From The Hotline Latest Edition for Monday, May 5,2008

GEORGIA

I'll Take A Half-Dozen Peaches

Mon. May 5, 2008


The following is the list of major party candidates who have filed for the seat, according to the GA Sec/State. Filing for the 7/15 primary closed 5/2.

• Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R)
• Ex-TV investigative reporter Dale Cardwell (D)
• DeKalb Co. CEO Vernon Jones (D)
• Businessman/ecologist Rand Knight (D)
• Businessman/ex-Sen. Talmadge staffer/Vietnam vet Josh Lanier (D)
• '06 LG nominee/att/ex-state Rep. Jim Martin (D)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution's "Political Insider" notes Lanier became the final Dem to qualify 5/2. "The question is what he brings to the table that the others don't." Martin "has the party's leftward wing, and its regulars, too." Jones "offers a certain personal charisma, and the potential for channeling the African-American vote." Cardwell's "specialty is a kind of evangelical honesty." Knight's "emphasis is youth and passion."

Lanier "is a leisurely mannered fellow" who "wears a lapel pin indicating his Vietnam service. And despite his low-key manner, his contribution to this race will be a certain amount of anger" about what GOPers -- and "the war in Iraq -- have allegedly done to the U.S. military." His camp has laready "offered up a YouTube parody of the TV ad" that Chambliss used to beat then-Sen. Max Cleland (D) in '02. "Chances are it won't make it to TV anytime soon. Lanier isn't accepting any contributions over $100. Nonetheless, Lanier isn't shy about tearing into Chambliss for his vote against a measure" pitched by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), "to require that overseas troops be guaranteed a day at home for every day abroad" (5/2)

But Can Anyone Stop Jones?

"Political Insider" continues: "Many party leaders -- though they're loathe to say so publicly -- fear that as a nominee," Jones' background "would leave him, and Democrats on the ballot beneath him, vulnerable to a GOP onslaught." That's why Martin "was the first to qualify last week. His campaign treasury is sure to be larger than those of his four rivals. Union leaders will put their organizations behind him. Problem solved, right? Not hardly."

Jones enters the race "with baggage that would crush a normal career. No other candidate in the race has been singled out with a web page dedicated to the public documents generated by his encounters with law enforcement authorities. But we are not in normal times. Jones remains the man to beat. Under no circumstances should you count him out -- for two reasons. One is Barack Obama, and the other is Hillary Clinton. To best Jones, a candidate must be able to attract a healthy percentage of African-American voters... Yet the never-ending fight at the presidential level has forced a crippling black-white divide" among GA Dems. "In private counsels, both black and white Democratic leaders say they've never seen their party so polarized along racial lines.

"Martin has yet to receive an endorsement from a major African-American political figure -- a necessary first step in reaching out to black voters." And the Dem primary challenge to Rep. John Lewis (D-05) "could drive the African-American vote in Atlanta," presumably in Jones' favor. "In Clayton County, which shares a border with DeKalb, the racially charged fight over a tanking school system has made the formation of any black-white alliance that much harder. Ditto for the primary fight in Savannah, where state Sen. Regina Thomas (D), who is African-American, has decided to challenge" Rep. John Barrow (D-12).

"Without help from African-American leaders at the top of the party food chain, Martin has two alternatives." He "can attempt to change the primary landscape by persuading more white voters -- bored by the lack of contests" on the GOP side -- to choose a Dem ballot. Or Martin can, as the only Dem "capable of launching an effective blanket of TV or radio ads, try to make his case against Jones to black voters. Neither task is easy" (5/4).