I know there are a lot of African Americans there, but didn’t they vote heavily for Obama last time?
Parts of South Carolina did this too. The section of Ohio that shifted left is no doubt because of the auto bailout.
Per the latest census, the minority population is ticking up a bit, so that might partially explain it. Also, last year’s unexpected defeat of the personhood amendment involved some pretty stunning grass-roots organizing and messaging, and I’d guess some of those networks may be still in place.
It’s also likely that a wealthy Mormon candidate got less traditional Southern Republican support than the main-stream Christian, war hero and less obviously wealthy John McCain.
Not just Mississippi, but the Deep South and Appalachia in general.