Former State Senator Eric Johnson sought to boost his candidacy for governor in Cobb County today at the Cobb County Republican breakfast. Johnson, an architect and former president pro tempore of the Georgia Senate, spoke to a capacity crowd at Williamson Brothers Bar-B-Q in Marietta.

Johnson said in conversation that he is the only candidate presently gaining in the polls. He began his speech by saying that this year’s election is about trust, and he seeks to earn the trust of the voters.

While the top-tier Republican candidates for Governor are what one could argue are career politicians, Eric Johnson enters the Republican Primary contest with a great deal of public policy experience gained as a part-time citizen legislator. His experience includes 15 years in the Georgia Senate, where, from 2003 to 2007, he was the “de facto” lieutenant governor. With Democrat Mark Taylor as lieutenant governor, Republicans, who captured the Senate in 2002, gave President Pro Tem Johnson the powers to run the chamber, which included naming committee chairs and determining the Senate’s agenda. He resigned from the Senate last year to devote his time to the governor’s race.

In his remarks, Johnson said, “I’m an architect. I build things.”

This year, Johnson seeks to build an electoral coalition that will win the primary in July and propel him to victory in November. He is a conservative Republican and is reaching out to grassroots activists.

As governor, Johnson would build things, too: nuclear power plants and offshore drilling platforms, for starters, to fully develop Georgia’s energy resources. He would also promote the development of bio-fuels by using Georgia pine trees as a fuel resource.

Johnson, an advocate for school choice in the Senate, continues to promote this idea as a candidate, to the chagrin of the education lobby: “Give every parent a portion of their tax dollars and let them pick the school of their choice."

According to end-of-year campaign reports filed with the State Ethics Commission, Johnson has $1.3 million in cash on hand for the governor’s race. Other candidates flush with cash include State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who leads with $2.2 million on hand; Congressman Nathan Deal, who is third with $940,000 on hand; and former Secretary of State Karen Handel who has $440,000 on hand.

If money is any indication of a candidate’s viability – and experience shows that it is – then Eric Johnson has the resources to communicate his message during the primary season and pay for the staff needed to run a statewide organization. How he deploys these resources, of course, will determine his success.