Tag: Roy Barnes

• PA-Sen: Ex-Rep. Pat Toomey says that he raised $1 million in 60 days toward his Senate run, with more than 11,000 donors. It’s still a drop in the bucket compared with the bankrolls of Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak, but it ought to help dissuade anyone else from jumping into the GOP primary. Another tidbit that ought to discourage any Republican line-crashers: $5,000 of that money came from John Cornyn‘s PAC, suggesting that he’s done looking for another candidate and is bringing establishment power to bear behind Toomey.

• FL-Sen: It’s not much of a surprise, considering they’re close neighbors, but Rep. Kendrick Meek nailed down the endorsements of two key members of Florida’s House delegation — Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ron Klein — which will come in handy if he does wind up facing off against Corrine Brown in the primary.

• LA-Sen: Democratic New Orleans city councilor Arnie Fielkow decided, after some speculation, not to wade into the Louisiana Senate race. More plausible would be a challenge to Rep. Anh Cao in LA-02, as Fielkow is well-known in NoLa but has no statewide presence, but Fielkow also declined that, leading to speculation he may be eyeing the next mayor’s race instead.

• GA-Gov:  With an eye on Roy Barnes, Ed Kilgore takes aim at the claim that Georgia governors have a long track record of failure when it comes to comebacks. It turns out that past probably isn’t prologue. (D)

• TX-Gov: We’re reluctant to ascribe a whole lotta meaning to the phrasing of this particular letter, but Kay Bailey Hutchison seems to be moving pretty explicitly toward making official her run for Governor. Glenn Thrush points to a letter sent to potential donors saying “I am running for Governor.”

• AZ-05: Is Congress ready for its first gamer (or at least its first out-of-the-closet gamer)? Jim Ward, the former president of video game maker LucasArts, announced that he’ll be running for the GOP nomination to go up against Rep. Harry Mitchell. Ward brings a lot of wealth to the table, but he’ll have an uphill fight against former Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert, who lost the 2008 election to Mitchell by 9 points and is looking for a rematch.

• TX-32: Dems have landed a good candidate in TX-32 to go up against Rep. Pete Sessions: Grieg Raggio, an attorney and husband to Judge Lorraine Raggio. The 32nd, in north Dallas, is still a red district but has seen rapidly declining GOP numbers, both for Sessions and at the presidential level, and is down to R+8.

• NY-AG: Nassau Co. Exec Tom Suozzi published an editorial in the New York Times where he publicly discusses having changed his mind on the gay marriage issue (he’s now for it). With New York one of the few states where gay marriage has become an issue with majority support, Suozzi looks to be repositioning himself for, well, something (probably, as often rumored, Attorney General, but maybe Governor if Andrew Cuomo continues to dither).

• Redistricting: The Hill has an interesting piece about redistricting; while it doesn’t delve into too many specifics, it does shed some light on what districts the GOP is rushing to try to take back before they get strengthened for the Dems (like Bobby Bright’s AL-02), and what districts are unlikely to draw top tier challengers because everyone is willing to sit back and wait for new open districts to pop up in 2012 (like Dina Titus’s NV-03).

• Race Tracker: Benawu is already back doing what he does best: chronicling the Dems’ efforts to field candidates in all 435 districts. Right now, we’re still looking in 124 GOP-held districts (although, of course, it’s still early in the cycle). Check out the RaceTracker 2010 wiki for more.

AJC:

Roy Barnes will announce today that he intends to become the first former Georgia governor in a half-century to reclaim the office after being turned out by voters.

The announcement is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Marietta. Barnes, we’re told, will delay the actual start of his campaign until July, in order to wrap up some trial work and finish up as chairman of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Barnes has been keeping his cards close to his chest for most of the year, sometimes sounding like a candidate with a lot of issues burning in his blood, but also informing folks that he’s reluctant to terminate his retirement from the political arena. He’ll be joining an already-crowded field of Democrats for the gubernatorial nomination: Attorney General Thurbert Baker, House Minority Leader DuBose Porter, and former GA National Guard commander David Poythress are all in the race.

It’s possible, though, that Barnes’ entry could clear the field somewhat. A Strategic Vision poll from April showed Barnes crushing Baker by a 56-29 margin, with Poythress and Porter in the low-single digits. While Poythress has nothing to lose by continuing his candidacy, Porter and Baker may be thinking twice about giving up their safe jobs in order to roll the dice on a tough primary.

In the diaries, fitchfan28 has more.

