It seems two potential congressional combatants have been comin’a courtin’ lately.

Lincoln County was included on incumbent Fourth District Rep.Ronnie Shows’ itinerary last week during his “For the People”community tour of the district.

And as state lawmakers consider dividing up the state into fourdistricts instead of the current five, Third District Rep. ChipPickering, of Meridian, has been trying to increase his visibilityin southwest Mississippi in preparation for a possible showdownwith Shows next year.

Pickering recently attended swearing-in ceremonies for Wessontown officials. He also visited Brookhaven on his way to theceremonies. The Republican is returning to Brookhaven Wednesday fora joint meeting of the Lions and Kiwanis clubs.

With Lincoln County’s GOP voting tendencies in federalelections, Pickering is going after what certainly would be astrong base of support as he seeks re-election in his newcongressional district. Pickering no doubt is looking to show thathe will be a strong voice for this community if redistrictingspeculation materializes and he retains his seat in Congress.

As a former transportation commissioner for this area, Showsalready has the name recognition to be successful in his bid tostay in Washington.

Since his election in 1998, though, we can recall only a handfulof public appearances in Lincoln County, as the congressman seemsto have preferred visiting Pike, Lawrence and other area counties.Last week’s visit was good and goes well with his efforts to helpBrookhaven and Lincoln County officials with their economicdevelopment projects.

If Shows and Pickering do have to face each other, LincolnCounty will play an important role in determining who stays and whogoes.

And, as the presidential election showed, every vote counts.Both congressmen know this.