When Mississippi voters go to the polls Tuesday, it would be difficult to blame them if they decided to skip over the lieutenant governor's race. Given the choice between Republican incumbent Amy Tuck, Democratic challenger Barbara Blackmon and a little-known third-party candidate, "none of the above" might be the most principled selection.

Three months ago, this newspaper endorsed Blackmon for the Democratic nomination with one major caveat. We were willing to give the senator from Canton until the general election to show that her career as a rich trial lawyer, her marriage to another rich trial lawyer and their past obstructionism in the Legislature to tort reform, would not be a major impediment to future efforts to restore balance to the state's civil justice system. She has failed to do so. In an appearance this week at a Mississippi Economic Council forum, a gathering of the state's business leaders who have clamored against the plaintiff-friendly legal climate, the issue never broached her lips.

Add to that her offensive challenge to Tuck to sign an affidavit that the incumbent had never had an abortion, and Blackmon has shown herself unworthy and unready to step into one of the most powerful positions in state government.

Tuck is no great shake either.

She is a political chameleon, altering her shade to whatever will keep her in power. She's changed from being a Democrat to a Republican. She's gone from hitting up the state's trial lawyers for campaign donations to hitting up the business and medical community. She's changed from being pro-choice to pro-life. She's gone from being a half-million dollars in hock to Richard Scruggs, the state's king of torts, to being a tort-reform champion. Along the way, she has circumvented Mississippi's campaign finance laws in an effort to hide her duplicity.

Yet, in her present incarnation, Tuck is more palatable than her opponent. She has done some good things in the Legislature. She was instrumental in getting lawmakers during last year's protracted special session to enact bills that, modest as they were, did address the medical malpractice crisis and some of the worst lawsuit abuses. She has pledged to do even more if re-elected.

Tuck was also a key player in finding a compromise, early in her term, that convinced lawmakers to pass a historic teacher pay raise when it appeared to be doomed.

Our advice to voters on Tuesday: Pinch the nostrils tightly, but pull the lever for Tuck.