Former Governor Roy Barnes is set to announce that he will be entering the 2010 race for GA Governor today according to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is a huge development for Democrats as it signals the entrance of their highest profile bench player.

Barnes, the GA Governor from 1999-2003, has shown fantastic fundraising prowess in the past and has the greatest name identification of any of the Democrats now in the running.Allies of his such as Attorney General Thurbert Baker and to a lesser extent State Democratic House Leader Dubose Porter may reassess their options now that Barnes entered the race but former GA National Guard leader David Poythress, who has traded barbs with Barnes already is unlikely to make a move thinking apparently he can carry the anti-Barnes banner the furthest. 

Certainly some advantages and disadvantages to this move by Barnes but I think it's good for Democrats to have a proven leader back at the top of ticket who can raise major cash. However, 2002 must serve as a lesson to Barnes and others about the cost of becoming too assured of one's perceived success and that a great ground game operation must be in place in order to assure turnout of Democratic voters in a midterm election. I feel Barnes, who I've met and who is a very bright and capable leader can learn from these mistake though and run a very effective race in 2010 if current polling numbers are any indication.

 

This one is already starting to gather a few speckles of dust, but it’s still worth a look. Strategic Vision (4/17-19, likely voters) tests the temperature in the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial hot tubs.

First, the Democratic mix, which includes fence-sitting ex-Gov. Roy Barnes:

Roy Barnes: 56

Thurbert Baker: 29

David Poythress: 4

DuBose Porter: 2

Undecided: 9

(MoE: ±3%)

And of course, team frothy wingnut:

John Oxendine: 33

Karen Handel: 14

Jack Kingston: 11

Lynn Westmoreland: 7

Sam Olens: 4

Mark Burkhalter: 2

Ray McBerry: 2

Austin Scott: 2

Undecided: 25

(MoE: ±3%)

That’s a hell of a lot of players to leave without a scorecard, so let’s give you hand:

Barnes: Ex-Governor

Baker: Attorney General

Poythress: Ex-Labor Commissioner and Secretary of State

Porter: House Minority Leader

Oxendine: Insurance Commissioner

Handel: Secretary of State

Kingston: US Representative

Westmoreland: US Representative (not running)

Olens: Cobb County Commission Chairman

Burkhalter: House Speaker pro tem

McBerry: Some Dude

Scott: State Representative

Barnes, who was defeated in 2002 as an incumbent, is reportedly still on the fence about a 2010 comeback attempt — but if Strategic Vision has a grip on reality here, the nomination could be his for the taking, even against current AG Thurbert Baker. In a three-way race without Barnes, Baker leads Poythress and Porter by a 41-8-5 split (with a whopping 46% undecided), indicating that even Baker is unknown to a lot of Democratic voters.

The GOP field tested here is much bigger, and, without Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in the mix, a lot more wide open. This one could be a good horse race to watch.

• IL-05: Congratulations to our newest House member, Mike Quigley. The Cook County Commissioner won the special election in this safe Dem seat last night, defeating GOPer Rosanna Pulido 70-24 (with the balance going to Green Party candidate Matt Reichel). (There were only about 34,000 votes cast in this election, compared with about 58,000 in the primary, since that’s where all the action was.)

• AK-Sen: Gov. Sarah Palin will not be challenging Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the 2010 senate primary; in fact, she’ll be assisting Murkowski with raising money (despite simmering tensions between the two factions). It remains to be seen whether she’ll be running for re-election as governor in 2010, or bailing out after one term to focus on the 2012 presidential race (which, geographically speaking, is hard to do from Alaska).

• VA-Gov: If there’s one thing Terry McAuliffe is good at, it’s raising money. He raked in $4.2 million in the first quarter for his gubernatorial campaign. He started April with $2.5 million CoH as the race heads toward the June 9 primary.

• IA-Gov: With Iowa’s Supreme Court having effectively made same-sex marriages legal, the 2010 governor’s race could turn into a proxy referendum on the issue (with Gov. Chet Culver unwilling to amend the state constitution to block the courts). And this may draw a higher-profile challenger to the race: nutty GOP Rep. Steve King, whose name has been occasionally associated with this race, says the sudden rise of this issue makes him “more likely” to enter the race.

• GA-Gov: As noted by fitchfan28 in diaries, state House minority leader Dubose Porter has thrown his hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination for Georgia governor. He joins AG Thurbert Baker and former SoS David Poythress as announced candidates, with former governor Roy Barnes scoping out the race as well.

