"gaps Between Appointments"

Governor Barbour is disputing a report from a liberal magazine that claims he used state aircraft in June to travel to Washington, DC, to meet with partners at his old lobbying firm.

Barbour, who says he has severed ties with Barbour Griffith & Rodgers, LLC, has been criticized by his Democratic challenger John Arthur Eaves for setting up a blind trust that his old firm pays into annually. The governor says the New Republic article is a "fraud."

"I'd never take the state plane to Washington or anywhere else unless it's on official government business," he says. "But there's no question, a lot of days when you're in Washington all day and you have gaps between appointments -- if you see the secretary of HHS at 8:00 in the morning and you don't see the secretary of commerce until 11:00 in the morning -- you know, you have gaps in your schedule."

Barbour says the New Republic is a "left-wing rag" that has been attacking him for years because he is a conservative who is pro-life and opposes homosexual "marriage."