Dave Holloway calls Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to join Aruba Boycott

Dave Holloway has contacted the office of Mississsppi Governor Haley Barbour to join the boycott against Aruba. Dave Holloway will ask the governor of the state that he presently resides in to join Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the travel boycott of the Dutch Caribbean island.

The father of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway would like Mississippi to join a travel boycott of Aruba to protest the way officials there have handled the disappearance of his daughter.

Dave Holloway, a Meridian insurance agent, said he has called the governor’s office to urge Gov. Haley Barbour to join Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the travel boycott of the Dutch Caribbean island.

“I called the governor while he was out of town because I would like to just get his position on it,” Holloway told The Meridian Star. “But I haven’t heard back from him.”

According to Dave Holloway, he has not received a returned call yet from the Governors office. However, according to spokespersons for Haley Barber they have been extremely busy with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Pete Smith, a spokesman for Barbour, said Tuesday the governor has not had time to consider the boycott.

“He’s just gotten back from Iraq and he is focusing on federal aid for Hurricane Katrina victims and he has not had a chance to think about it. But he will take a look at it,” Smith said.

It was not to long ago that Dave Holloway was once against a boycott of Aruba; however, much has changed and much of the patience that was shown by Dave Holloway was squandered by the actions or lack of action and direction of the Aruban investigators into the disappearance of his daughter Natalee Holloway. Once against the boycott and what should have been Aruba’s greatest ally, Dave Holloway now is contacting state governors like Haley Barbour asking to join the travel boycott against Aruba.

Haley Barbour represents an interesting twist in a potential backing of a boycott in Aruba. Although in the past Gov. Barbour has stated that he will not run for the Republican nomination for President in 2008, many believe he would be a perfect candidate for Republicans with great appeal and qualities. Barbour’s decision to back a travel boycott to Aruba should worry many. Haley Barbour is no ordinary southern governor, far from it.

A small but influential group of GOP insiders are urging the former national party chairman to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2008.

“I would handicap the Haley thing seriously,” a GOP lobbyist in Washington, Mark Isakowitz, said. “Republicans around the country like him. They just like him. He’s been the face of our party for a long time. He’s built up a lot of goodwill. Now that’s he’s governor, it’s plausible,” Mr. Isakowitz said. “The keys to the kingdom always lie in being trusted by the base.”