against Republican Al Hopkins, Hood was testifying on his own behalf Wednesday in a lawsuit filed against him by State Farm Insurance Cos.
The suit alleges he is using the reopening of a criminal investigation to coax State Farm into a civil settlement over its claims-handling practices after Hurricane Katrina. The hearing is to determine if an injunction against Hood's criminal
Hood had argued holding the hearing a day after election day would not provide him enough time. He won re-election by receiving 60 percent of the vote against Hopkins, who frequently brought up Hood's practice of giving outside counsel contracts to campaign contributors.
"I just hope that this is the turning point for the voters in Mississippi, that this decision in our race will be a signal that the people of Mississippi won't continue to tolerate these type negative campaigns," Hood said.
Meanwhile, Democrat Jack Conway won by a similar margin in the Kentucky Attorney General race, defeating Republican Stan Lee 61 percent to 39 percent.
Conway, 38, is a Louisville attorney called by Lee "an ultraliberal." Lee is widely known as a strict conservative.
Also, former Kentucky Attorney General Steve Beshear, a Democrat, defeated Gov. Ernie Fletcher, whose lone term was marred by a hiring scandal investigated by outgoing Attorney General Greg Stumbo.