WaPo talks Georgia politics (sort of)

Jun 26, 2008 12:05

In this piece on a Republican using Obama's coattails in a Senate race, the Washington Post mentions the Obama radio spot for Democrat John Barrow down in the 12th CD. As I mentioned before, he's being challenged in the primary by ultra-liberal, African American state senator Regina Thomas; her candidacy is being supported by liberal groups who don't like Barrow's more conservative, Blue Dog politics, even though he's a Democrat who supported Obama back in February.

The article finds it interesting that a conservative Southern Democrat would be eager to tie himself to Obama after Republicans used that very tactic to try to defeat Democrats in three special elections earlier this year. Of course, the Dems won all three, including in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Here's the Georgia angle:Barrow, who beat his Republican opponent in 2006 by 864 votes, might have been as skittish as [Travis] Childers, but he decided that Obama's endorsement could only help him in an unanticipated primary fight against African American state senator Regina Thomas -- as well as in the general election. Just as Childers benefited from black voter turnout [in his northern Mississippi district], Barrow, who is white, believes that Obama can rally an often-skeptical Southern black electorate to him.

For his part, Obama decided Barrow had a better chance of holding the seat -- whose district stretches from Savannah to Augusta -- than the more liberal Thomas. Democratic strategists said the primary contest could serve as a test of Obama's strength outside Atlanta, in a state that he intends to contest.

Obama's efforts on behalf of Barrow also jibe with his efforts to broaden the electoral map.
The article goes on to talk about Obama's "50 state strategy," which, if memory serves, was Howard Dean's idea back when he first became chair of the DNC. The party elite, led by the Clintons, scoffed at that idea. Guess who won the nomination.

election, politics

Previous post Next post
Up