Former Congressman Ronnie Shows has dropped his bid for Senate, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports. Shows cited his inability to raise the millions he thinks is necessary to steal the seat from interim Senator Roger Wicker, who replaced Trent Lott as the state's junior senator last month.

Shows, who represented the state in Congress until 2002, lost his seat to Republican Rep. Chip Pickering when the state lost a seat after redistricting and the two members were drawn into the same district. In his statement announcing his withdrawal, Shows heaped praise on former Governor Ronnie Musgrove, the remaining Democrat in the race.

Musgrove lost his bid for re-election as well, in 2003, when former RNC chairman Haley Barbour returned home and won the governor's mansion for Republicans. Musgrove has another uphill battle ahead of him in a state in which President Bush won almost 60% of the vote in 2004. No Democrat has been elected to the Senate from Mississippi since 1982, when John C. Stennis won his last term.

FEC reports show Musgrove is also in a financial tight spot. Wicker, a member of the House before being elevated to the upper chamber, ended 2007 with more than $550,000 in the bank. Musgrove has some time to build his own warchest, though. While Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood had wanted the special election to take place in March, Barbour interpreted state law differently and won the subsequent court battle, meaning the special election will take place on November 4.

The state's senior senator, Thad Cochran, is running for re-election as well, making Mississippi one of two states in which voters will cast ballots for both Senate seats in November.