Tag: Kingston

Back in June, somebody noted that if Bill Gillespie got more votes in his primary than Jack Kingston did in his, the DCCC would come down and do a poll. Well, BIll got more votes than Jack in the primary. Nobody’s ever done that before. DCCC still hasn’t done anything, but with Bill’s tireless campaigning and massively increased voter registration in his district, and the stars are aligned for Bill Gillespie to win GA-01.

Jack Kingston (you remember him, Mr. flag pin, leader of the privatize Social Security movement, proponent of drilling off the Georgia coast, etc.) tried to ignore Bill for a long time, but recently debated him in Brunswick, Georgia.

This is a substantive debate on the issues, with the moderator (Brunswick News reporter Jess Davis) sitting between the two candidates and pitching real questions.

Jack seems peeved to have to be on the same forum as some upstart; sound like certain other debates? Bill was the keynote speaker at the Valdosta Obama office opening.

Bill Gillespie wants to get us out of Iraq by handing over to the Iraqis, preferably within 18 months. Jack Kingston wants any timetable to be decided by the general in Baghdad.

Jack Kingston promotes himself as a champion of renewable energy (although local students don’t agree) but then gets off on offshore drilling.

Bill Gillespie answers Jack’s drilling hatchet with a scalpel and then describes his vision for renewable energy jobs for south Georgia and ties it to extensive existing rail infrastructure.

Jack says he’s a champion of the middle class, and Bill calls him on it, pointing out that themiddleclass.org consistently gives Jack an F.

There’s more: economy, health care, regulation, etc. Watch it and see what you think. Want to knock out the Republican theme team leader? Here’s your chance, with a progressive Democrat, Bill Gillespie.

Writing on the blog for Democrats in the Savannah area, someone named karen wrote:

Bill Gillespie has been talking to the DCCC … he may have a real chance of unseating Jack Kingston [in GA-01] … The huge increase in voter registration in Georgia this year is key.

The important thing we need to do is to turn out the vote in the primary. If Bill gets more votes in the primary than Jack, the DCCC will come down and do a poll … put him on the list of candidates they support.

The Georgia primary will be June 16 (a Monday? but I’m looking at the SOS page).

Karen, Bill, all the Democrats in Georgia, I wish you good luck. This district went for W by 66.3% and for the incumbent Repub in ’06 by 68.5%. But you never will win if you don’t try.

Other postings make clear that Georgia Democrats expect to benefit from much attention from the Obama campaign, with paid staff and Fellows and other volunteers, of course, working on voter registration all summer.

Looks like they have a great candidate, for this or almost any district.

Bill Gillespie of Chatham County served 23 years in the U.S. Army, retiring last year as a Lt. Colonel. In 2003, he served in Iraq … earning a Bronze Star.

Most recently, Gillespie worked as Army ROTC Program Director, charged with supervising programs at Georgia Southern University, Savannah State University, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah College of Art & Design and St. Leo University. He also ran all of southeast Georgia’s Army Junior ROTC Programs.

Well, there you are. It’s southeast Georgia, from the Savannah suburbs to the Florida border. It’s where we need to win if we are going to purge the reichtwingers from our body politic. It won’t be easy, but it’s worth doing — and this race just may be worth watching this time around.