Memo to Mississippi’s gubernatorial candidates: Blaming each other for the state’s manufacturing job losses is not going to do anything to aid our economy.

We’re not sure with which candidate it began, but Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Republican challenger Haley Barbour have spent a lot of campaign money trying to convince Mississippi residents that the other man is responsible for the state’s bleeding jobs.

Musgrove blames Barbour’s supposed lobbying for NAFTA, while Barbour points out thousands of jobs were lost on Musgrove’s watch.

Never mind the fact that NAFTA had bipartisan support or that Mississippi is certainly not the only state feeling the effects of the sagging economy.

We’re reasonably sure that our state’s economic ills can’t be hung on the shoulders of one particular person or initiative, so let’s move on, shall we?

What we would really like to know now is how these men would help our economy now.

No region of the state knows more than ours how tough it has been to lose so many manufacturing jobs, and the sniping campaign ads aren’t doing anything to ease the pain.

So about we hear of some new plans for the economy? Gentlemen, we want to hear some concrete plans for how you would grow the state’s economy.

In particular, we want to know how you will help Southwest Mississippi lower its unemployment rate &045;&045; which seems to be growing faster than any other region’s &045;&045; and how you would reinforce the efforts of our local leaders.

We’re tired of negative campaigning &045;&045; we want to hear about real issues and real solutions.