Georgia’s Senate Race Decided

The Georgia Senate race between incumbent Saxby Chambliss a Republican and Democratic challenger Jim Martin is finally over. Sen. Chambliss retained his seat by a clear majority. Chambliss beat Martin by receiving nearly 57% of the vote. Voter turnout for the race was about 20% of registered voters.

Both candidates put up a fierce 4 week long battle of campaign ads, big name speakers and of course the name calling and mud slinging that we have come to expect. Some of the Republican’s superstars came to Georgia to campaign for Saxby Chambliss such as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Arizona Sen. And former Presidential candidate John McCain and for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Jim Martin had Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice-President Al Gore come down and help his campaign. Martin had asked for the Democrats biggest star, President-Elect Barrack Obama. However it seems that the President-Elect wasn’t interested in making any kind of significant effort to help Jim Martin win the Georgia Senate seat and help the Democrats gain the so called “Super Majority”, 60 Senate seats that would make the democratic controlled senate filibuster proof. To his credit, President-Elect Obama did help Jim Martin’s campaign by recording a radio ad that was released the week before the run-off, robotic calls to residents to ask them to vote for Jim Martin, and he mailed out a postcard with “Happy Holidays” on it along with a picture of the Obama family.

I think that President-Elect Obama might as well make this mistake number one as the highest profile Democrat and as a leader. Let face it, the radio ads, postcards, and “robo” calls are all great, but making an appearance in Georgia would have been a 100 times more effective than all four combined. Georgia had record turnout for the Presidential election. Nearly a million and two-thirds fewer democrats voted in the runoff than the general election. The President-Elect could have taken a few hours at the beginning of the run-off campaign and towards the end to come down to Georgia and talk Jim Martin up, and help motivate people to go to the polls. I really believe that most people didn’t understand how crucial this election was to the democrats. Sure they heard all the spin on TV news show, but it’s different if the top Democrat himself, a superstar came down for the people to see and hear.

Barack Obama’s presence in Georgia would have been the extra boost needed to get people to the polls. People are still caught in the awe and excitement of his election. Having the President-Elect here campaigning for Jim Martin would one, tell people that the election isn’t over yet, two, that he cares about what happens in Georgia, three, that having a 60 seat in the Senate is so important it warrants’ his attention especially since it will help him make the changes he campaigned on. People clearly needed motivation to go to the polls for a run-off.

Recently the President-Elect revealed his choices for cabinet appointments, among them were current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and former political opponent Hilary Clinton, nominated for Secretary of State. I think he made some great choices in people, however I don’t think it was very smart to pull an active and popular Senator from a seat that can be strangle defended by Hilary Clinton. But despite the difficult work he is obviously conducting in preparation for the transition of power, there isn’t any excuse why he couldn’t have hopped on a plane and come to Georgia for a few hours. As President-Elect he can be briefed or hold meetings anywhere he chooses. He has time to go to the gym for a couple of hours a day, he could have flown down and help win the Senate race in Georgia. I hope this doesn’t come back to hurt him politically in the future. He has such great plans; it would be a shame that his first mistake could affect the rest of his administration. Let’s hope it doesn’t.

North Georgia Politics Is Starting To Get Interesting

Last week could you tell that it’s getting down to wire for some of the political races as we approached the Run-off election? Among the offices up for election was the Clayton County Sheriff. The incumbent Victor Hill went up against former Clayton County Deputy Sheriff, Attorney Kem Kimbrough. In a recent debate with Sheriff Victor Hill, Kimbrough cited Hill’s numerous conflicts with other law enforcement agencies and local leaders. Basically Kimbrough raked Hill over the coals about his ego and personal agendas. I found the exchange to be pretty interesting considering recent events between the Sheriff and Clayton County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell. I think by calling out the Sheriff’s antics, Kimbrough put the pressure on Victor Hill to come up with a better defense than he has previously. Apparently voters didn't care for Hill’s “skirmishes” with local officials. County residents booted Hill out and Kem Kimbrough to face the republican challenger.

And speaking of egos, Dekalb County CEO Vernon Jones battled for the democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat with Jim Martin. Over the years Jones has been at the center of controversies including illegal campaign contributions and an accusation of rape. Despite the controversies he’s managed to retain strong support from Dekalb citizens. In what may be a huge blow to the Jones for Senate campaign, civil rights icon Rev. Joseph Lowery Endorsed Jim Martin. Both candidates lobbied for the endorsement, however Jim Martin won out. In a press conference Rev. Lowery talked about Vernon Jones conservative views and support of President Bush. Jim Martin defeated Vernon Jones bid for the U.S. Senate seat by nearly 20%. They say change is good, and any change from the previous will be a much needed improvement.

Vernon Jones’ vacated office of Dekalb County CEO will go to Burrell Ellis. Ellis won yesterday’s run-off election by a landslide. At 50 years old, Ellis who served eight years as a County Commissioner will be the fourth Dekalb County CEO. Ellis beat his opponent state representative Stan Watson by a vote of 63% to 37%.

And finally, there will be a new Sheriff elected in November. The embattled Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman lost his re-election bid last night to Ted Jackson a former FBI agent. The Sheriff has been under fire his entire term regarding courthouse security, safety and staffing at the jail. A few weeks ago a federal judge threatened to hold him contempt of court because of the lack of improvement at the Fulton County Jail. All of that including the highly publicized trial of Brian Nichols has caused Fulton county voters to kick the sheriff to the curb and elect new leadership. Ted Jackson will face republican challenger Michael Rary.

And one quick note, the effort to recall Lithonia Mayor Joyce McKibben has until this Monday to collect 330 valid signatures. Last I heard they needed 35-40 more signatures on the petition. And if that wasn’t enough trouble for Mayor McKibben, it’s also being reported in the AJC, that The Mayor’s home is in foreclosure. I’ll keep an eye out for any more information regarding the recall.