Just over a week remains before a runoff vote between Jim Martin and Vernon Jones to see which of the two will compete against incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss and Libertarian Alan Buckley for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat in the November general election. Each of the two Democrats is trying to shore up support going into the runoff. While Martin tries to make the most of his many public endorsements, Jones is trying to snag a slice of Obamamania for himself. DeKalb County CEO Jones called a press conference on Wednesday at his campaign’s headquarters above a Buckhead mattress store to make a statement regarding the Aug. 5 runoff vote. In its entirety, his statement lasted less than one minute: “Jim Martin voted against Barack Obama and did not want him to be President of the United States. I voted for Obama.” When asked why he thought this was an important issue, Jones told reporters, “Jim Martin made an issue about my vote in the past.”
Jones made his statement the same day that a press release from the Martin campaign announced endorsements from Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman John Eaves and Commissioner Nancy Boxill. The Martin campaign responded to Jones’ comments by reiterating earlier criticism of Jones’ voting tendencies, stating "Jim Martin has been a longtime supporter of John Edwards and voted for him in the primary, but Jim has always opposed George Bush and is running for the Senate to help Barack Obama get rid of Bush's failed policies. Vernon Jones voted for George Bush twice and said he'd consider being John McCain's running mate. That tells you all you need to know about Vernon Jones." A small poster adorning the door to Jones’ headquarters shows pictures of Jones and Obama placed side by side beneath the Obama slogan “Yes We Can!” The poster has been derided by Jones’ critics as an attempt to imply that Sen. Obama has endorsed Jones. Obama has not endorsed either of the candidates for the Georgia Senate seat.
In a previous interview with The Sunday Paper, Jones said he believes the groundswell of support for the Illinois Senator will translate to increased support for whichever Democratic candidate opposes Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in the November general election. But between now and then lies the runoff. With Obama polling extremely well among black voters, it’s easy to assume that Jones, a black male Democrat like Obama, would benefit from the presidential candidate’s momentum.
But Jelani Cobb, an Obama delegate, isn’t convinced that Obama mania will necessarily boost voter turnout for the runoff. “I think folks are excited about the national race in November more so than the local races going on now,” he writes in an e-mail to The Sunday Paper. “I'm doubtful about folks being able to draft off of Obama. Both of [incumbent Congressman] John Lewis' opponents ran that change theme into the ground and [Democratic primary challenger Markel] Hutchins basically stole Obama's Web site format. But they got crushed anyway.” Charles Bullock, who teaches political science at UGA and whose published work includes the 1992 book “Runoff Elections in the United States,” says the most important part of a runoff election is getting voters back to the polls. Based on an unimpressive turnout for the July 15 congressional primary, Bullock doesn’t see excitement over the presidential election translating to the runoff. That might be different, he says, “If the two candidates had aggressive ad campaigns [reminding voters to vote in the runoff] … I don’t see a lot of that.” Although appeals to Obama supporters may sway some voters, Bullock says the majority of voters who show up on Aug. 5 will support the same candidate they voted for on July 15. “Those who voted for the other three candidates will have to change their vote. But I suspect a lot of them will stay home,” he says. The question of the primary might be a moot point, anyway. Nearly 400,000 voters showed up to cast their vote for incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss, despite the fact that he was running unopposed. Plus, only four of the GOP primary slots were contested, presumably leading to lower Republican turnout than can be expected for the general election.
Meanwhile, Jones and Martin garnered less than 370,000 votes combined in a primary that got far more publicity than its Republican counterpart. In a Rasmussen Reports survey of 500 likely Georgia voters published July 21, Saxby Chambliss led Vernon Jones 59 percent to 29 percent, and led Jim Martin 51 percent to 40 percent. Despite the small sample size of the survey, the results imply that it may take something more like an Obama miracle than an Obama effect to deliver Chambliss’ Senate seat to a Democrat in November.“I support Senator Barack Obama, I voted for him. I share his vision for American job creation, investing in our infrastructure,” Jones said after Wednesday’s press conference. “I believe that I will work extremely well with him because of my experience as a former state legislator and at the same time as a chief executive. … Jim Martin worked for a republican governor and Jim Martin cut budgets that hurt working families and poor people. I wouldn’t have done that, and I think that’s germaine and I think that’s important in terms of where I’ll be in Washington and what I see as a priority and what he sees as a priority.”
The above article caught my attention because it is a notion that I believe can work in Democrats favor this November but they have to be smart and really capitalize on Obamamania. What Obama's persona and rock star status has done is that he has got gotten more attention than the whole National Democratic Party itself. That's why if Howard Dean was smart and if state Democratic Parties were smart than they would do everything in their power between now and November to make sure that the Democratic candidates who will face Republican candidates get as much Obama literature and volunteers as they can. My theory is that if the people are told to vote for Obama and are given literature on Obama than they will be more welcoming to talk to Democratic candidates about their perspective campaigns. Thus it could help the Democratic candidates show that they are the best candidates for the job and that their message is similar to Obama's.
So it is a simple theory that could led to a Democratic sweep across the nation. However Howard Dean needs to mandate this and all state parties need to work with the Obama campaign to make sure that that not only Obama gets elected but Democrats get elected all across the world. Only time will tell how the Georgia U.S. Senate race will play out but let's be clear if Obama wants Georgia and if the Democratic Party wants to pick up a larger number in the Senate than they need to work together to ensure that Georgia goes blue. Nonetheless, time will tell all and for now, we can sit back and wait.
References:
Pro-Martin blog: Jones wrote a check to the state GOP http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/07/27/promartin_blog_jones_wrote_a_c.html
Turnout key in Senate runoff http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news916495.html
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