Tag: GA-10

The Georgia netroots kicked it up a notch today in the GA-10 special election to replace deceased Rep. Charlie Norwood.  Follow me below the fold for the smack down.

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A few weeks ago, the front runner Jim Whitehead said this:

“Iraq has not been a big thing in our district,” said Whitehead, a former University of Georgia offensive lineman.

Well, the netroots fire back today with this from the street committee:

Also, consensus Democratic candidate James Marlow responded with an OpEd in the Athens Banner-Herald that is a must read (req. required).

This is a race we can win.  It is time for us to help make that happen.  You can support James Marlow by donating at the local blog Tondee’s Tavern ActBlue page here.

The Netroots community has been drifting.  In many ways the unity of purpose and mission that comes from an election cycle has been lost in the ruckus surrounding both the Presidential Primaries and the duels over contrasting strategies on how to best end the War in Iraq.  However there is clearly no better way to force the President to change course than to override his veto.  Already the Republican Minority Leader John Boehner is discussing the possibility of re-evaluating the issue come September. He should not be allowed to wait.  But how can we tie Republican hands..  We can force them by electing Jim Marlow to Congress on June 19th or in the subsequent runoff election.

The vote to override the President failed by roughly 70 House votes.  The Republicans in Congress, so far with rare exception, have looked at Iraq in primarily political terms.  Stick with the President, paint the Democrats as abandoning the War on Terror, and other such calculations. They tend not to see the 2006 Election as a repudiation of the War in Iraq, but as primarily about corruption or spending or other transient or fixable things. Although Iraq may have been the dagger in the Northeast, this was a region Republican members of Congress had been considering abandoning for some time. “Safe” Republicans need to know they are vulnerable too.  To gain the 70 House votes we need to override this President, we need to pick up 60 Republican votes. However there are only 49 Republicans who represent districts in which George Bush  got 55% of the vote or less in 2004.  Right now roughly 2/3 of the Republican Caucus is sitting pretty, thinking my seat could never belong to a Democrat.  Therefore why risk alienating my President and, judging from Thursday’s debate, the next Nominee, by admitting that the Democrats are right about Iraq.  This is where Georgia 10 comes in. More Republican members of Congress, particularly Southern members of Congress need to feel Iraq could be the issue that costs them their seat. Of the 49 swing districts held by Republicans, only 6 are in the South.  If business as usual prevails in GA 10, i.e. a safe Republican seat just returns to the Republican Party, then no national polling, or debate or rally or phone call will come close to forcing Republican Members of Congress  to accept the Political reality of Iraq, let alone the policy reality. However, were this seat, in the one state in 06 to trend slightly GOP.,  lost to the Democrats  or even if Jim Marlow were to come close, the political foundation for folks such as Mitch McConnell or any of the other Southern Republicans Leadership would crumble.  Now there’s no doubt that we could lose this race in catastrophic fashion and the Democrats could lose three more Georgia House Seats, and still merrily expand our  House and Senate Majorities and capture the White House. But in the meantime nothing will create the divide between the White House and Republicans in Congress needed to End the War, like a loss in Georgia Ten. Let’s get it done.
On the Web
http://marlowforgeor…
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Another Democratic candidate has stepped up to compete in the June 19th special election to fill the vacant seat of the late Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood: James Marlow.  From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Political Insider:

Just before 10 a.m., we got a call from James Marlow, the new Democratic candidate for the 10th District congressional race in east Georgia.

He’d just finished breaking the news of his candidacy to the hometowners in Lincolton at the steps of the county courthouse. He counted nearly 60 witnesses, which in a town with four stoplights constitutes a throng.

“I just feel a calling to serve. I know that sounds a little corny,” Marlow said.

He’s a 46-year-old native, whose father served as mayor of Lincolnton. The son rode the Internet. You might remember the younger Marlow as the founder of AnythingSouthern.com, which was to be a way to get information on, well, anything Southern – food, religion, entertainment, the works.

The site was one of the many dot-com bubbles that popped.

Most recently, Marlow was a sales director for Yahoo Inc. He’s now a full-time candidate.

While four other Democrats are currently in the special election pool, Marlow has attracted the backing of local and state Democratic leaders, according to CQ Politics:

Marlow obtained the backing of 13 Democratic county chairmen at a meeting held March 31 in the 10th District city of Clarksville, according to Marlow spokesman Emil Runge.

