Dems Can't Find Candidate for Ga. Senate

[Robbien]

ATLANTA (AP) - Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia is retiring, and the party's pool of 2004 candidates looks emptier than the vegetable drawer in a frat-house refrigerator.

The potential candidates include two men in their 70s who have not even committed themselves to the race; a political neophyte whose main asset is her last name; a freshman congressman unknown outside of his district; and a state legislator famous only for calling the governor a racist and then running off in tears.

Just a year ago, Georgia Democrats had a virtual lock on state government dating back to the end of Reconstruction. The party controlled the Legislature, the governor's office and both Senate seats. But the Democrats' fortunes have declined since then.

In 2002, the governor's mansion fall to the GOP for the first time in 130 years. In the same election, Democratic Sen. Max Cleland lost to Saxby Chambliss, and the Democrats lost control of the state Senate.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-elect/2003/sep/02/090200904.html

[goobergunch]

1. This is an AP story????

:wtf:

That is a really poor bit of reporting. I think that A. Young would be a very strong candidate.

And they didn't even mention Diebold.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Why can't they run Max Cleland for Zell Miller's seat?

It would be perfectly fitting for him to get his spot back. I'll bet there are tons of Georgia voters who've had time to ponder the nasty way Saxby Chambliss vilified him who would like to see him working again in the Senate.

There may also be a group of voters starting to wonder about the actual questionable voting procedure itself which assured them Chambliss had won, who would like to see justice done, finally.

[David__77]

4. Polling should be done on this.

I think that this may work. However, I think that if Young can win, then we should support him. I think it's paramount to have Black faces in the US Senate.

[Judi Lynn]

10. I believe you're right

I'm having a hard time accepting what they did to Max Cleland, however! He didn't deserve that filth.

[jiacinto]

5. Cleland already said he wasn't running

nt

[onehandle]

3. Young Close to Entering Senate Race in Georgia

Andrew Young, the former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, is leaning strongly toward entering what is widely regarded as an uphill fight to keep the seat of retiring Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) in Democratic hands, according to a source familiar with Young's thinking.

Young, 71, a veteran civil rights leader and former U.S. House member, has been talking for several weeks about the possibility of running. Now he has "all but decided to make the race" and may move soon to announce his plans, the Democratic campaign source said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8651-2003Aug31.html

[kainah]

13. Yes!

What a bunch of garbage from the AP. Or is Andrew Young now regarded as nobody of worth? I can't believe the "democrats are worthless" spin that's going on in the press already!!!

[Richardo]

6. Someone turn on the Cat-Signal....

your state needs you, CW! :hi:

[legin]

7. Now that is a surprise

Anne Coulter's favourite Democratic politician, Zell Miller, organises it for the star quaterback, Cynthia McKinney, to get dumped from the team, and now the team is falling apart around it's ears. 130 years of Democratic rule probably turned into a safe Republican stronghold.

Happy retirement Zell Miller, a job well done for the party you were really batting for.

[diplomats]

8. The South has been conservative for years

I'm surprised the Dems hadn't lost more power in Georgia before this. Of course, it took a questionable election to do it.

[SoCalDem]

9. Seems like a lot of our "top brass" have been hitting the snooze alarm

There are lots of places in the US that do not even "bother" to field democratic candidates.. When the "farm team" is not nurtured, pretty soon there are none to send to the "show"..

The party has been content to just cede larger and larger hunks of the red-zone to the repubes, and we all know how tenacious they can be :(..

Hasn't anyone ever heard of a guy named JOHN LEWIS???



http://www.house.gov/johnlewis/print_oe_voting_rights.html

[bluestateguy]

11. Why can't Cleland run again?

If he takes the gloves off, he'll win. Like when he wrote Delay a letter calling him a chickenhawk.

Republicans will have one of those old-fashioned southern Republican primaries where each candidate tries to out-Christian, out-family, out-patriot, out-tax cut, and out-militarize each other.

[NewJerseyDem]

12. He may not want to

Perhaps he just doesn't want to go through a big campaign considering how dirty his last one ended up being. He is probably focused on helping out Kerry win the presidency.

[kainah]

14. I think that's exactly right

Having gone through what he did last year, why should he want to subject himself to that again? Life is too short -- and, as a triple amputee, he certainly knows that.

He is also on the 9/11 commission which means he has A LOT of work to do between now and next May. Plus, he's newly married. Why should he get in the slime with Ralph Reed's machine?