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Aunt Pittypat, Swooning Southern Soothsayer on the Governor’s race, and John Milton's head's up
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These days, when I think about the 2010 Georgia governor’s race, I keep hearing in my head the sage words of Aunt Pittypat from “Gone With the Wind.”
“Republicans in Georgia!! How did THEY get in?!?” is the exclamation that lives in the forefront of my mind.
A member of the House once asked me what the State of Georgia needs to improve its position. My response? Raise decades-long and superhero Democrat Tom Murphy from the dead and put him behind the rostrum. He would explain to us all the idea that New R is but old D writ large.
Short of wielding my powers to resurrect the dead, I contend that no one let those Republicans in. They were already here in the form of shape-shifting Democrats. Like Sonny Perdue who was a Democrat until he miraculously leapt a single bound to the Republican Party while preparing for his run to live in the Governor’s Mansion and the right to raid its refrigerator.
In the Republican battle for the Governor’s Office, a lot of names have come up. In fact, Race for 2010 is beginning to remind me of the epic governor's election in Cal-ee-forn-yah (Arnold has a little trouble with calling out his home state).
Most notably, the list should be noted for who is not running: Lite Gov. Casey Cagle. More than a year out from the primary, Cagle explained that he can’t run because of his back (he recently had surgery), but we’re left wondering what the real reason is. It’s touching that Cagle wants to take care of himself. Still, all the Democrats I know in the state house find it touching, but how true? Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine already proclaiming himself as the Republican forerunner. I wonder how many of those votes he picked up while cruising peanut country is his illicit Crown Victoria. The other top contenders are Jack Kingston, Congressman from South Georgia (Savannah), and Republican Legislative Leader Eric Johnson.
On the Democratic side of the ballot, Attorney General Thurbert Baker, Georgia National Guard commander David Poythress and (get this) former Governor Roy Barnes of all things are among the ones everybody's writing about these days. Oh, and let's not forget Dubose Porter, the ranking Democrat in the House. Didn't he turn into a an oil spot when he wanted to take a run at Tom Murphy for Speaker of the House? That political Edsel won't fly in the Governor's race either.
In an interesting turn of events, former Gov. Roy Barnes (the one-term Democrat whose legacy revolves around the painful fact that he is the D who lost the race to an R for the first time in more than a century) has tossed his jester's cap. Barnes managed during the 2002 campaign to draw the ire of several key constituencies such as the teachers who were mad about money and the Flaggers (those who wanted to keep the 1954 flag, complete with the Confederate flag) who clogged Capitol Hill day after day during the Session of the General Assembly the year prior to the election.
