GEORGIA ON MY MIND

The Democrats didn't lose one Senate seat, one governorship or one House seat in last week's national elections. The gross gains and the net gains were the exact same numbers. They almost lost two seats, both in Georgia. Is it because Georgia marches to a different drummer? Maybe. But considering that the two congressmen who nearly lost their seats, Jim Marshall and John Barrow, are as likely to vote with Republicans on substantive issues as with Democrats and have, indeed, supported the catastrophic Bush-Republican-corporate agenda almost across the board, maybe George voters were more in sync with the national mood than analysts grave them credit for.

This led to a discussion about the 2008 Georgia senate race which will pit their abysmal first term junior senator, Saxby Chambliss, against the first Democrat he's had to face since he disgraced his way into office through a combination of electronic voting machine tampering and a multimillion dollar barrage of shameless television spots painting decorated war hero Max Cleland as a pal of Osama bin-Laden's. (Even Republicans like John McCain and Chuck Hagel-- respectively-- called Chambliss' ads "worse than disgraceful; it's reprehensible" and "beyond offensive.") Although Pat Mitchell, former CEO of PBS is rumored to be considering making the race, no one in our discussion group was optimistic-- except... your truly. I think Georgia is ready to make up for a great wrong they made when they tossed out Cleland. I'd love to see a re-match.

One of the centers of progressive values and principles in Georgia is the music/college town of Athens. A DWT friend and supporter there, Bertis Downs, has sent me some information about the run-off election for mayor coming up. It's important on several levels, one of which is because the issues at play there are similar to local municipal issues, which touch peoples' lives very directly, all over the country. Bertis' report:

FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN ATHENS, GA POLITICS-- OR JUST ANOTHER RACE

-by Bertis Downs

Those of us in Athens GA involved in local politics don't yet have the luxury of taking the break that the rest of you are enjoying about now-- we have a runoff in the mayoral election. Our incumbent Mayor, Heidi Davison, is a smart, effective, progressive former schoolteacher who has a solid record of accomplishment in her first four years in office. Her approach to issues of growth, economic development, environmental and neighborhood protections, open government and poverty amelioration have been inclusive, professional, fact-based and rational.
 
Of course, not being part of the town's traditional good-old-boy network, she has ruffled many feathers, especially of people who expect their mayor to be beholden to those who would just as soon pave Athens into another faceless Atlanta suburb. The well-financed developer/Chamber crowd has supported a nice enough guy named Charlie Maddox, who runs pretty much entirely on convenient platitudes like "common sense," "leadership" and "against special interests" (seemingly code for grassroots neighborhood, environmental, and alternative transportation groups, who Charlie's pals seem to think have too much power in Athens these days-- oh if only it were so!). One of his many billboards around town literally says: Charlie Maddox: A Better Today, A Better Tomorrow.   OK!?!

Anyway, for anyone who follows Athens’ distinctive culture or politics, or is just inclined to get behind a deserving candidate in a tough run-off election, please go to her site and make a donation and while you're there, take a look at Heidi's positions.

-Bertis

UPDATE: WHERE'S THE PARTY?

Municipal elections in Georgia are non-partisan. There's no way to know that Heidi is a progressive Democrat and that her opponent is a Chamber of Commerce/countryclub Republican. A local newspaper, The Flagpole laid it all out nicely in an editorial last month:

The latest campaign finance reports confirm the strong Republican and developer push behind mayoral candidate Charlie Maddox and the Democratic (and R.E.M.) support for Mayor Heidi Davison... Oddly enough, the new non-partisan local elections have empowered the Republicans. It's okay to be a Republican now, because you don't have to suffer the embarrassment of that sparse, separate primary. And your candidate isn't branded with that shameful red R, but can blend in with the rest, undetected except by those in the know. It's the best of both worlds for the Republicans.

There is, of course, a reason that the Republican and developer persuasion is in the minority here in Athens and that the Democrats and R.E.M. represent the majority. Because Athens is unusual-- unique in Georgia, really-- it doesn't fit standard small-town specs. Those who "get it" understand that the strength of Athens draws directly from its difference; those who don't get it keep trying to make Athens just like every other ville where unchecked development has bulldozed local character: Lawrenceville, Snellville, Loganville, etc.

An oddity of Athens is that a lot of hometown folks have taken its special qualities for granted, or seen them as a resource to be developed, while "outsiders" like a lot of University faculty and R.E.M. and others have understood the spirit of Athens and have sought to preserve and protect it.

And R.E.M. has led the making of Athens into a music town-- another aspect that the Republican crowd doesn't get-- and a large part of the music scene is that Athens is this weird, wonderful, funky, laid-back, picturesque small town-- everything that the developers want to pave over.

Mayor Davison gets it. She understands our Athens. She is a part of it. She shows up downtown and everywhere when her mayoral presence is needed for some benefit or project, but she's also there because she knows our town and enjoys it. She appreciates Athens for what it is and for what it can become, and she likes the music and the musicians.

Where else would a You Tube campaign video call the candidate "crazy?" The candidate the video was supporting!