aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

John Barrow’s challenge

I’m still simmering over the BushDog attack* on John Barrow and Jim Marshall, but haven’t had time to pen my response. (Short version: the way to the dream of “a Congress filled with progressives and populists” is emphatically not to replace the conservative Democrats you’ve got with far more conservative Republicans but, rather, to foster, support and build up the small liberal base that does exist here so that we can move our representatives).

In that context I see that today AJC’s Political Insider looks at the hunt for a Barrow challenger:

It’s worth nothing that the Georgia congressional race that, in private conversations, has excited the most attention from Republicans involves a GOP incumbent.

House Majority Whip Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) is to announce his challenge this morning to U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), who won the 10th District seat only two months ago.

In past election seasons, Democrats Jim Marshall in the 8th District and John Barrow in the 12th have been perennial Republican targets. And on paper, they’re still vulnerable.

But the anointed GOP candidate in the middle Georgia race against Marshall, former Air Force major general Rick Goddard, has had a rough start.

Even more indicative of trepidation among Georgia Republicans, and their fear of a poor harvest in ’08, is the party’s failure — thus far — to field any candidate to challenge the Savannah-based Barrow

Perhaps the Bush Dogs can help bring Republican challengers (fearful of being the only GOP loser in this reddest of red states) out of the woodwork by continuing the attack* on their own Democratic incumbent.

* I note that Stoller specifically says, “Remember, this is not an attack, it’s a profile so we can get to know these people and eventually persuade them to do the right thing.” However, the linked Bush Dog profile (written one year ago - that’s all the Bush Dog campaign can muster?) is a self-described attack on Barrow, “Five minutes after I finished writing the attack...on his friend Barrow, the phone rang and… sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and the time to throw the rascals out isn’t only about Republicans but also about throwing out Democrats who vote for them.”

A recipe for a Republican district if ever there was one. While on the topic, it’s also worth noting that though Georgia’s 12th was once “gerrymandered to dump lots of African-Americans in one bizarrely shaped district wigglin’ and wagglin’ all over the state to create a Democratic seat,” that was undone in 2004 leaving Barrow in a much more precariously Democratic district.