Georgia's New Leadership?

Today, let's look at the governor's, lieutenant governor's, and secretary of state race, and realize why the primaries next week (July 18) don't amount to a hill of beans in most cases.

GOVERNOR

7/14 - Somehow this got deleted when I posted it yesterday. Anyway, Mark Taylor and Cathy Cox have been attacking each other ruthlessly. Because of two other fringe candidates in the field, neither may get 50% which would lead to a runoff. I think Cox will eventually prevail, but no matter who it is, they aren't taking out Sonny, who faces only token opposition in the GOP primary.

LT. GOVERNOR

Jim Martin has been in the Georgia State Assembly for almost 20 years and would be a plausible candidate if he actually had any positions. Candidate is all about health care reform within Georgia but lists nothing else on his website.
Steen Miles is a minor candidate with no political experience.
Rufus Terrill is running in the wrong party's primary.
Griffin Lotson seems like a very nice guy, but doesn't seem to have the experience or connections necessary despite what is listed on his website. Not to mention no plan for what he would do if elected.

Winner: Almost certainly will be Greg Hecht. I don't know if he'll avoid a runoff with Miller, but should prevail one way or the other.

Republicans:
Casey Cagle and Ralph Reed have set a new low in their attack ads. In the last two weeks, we've had accusations of bribery, fraud, money laundering, running sweatshops, child prostitution, forced abortions, tax evasion, and foreign amnesty. I will probably end up voting for Reed, as I prefer his position on taxation - Cagle is one of the "fair-tax" nutjobs a la Boortz & Linder. Right now, it's too close to call - no polls have them more than 3 points apart.

In the general election, I see this staying Democratic, for the same reason I see the governor's house staying Republican - too much bloodshed and damage from the primary, leading into the general election. The Democratic battle hasn't been nearly as nasty as the Republican battle.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Democrats: Gail Buckner, Darryl Hicks, Scott Holcomb, Angela Moore, Walter Ray, Shyam Reddy. I don't know much about any of these candidates, but they all have websites.

Republicans: Charlie Bailey, Karen Handel, Bill Stephens. Stephens has tried to bring this race into the muck but, thankfully, has been failing.

Handel has done a great job as Fulton County Commissioner and should win both the primary and the general election, and as a former volunteer on her FCC campaign, I hope that does happen. I can't access any current polls to get a better idea of where this race currently stands.

Tomorrow - congressional races, and any other notable elections/issues on the ballot.