it's Election Day!
No, really.
Today is the special election to fill the late Charlie Norwood's 10th Congressional District seat. The 10th stretches along north and east Georgia and includes Athens and Augusta.
There were no primaries, so it's a Louisiana-style free for all, with ten candidates from three parties. The unofficial front-runner is state Sen Jim Whitehead, who is even more of a right-wing fundamentalist than Norwood was. And that's saying something. This is the guy who proclaimed immigration to be the most important issue in his district, at least in part because "Iraq has not been a big thing in our district."
Seriously. He said that.
The leading Democrat in the race, Jim Marlow (who, incidentally, doesn't even live in the district), jumped all over him. Everyone else piled on, so much so that Whitehead skipped the last couple of debates. When you're the Heir Presumptive, you can do that.
A runoff between Whitehead and Marlow is expected, with Whitehead trouncing Marlow in three weeks. It's all about the hyperbole in a race like this, and Whitehead has that down pat. It's not like he has any actual ideas beyond the standard right-wing fundamentalist crap coming out of Faux News or the Family Research Council.
Some observers are calling this race a bellwether for the nation's mood about immigration and Iraq as it's the first national race since the Dem takeover of Congress six short months ago. What people outside of Georgia fail to realize is that the 10th is a very Republican district; they re-elected Norwood consistently and overwhelmingly more than once. Don't look at today's numbers unless Marlow pulls within a margin of error of Whitehead. If that happens, you can thank Republican Bill Greene, who is somehow managing to run to the right of Whitehead.
It's also Election Day for Whitehead's now former state Senate district, the 24th. Nobody seems to be paying any attention to this race since some other Republican is going to win it handily.
Today is the special election to fill the late Charlie Norwood's 10th Congressional District seat. The 10th stretches along north and east Georgia and includes Athens and Augusta.
There were no primaries, so it's a Louisiana-style free for all, with ten candidates from three parties. The unofficial front-runner is state Sen Jim Whitehead, who is even more of a right-wing fundamentalist than Norwood was. And that's saying something. This is the guy who proclaimed immigration to be the most important issue in his district, at least in part because "Iraq has not been a big thing in our district."
Seriously. He said that.
The leading Democrat in the race, Jim Marlow (who, incidentally, doesn't even live in the district), jumped all over him. Everyone else piled on, so much so that Whitehead skipped the last couple of debates. When you're the Heir Presumptive, you can do that.
A runoff between Whitehead and Marlow is expected, with Whitehead trouncing Marlow in three weeks. It's all about the hyperbole in a race like this, and Whitehead has that down pat. It's not like he has any actual ideas beyond the standard right-wing fundamentalist crap coming out of Faux News or the Family Research Council.
Some observers are calling this race a bellwether for the nation's mood about immigration and Iraq as it's the first national race since the Dem takeover of Congress six short months ago. What people outside of Georgia fail to realize is that the 10th is a very Republican district; they re-elected Norwood consistently and overwhelmingly more than once. Don't look at today's numbers unless Marlow pulls within a margin of error of Whitehead. If that happens, you can thank Republican Bill Greene, who is somehow managing to run to the right of Whitehead.
It's also Election Day for Whitehead's now former state Senate district, the 24th. Nobody seems to be paying any attention to this race since some other Republican is going to win it handily.