Yes, There's A Democratic Primary In Georgia… And There's An Actual Democrat Running Against Nunn's Daughter

Democrat Steen Miles on the left; Sam Nunn's daughter on the right, of course

Professional Democrats are very excited. Sam Nunn's daughter-- who is running for the open Georgia Senate seat on the Democratic Party line-- is doing well in the polls. Not only does she absolutely thrash each of the far right-wing extremist congressmen in the race-- GOP sociopaths Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey and Jack Kingston-- she also beats anti-Choice fanatic Karen Handel and the guy with the familiar name no one knows, David Perdue, who is leading the Republican primary pack. Time to celebrate? Not so fast. The Republican primary has been bloody and they are all tearing each other apart like mad, ravenous dogs. And the Democratic primary…? Well, you don't hear much about it. According to the DSCC and the Beltway pundits on their gravy train, Sam Nunn's daughter is the Democratic candidate. End of story. But that's not true.

Former state Sen. Steen Miles and Branko Radulovacki are also running and, unlike Nunn's daughter, they are running as actual Democrats. If Nunn's daughter's platform is that she's the real conservative and the Republicans are just a bunch of reactionary extremists, Miles and Radulovacki have a more recognizably Democratic approach.

“My political philosophy is ‘Together Georgia Forward’ based on proven servant leadership and a moral vision to put people before politics,” said Miles, whose top priority is job creation through education, infrastructure and other means. “Too much is at stake for Georgians and the nation to send a political neophyte to Washington or someone completely out of touch with the issues faced by everyday working and middle class Georgians.”

Radulovacki, a doctor and cancer survivor, said his No. 1 priority is ensuring universal health care is available to all.

“Government exists to serve all of the people, regardless of race, income, gender or party affiliation. Citizens United, extreme partisanship, and career politicians have created a dysfunctional system in Washington that has lost sight of this, and instead serves the few at the expense of the many,” he said. “It will take citizens like me, with courage and conviction, to reclaim government for the people and restore its ability to serve its intended purpose.”

If I were living in Georgia there are two things I could never bring myself to do. I could never vote for one of the dangerous fringy kooks running for the Republican nomination. And I would never vote for San Nunn's daughter, who represents all that's wrong with the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. But, thank God, I'm not a professional Democrat. I'm a progressive American. In his report last week, HaroldMichael Harvey, dissects Nunn's daughter's campaign-- and finds it severely lacking.

As has been her practice during the race, Nunn stayed away from this gathering of Democratic candidates. Her presence on the ticket with Carter in November is not likely to encourage a strong turnout from the Democratic base. Instead, Nunn seems content to woo Republican voters in November.

But Miles, attired in her Democratic cloth suit, did attend the Americus event and made her case for the Democratic nomination. Miles is the daughter of the late Rev. Austin Davis, a Baptist preacher and an assembly line worker at Studebaker in South Bend, Ind.

After this event, Rosalynn Carter said that money doesn't win elections, but votes do.

While she has made rare appearances in the state, Nunn has crisscrossed the country to attend fundraising events that have netted her a hefty campaign kitty.

“With pennies,” Miles said in a recent telephone interview with this reporter, “we have traveled the state to let our views be known to the electorate. We have been to every Democratic county caucus and debate and we are yet to run into Michelle Nunn.”

Asked if she was frustrated with Nunn running away from Democratic Party functions, Miles said, “I take solace in a recent statement made by President Obama.” He said, ‘”We should all be reminded that it is the power of the vote and not the size of the bank account that drives our politics.’”

The DNC’s gamble is that by running Nunn away from traditional Democratic positions, she will be more acceptable to Republican voters. Republicans are chomping at the bit to get at Nunn.

The first wave of Republican attack ads have begun running in the Atlanta television market. They point out that Nunn did not attend public school in Georgia, opting for a private high school in New York.

Meanwhile, Nunn’s ads portray her views as more Republican than Democratic. Nowhere in Nunn’s ads does she mention she is running in the Democratic primary.

In her few public pronouncements on the issues, Nunn supports delaying the implementation of Obamacare. This is in keeping with the dictates of Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who refuses to accept federal money to expand Medicare which so the state’s poorer members could have affordable health care.

Nunn also believes that Justice Department preclearance should not be applied to Georgia, thus eviscerating the effect of the 1965 Voter Rights Act in the state.

“If a candidate is not accountable to the voters during the campaign,” Miles queried this reporter, “how do you expect to hold them accountable once elected?”

On Monday of this week, Nunn flew into Atlanta from a west coast fundraiser to cast her early ballot in a Democratic primary she refuses to acknowledge.

A few days later, Harvey followed up with another assertion that Nunn's daughter is ignoring Democrats entirely and won't even attend any public party functions-- like debates and forums.

According to a SurveyUSA poll taken two weeks ago, Nunn’s chief competitor for the Democratic nomination is Steen Milles, a veteran Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and a former state senator. If the margin of error of 4.7 percent is on the minus side, Miles in poised to force Nunn into a run-off. Yet most mainstream news media accounts of the Democratic primary race will only say that Nunn is the "likely to win."

If elected, Miles would be the first woman to serve in the Senate from Georgia and the second woman to serve since 1922, when 87-year-old segregationist Rebecca Latimer Felton was appointed by Gov. Thomas Hardwick to fill out an expired term.

Also, Miles would be the first African American and the first African American woman elected to the Senate from the Deep South.

...In disclosing certain information from this poll, the AJC declined to report any polling data from the Democratic primary. Their reporters, Greg Bluestein and Daniel Malloy, would only report Nunn as the “likely Democratic nominee.”

When this reporter shared this information with Miles, she queried: “What are the numbers? If Nunn has such a big lead that she is the likely nominee, why won’t they release the numbers?”

Then Miles put on her journalist hat: “Every time the media release a poll,” she said, “they never say what the percentages are between Nunn and me. I know better than that-- they have to know what the numbers are.”

“I am out every day talking to voters. I know what they are telling me about the positions I take on the issues and how frustrated they are with the fact that Nunn does not come out to meet with them,” Miles said.

I don’t know why the public does not have any polling data on the Democratic primary race.

Perhaps the AJC did not poll the Democratic primary given the fact that Georgia is a red state and a Republican is most likely to win in November.

On the other hand, the big bosses may think that the family name of Nunn and $6.5 million in a perfect world should produce a winner.

These assumptions defy the ground game Miles is grinding day in and day out. Political polls tend to disregard unlikely voters and minorities who are drawn to Miles’ message.

Then again, Bluestein asked Miles after a Tuesday-night forum this week, “Why do you think your campaign is doing so well?”

It could be that 10 days from the election, the AJC does not have a clue as to how the race in the Democratic primary is shaping up.