• NJ-12: Rush Holt may receive a credible challenge in 2010, from Fair Haven mayor Mike Halfacre, who just filed exploratory paperwork. Fair Haven is in Republican-leaning Monmouth County; the district as a whole, though, is blue, if not overwhelming so (Obama won 58-41).

• EFCA: In the wake of yesterday’s announcement that Blanche Lincoln would oppose EFCA’s current form, two more moderate Dem wafflers got off the fence in favor of EFCA (or, more technically, in favor of cloture): Mark Udall and Mark Warner. Campaign Diaries has a very handy head count, indicating that possible passage is still very close, and an unpacked version of the bill (for instance, containing the binding arbitration portion, leaving ‘card check’ for another year) may still be passed.

• CfG: With Pat Toomey about to leave the helm of the Club for Growth to pursue his senate bid against Arlen Specter, they need someone new to wave the sword for the circular firing squad. Looks like the job may fall to yet another ex-Rep who brought the crazy to a swing district, Chris Chocola. (Chocola got bounced from IN-02 in 2006 by Joe Donnelly.)

• Omaha-Mayor: In last night’s Omaha mayoral all-party primary election, former GOP Rep. Hal Daub (himself a former Omaha mayor) squeaked into first place with 35.6% of the vote to Democratic concilman Jim Suttle’s 34.3%. Republican Councilman Jim Vokal came in third, picking up 28.2% of the vote. New Nebraska Network’s Kyle Michaelis argues that despite the Republican candidates picking up more votes overall, Daub’s weak finish is not a good sign for his chances in the general election. (J)

• NH-Sen: The scurvy dogs at ARG! take their first reading of the 2010 New Hampshire senate race since Judd Gregg announced his retirement, finding that Rep. Paul Hodes beats ex-Sen. John Sununu 42-36. Hodes leads Sununu 38-31 among independents. (MoE ±4.2%)

• KY-Sen: In the days leading up to 1Q fundraising reports, Jim Bunning has publicly admitted that his fundraising has been “lousy,” although he says “Surprisingly, we’ve had pretty good success the last month.” He’s looking forward to some April fundraisers starring such luminaries as Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and fellow baseball celeb Tommy Lasorda.

• GA-Gov: Roy Barnes is sounding very interested in another try at the governor’s race. Barnes got bounced by Sonny Perdue after one term in 2002, but populist anger plus demographic changes in Georgia may make a Barnes comeback feasible. (Insider Advantage found earlier this month that Barnes would defeat several of the likely GOP candidates.)

• LA-02: Joseph Cao is signaling he may actually break ranks and vote for the Obama budget this week, telling The Hill that his constituents are “split.” (In the sense that they are likely to “split” his head open if he keeps voting the party line.)

• History: Roll Call takes an interesting look back at the spate of special elections during the 1993-1994 session of Congress, and the structural reasons we aren’t likely to see a repeat of the disastrous 1994 election again.

Insider Advantage (3/17, registered voters, no trendlines):

Roy Barnes (D): 35

Casey Cagle (R): 39

Undecided: 26

Roy Barnes (D): 38

John Oxendine (R): 33

Undecided: 29

Roy Barnes (D): 34

Karen Handel (R): 29

Undecided: 37

(MoE: 4%)

Barnes, 61, served as Georgia’s governor for one term (1999-2003), until he was unexpectedly booted out by Sonny Perdue – who is himself term-limited, making this an open seat. Cagle is the current Lt. Gov., Oxendine is the state Insurance Commissioner, and Handel is the Secretary of State.

The original poll results are unfortunately behind a paywall now, so I don’t know what Barnes’s name rec looks like, over six years after he left office. I’d suspect it’s still fairly high, but his favorables are a separate question. Meanwhile, IA does say that all three GOP contenders are fairly unknown, so we might be comparing Generic R to Well-Known D.

These uncertainties, plus the high undecideds, might mean that Barnes isn’t actually as competitive as these early numbers show. I recall one poll just over four years ago which showed Lucy Baxley leading AL Gov. Bob Riley 39-35 with 26% undecided. Twenty months later, those numbers were the dimmest of memories.

A new Georgia poll shows that incumbent GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss could be vulnerable if former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes should enter the race for the Senate seat. Chambliss only polled 2 points ahead of Barnes in the new InsiderAdvantage poll.

http://bluesunbelt.c…

Saxby Chambliss  42%
Roy Barnes  40%

DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones who does not have as much name recognition statewide as Barnes was able to keep Chambliss under 50% in polling as well.

Saxby Chambliss  48%
Vernon Jones  31%

http://www.insiderad…