Although this is the candidate’s first foray into politics, his name is not unknown in local Democratic circles. His father, Buddy Marlow, served as mayor of Lincolnton. The campaign staff Marlow has assembled, including Jeff DiSantis, former executive director of the state Democratic Party, and Runge, former state Democratic Party communications director, likely will bolster his rookie political effort.

As for campaign issues, Marlow told the AJC that he won’t shy away from Iraq on the campaign trail:

He’s eager to talk about health care, education, and the creation of good jobs. “Iraq is obviously an issue,” he said.

As we said yesterday, it’s clear that Democrats think it’s to their advantage to talk about the Middle East in this race.

Marlow says he’s an eager defender of America, but is also a defender of American troops. In the latter category, he places decent treatment for wounded soldiers and armor for those in battle.

It also means – and this may become his catch phrase – “not putting troops in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong numbers.” Competency, in other words.

While Bush won this district twice by hefty margins (63% and 65%, in that order), but Clinton was able to win it twice in the ’90s.  And, according to the Marlow, the district has had no trouble voting for Democrats on the state level:

As for those who think the Tenth too Republican to elect him, Marlow points out that Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, Attorney General Thurbert Baker, and Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond all carried the district. All, of course, were Democrats.

Georgia hasn’t been a bright spot for Democrats recently, but special elections have the habit of producing unpredictable outcomes.  The upcoming race to fill Georgia’s 10th could be worth keeping an eye on.

On the web: Marlow for Georgia

Race Tracker: GA-10

We still don’t know the date of the special election to fill GA-10, but the field is already taking shape. From CQ Politics, the GOP side:

Republican state Sen. Jim Whitehead announced Monday that he is a candidate for the not-yet-scheduled special election in Georgia’s 10th District, ensuring that there will be competition between politically experienced candidates for the seat left vacant by the death of veteran Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood. …

Whitehead was preceded into the race by a fellow Republican state senator, Ralph T. Hudgens, who lost to Norwood in the 1994 Republican House primary. …

Republican Bob Young, a former mayor of Augusta, is considered a potential candidate. The Athens-Banner Herald reported Monday that Willie Green, a former National Football League player who was born in the district, is interested in running either as a Republican or an independent.

Former Athens-Clarke County Mayor Doc Eldridge is also considering entering the race. Eldridge, who ran for mayor as a Democrat, told local news outlets that he will run as a Republican if he does indeed enter the election.

And the Dem half:

One Democrat moved swiftly to establish a place in the special election contest: Terry Holley, a small-business owner who took 33 percent of the vote in a lopsided loss to Norwood last November. …

Former Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Tom Chasteen is rumored to be weighing a bid, as well as state Rep. Alan Powell and lawyer David Bell, who as the 1996 Democratic challenger gave Norwood the closest race of his House career, holding him to 52 percent.

It’s worth noting that Norwood was a member of the GOP class of 1994 (knocking off one-term incumbent Don Johnson, Jr.). So his relatively weak performance against Bell in 1996 came when he was at his most vulnerable. However, Norwood outspent Bell nearly 3-1 that year (scroll to bottom). On the flipside, this district was a lot more Dem back then – Bill Clinton won it both times, in fact. (It had a PVI of R+1.7 then, but it’s R+12.7 now.) So I don’t know how strongly one can rate Bell’s performance.

Anyhow, got any opinions on any of these candidates?

UPDATE (James): According to CQPolitics, June 19 is the likely date for this election.

Folling the tragic news of Charlie Norwood’s death, the Republican vultures took little time to circle the sky above his still-warm body. Two Democrats were also mentioned, but none yet have announced

State Senator Ralph Hudgens (R) — who lost runs for Congress in 1988, 1992 and 1994 — already announced he will run. Hudgens was the early frontrunner in the 1994 GOP primary, but Norwood defeated him in an upset. State Representative Barry Fleming (R) also is likely to run. State Representative Jeanette Jamieson (D) and former Athens-Clarke County Mayor Doc Eldridge (D) are also possible candidates, although CD-10 demographics favor the GOP.

No date has been announced yet, but we should be prepared to at least make the Republicans work for it.