Friday, December 16, 2005

Update on Cox fundraiser

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Dan Matthews Jr. is a freelance journalist for Oconee Living section of the Athens Banner-Herald. He runs Oconee Politics, a local blog devoted to, well, politics in Oconee County. He submitted this piece concerning Thursday's fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Cathy Cox.]

My hope for the actual election of Democrats in Georgia was greatly increased by Cathy Cox on Thursday evening. She was at the home of Athens attorney Ed Tolley who was asking $150 a head to get in the place. I am of course too poor to pay, and this was not mentioned in the last second telephone invitation I received. Having RSVP'd none the less, there was a lovely pre-printed name tag waiting for me after a hit up for cash at the door.

The Tolleys have an amazing house, and Secretary of State Cox spoke in the TV room. There was a crowd of around 50 people in a fundraiser crowd straight out of 1988 in terms of old-school Democrats. Quite a number of Republicans either attended or donated a check to get the name tags named. Barbara and Vince Dooley were not there but were on the table. Robert Finch was there, as was attorney Kim Michael. Lars Ljungdahl, Upshaw Bentley and many more of the old school folks also attended.

It was a Louise McBee kind of gathering, and she was there. Cathy also referenced Dan Ponder, formerly of McBee's staff, but also a Republican awarded the Kennedy Profile In Courage for a speech on hate crimes a few years back. He also is Cox's campaign manager.

She made an amazing speech appealing for cross-party cooperation in her upcoming term. I am firmly convinced she will be Governor in a few short months. That is not as much of a endorsement as it is an assessment of the race. Elections are generally won or lost a year ahead of time, and Cathy knows she needs to raise many millions very soon. She wants to unite Georgians to do the very best we can in all research facilities. She was critical of the Perdue administration without being too negative and able to offer concrete positive alternatives.

From there it was the Oconee County Christmas gathering at Becky Vaughn's house. It was a great gathering to talk about the great things we are doing for our home. We have a candidate to run against Bob Smith, and it was not the host.

3 comments:

Cufflink Carl said...

Greetings from the beach. I dredged up some internet access. Who's running against Smith?

Anonymous said...

Yea, Dan, you left us hanging!

And I think you should tell us how you really feel about Cathy, lol.

I was spozed to go but really could't swing the check. I hope my name was on the table too...
just to balance out the Dooleys.

aquariusrizing

Anonymous said...

I was favoring Taylor earlier and may still yet vote for him. As a county chair, I have to remain uncommitted.