Past and present Senate candidates from Mississippi: on Welfare & Poverty

Chris McDaniel: Liberty, not 100 years of begging for federal scraps

McDaniel responded: "I am going to ask them, after 100 years, after 100 years of relying on big government to save you, where are you today? After 100 years of begging for federal government scraps, where are you today?"

After the audience booed the comments, McDaniel quickly said: "I mean the state of Mississippi. I'm talking about the state of Mississippi. To your question, I am candidate that wants to expand your liberty and break out of old ways."

After the show, McDaniel said: " I easily clarified my position--that is, Mississippi being the dead last state of the Union in terms of wealth and economic prosperity, based on outdated economic models."

Jensen Bohren: Paycheck to paycheck is an abominable way to exist

Chris McDaniel: No welfare state: "I'm not going to do anything for you"

"I'm not going to do anything for you," McDaniel said. "I'm going to get the government off your back, then I'm gonna let you do it for yourself."

About an hour later and less than a mile away, speaking in the same fluid, confident patter, he hedged that statement. McDaniel said he was not prepared to take a position on either the federal farm bill or the Cochran-backed effort to fight rate hikes in flood insurance--two local issues for which assertive federal action is plainly popular. "You can't very well send 1,000 government promises to people and then pull the rug out from under them the next day," McDaniel said.