GEORGIA TEN-- NOT ON MANY PEOPLE'S MINDS

So what happened in Georgia today? Not much in the way of participatory democracy. Like we explained on Monday, the Republican field was atrocious-- the very worst of the pernicious Know Nothing fear and loathing that have made The South a hopeless political swamp since England started sending convicts and idlers to colonize it in the early eighteenth century. As expected, racist, xenophobe and all around bigoted ignoramus Jim Whitehead won-- but not outright. The last time I looked at the Secretary of State's site, 87% of the precincts were accounted for and Whitehead was leading with 41%, Marlow coming in second with 22% and Broun, an even further right maniac and hate-monger than Whitehead, was nipping at Marlow's heels with 21%. (Greene, the one who wants to build walls around everything and seal America in saran-wrap had only appealed to 3% of his fellow northeast Georgians. In fact, two other Democrats were running ahead of Greene.

I noticed this morning that ole Mac Collins, the former Republican extremist congressloon who tried, unsuccessfully, to win his seat back last year from pro-war right-wing Democrat Jim Marshall wants to try again. With progressives finding no reason whatsoever to go to the polls and support someone as reactionary as Marshall, he came closer to any other Democratic incumbent in the House to losing his seat in a breakthrough year for Democrats. Out of almost 160,000 votes, Marshall only outpolled Collins by 1,752. Another extremist maniac, retired Air Force Major General Rick Goddard, has already declared he's running for the GOP nomination. I imagine he and Collins will get into a pissing contest of who's further to the right-- which is kind of like trying to figure out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Like the contest we just watched in GA-10, immigration will be the big issue. These folks don't care who they hate as long as some demagogue can direct it somewhere. Collins wrote an Op-Ed for the local paper called "Mr. President, On Immigration You Are Dead Wrong!!!"

Collins is trying to make hay out of Marshall's vote for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker. I suppose a vote for someone as corrupt as Denny Hastert, Collins' idea of a Speaker would have been preferable. Too bad Marshall doesn't have the balls to ask Collins how he feels about his Speaker covering up-- for years for predatory child-molester Mark Foley (R-FL). Now that's a Republican Speaker of the House. And speaking about votes for your party's leadership, is anyone going to ask Mac Collins about why he consistently voted for Tom DeLay, an indicted criminal?

MANANA IS ELECTION DAY IN GEORGIA'S 10TH CD AND THE FRONT-RUNNER SAYS CESAR CHAVEZ IS TEACHING ARAB TERRORISTS TO IMPERSONATE MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS

When right wing extremist Charlie Norwood succumbed to cancer in March, Georgia's governor set up a special election for June 19th-- tomorrow. It's a deep red district, although when Athens was gerrymandered into it-- in order to knock out reactionary and quasi-Democrat John Barrow (which didn't work)-- GA-10 looked a little less red and a little reddish purple. But mostly reddish.

You haven't heard much about the campaign, mostly because there hasn't been much of a campaign. Everyone assumes tire salesman/state Senator Jim Whitehead (R), who's been endorsed by the GOP establishment and the Widow Norwood, will win the seat. There's been some speculation that if the Democratic front runner, Jim Marlowe, does respectably well it harbingers ill for the Republicans in 2008.

I was looking over the campaign platforms yesterday and it was pretty astounding. They're all so extreme right back there. Each one tries to out-loon the other-- especially when it comes to immigration, where you just can't be crazy enough. One kook, Paul Broun, Jr., wants to build a wall not just from California to the Gulf of Mexico but one separating us from Canada too. And one of the other GOP maniacs, Bill Greene, claimed "we don't know whether they're here for a job or they're here to slit our throats." Meanwhile no one knows precisely what Whitehead stands for since he's refused to debate the other candidates.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution compared his shying away from the public forum to vampire-like behavior. They claim it might be because if he appears in public he might be asked to defend his bizarre comments.

His handlers have apparently advised him that the less he says in public, the better off he'll be, and given Whitehead's record, there's wisdom in that advice. At one point, for example, Whitehead charged that "left-wing political activists" were "intentionally registering illegal aliens to vote, including known al-Qaida terrorists." He has also argued that the war in Iraq isn't a big deal in the 10th District, and in 2004 joked that liberal Athens, which is in the district, should be bombed while saving the University of Georgia football team.

Whitehead's website doesn't really say much except that illegal immigration is a threat and he'll never vote for amnesty and that he'll protect "Georgia values," a dog whistle which can mean whatever one takes it to mean. In fact it looks like the whole campaign is about the dangers of illegal immigration. I live in L.A. but it sounds like all the problems are in rural Georgia. According to Whitehead "Venezuelan President Cesar [sic] Chavez is 'teaching al-Qaeda and people like that, terrorists, how to come across the border, look like Mexicans, act like Mexicans and understand how to talk in this country. They're coming across just as fast as the Mexicans cross.'... Terrorists receive training in Venezuela before crossing the border, Senator Whitehead said. But it's more of an educational system than training camps, which would be targets for military action, he said. He said he would support a pre-emptive strike on Venezuela if facts justify it." Congress needs another one like this, right?

Democrat Jim Marlow sounds rational compared to these insane Republicans. Unfortunately, what he sounds like is a mainstream conservative, not like a Democrat. That's an improvement over the half dozen kooks to the right of mainstream conservatism. And, unlike them, he does at least acknowledge that there is a war going on-- and going badly, in a place called Iraq. I guess he'd be another John Barrow or Jim Marshall, better than a Republican but... not much better. Except these Republicans are so much worse than most Republicans that... well, it's like this toxic downward spiral. Damn, I'm glad I don't live anywhere near that place!

No one expects Marlow to win. But... if Whitehead doesn't get 50% tomorrow, there'll be a run-off in a month. And... well Whitehead would probably win at that time. At least Whitehead will bring some good belly laughs to the House.




PRE-POLL OPENING UPDATE

Georgians-- the caucasians who aren't from the Caucasus-- have always been more susceptible to rabble-rousing and demagoguery than most people. They may like the cheap labor but they can't abide the dark-skinned foreigners living among them and talking a strange and incomprehensible language. Did you ever notice that when most people from Georgia hear someone speaking another language, they immediately assume that something bad is being said-- about them? And besides they just know every immigrant only has one thing in mind: despoiling Georgia. One more thing-- would it surprise you to know that the turn-out for this repulsive set of candidates will be in the vicinity of 10%?

SPECIAL ELECTION-- GEORGIA-10

Last year was a bad year for Republican members of Congress at the polls. Even many who managed to retain their seats saw big drops in support. Democrats are busy targeting House districts where Republican margins dropped by 5-10% points. That, however, isn't the case in what was Charlie Norwood's rural northwest Georgia district. Sure, the winds of change even blew through this deep, deep red Republican district-- Bush took it with 72% against Kerry-- but not in any meaningful way. In 2002 Norwood won with 73%. In 2004 he took 74%, even more than Bush, but last year he "only" got 67%. Normally it wouldn't even be worth the Democrats giving it a second look-- other than for long-term party building.

Last year Charlie Norwood, a far right extremist, spent $1.1 million to retain his seat. Terry Holley, the Democrat, managed to raise $24,000. But everything changed when Norwood died and the governor called a special election for June 19 to fill his seat. Two wingnut Republicans, State Senator Jim Whitehead and a physician, Paul Broun, are in on the Dark Side. Local Democrats met this weekend and got behind James Marlow, a technology businessman. I suspect a big factor in this support is the expectation that he will spend more than $24,000. Holley is running again.

There is no primary, which means that more than one member of the same party may face off against each other. If no one receives more than 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters.