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18 comments:
According to thegreenpapers.com, Ralph Hudgens is now the acting congressman for District 10...
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G07/GA.phtml#H10
I couldn't seem to find any confirmation of the Governor appointing him anywhere, but I am assuming this is legit (thegreenpapers is usually pretty on the spot with these things)...
Is Sonny trying to make Ralph the presumptive favorite in a special election?
If so, will Ralph give up his state senate seat, and we'll have yet another special election?
Jason
I believe the link above only cites the names of the candidates who have declared for the office. Hudgens is not the "acting congressman" since no one is appointed in the interim. He may be "acting" like a congressman, declaring his candidacy before Norwood even died, but he ain't no congressman.
The seat stays vacant until Perdue calls for a special election, as I understand it.
Good catch on the news, DD. I was about to click over to blogger and type "Let the Games Begin" but yours is much more tasteful ;>
It gets tricky because no current office holders can campaign during the session... so Perdue will try to put it off as long as possible, so that whoever he's backing for it (assuming it is a current office holder) will have as much time as possible to launch a campaign...
I'm not sure how many democrats are going to get into the race, Terry Holley is sure acting like he's got that sown up... but he lost so miserably, and did such an awful job as a candidate, frankly... didn't raise any money, didn't grow an org on the ground, didn't do any real footwork... I hate for the Dems to be stuck w/him. But who, y'all? Brainstorm, please:
Seriously, we need a candidate! Do you know any small town folks, maybe elected officials, who would or could launch a better race than Terry "I'm in charge here" Holley?
Think, people, think!
For the record, Hudgens said he will resign his state senate seat to run for the 10th. This obviously sets up a vacancy for his seat. So who are the main players for either side?
I do think the possibility of a coincidence with the States McCarter seat special election or the recall in North High Shoals could increase the amount of Athenian/Oconeean influence on the election, but I damn sure don't want Ralph Hudgens anywhere near Washington representing my ass
What class act!
Ralph Hudgins is announcing and setting up a campaign even before the Norwood vistiation and funeral has been set.
Brian Kemp lives in that district now, wouldn't that be sweet, if he got the seat he helped strengthen for Ralphy dearest?
Then he'd be sitting right beside his brother in law. I pretty much expect this to happen. I wonder who we will get to run for either of those seats... or if anyone will try hudgens district again, that was an awful loss for Mac Rawson.
I can't find when the 'qualifying' period for this special election ends - if you can call it that. Can anyone tell me, or are we just waiting for word from Sonny?
Terry Holley appears to be the only Democrat right now, but Jane Kidd's comments in the Blake Aued's article yesterday sounded very cautious. Are they waiting to see if Mac will enter the race?
There seems to be a small faction of Holley-haters out there. I know about his campaign manager leaving over the pay issue, but what has he done to offend other Democrats? He seems like the logical choice after JUST working the whole 10th District in November - I was surprised the state party didn't immediately get behind him.
Nobody knew his campaign manager, he was from New Hampshire or someplace. A foreigner, in other words.
I don't know anybody who is a Holley hater, it's about getting some actual work done to build a party in the 10th.
He failed to raise even 30 thousand dollars for his race, and didn't involve people from North Georgia at all. North meaning north of either Athens or Augusta. He is an old school politician, meaning that he believes that power comes from the top. He has never won a race, except for 10th District Chair, and ~rumor~ has it that he had to resort to nasty, nasty tactics to do that. Kind of like the whisper campaign against Harold Ford, really, like, "she's coming after your wives and girlfriends!". (His competition lives an alternative lifestyle, has a critically ill partner of long standing (decades,I think) and raises donkeys, for pete's sake.)
No Democrat has really "worked" that district since Don Johnson in 1994. We have no real party there at all, except for some very dedicated and hard working candidates, representatives and committees kind of scattered around. No party meaning no real sharing of resources. Say I wanted to canvass in Hartwell this Saturday. He couldn't tell me who to call, doesn't have an email list he could post to for me, and sure as hell hasn't got a walk list or any idea of how to generate one. Period.
This race is not going to be won by a Democrat. We need a team player, someone for whom this race would be as much a learning experience as it is going to be for the party. Someone who would have the interests of the party at heart, not just run to his own benefit.
That said, I'm not suggesting we just throw some poor niave progressive in there to work their butts off and lose like hell... I think we should find a good conservative Dem (yes, I said that!) who can really put together a few key issues to run on, stick to them, raise a butt load of buckage in a short amount of time (at least State Senate campaign money, Carol Jackson raised something like 150 thousand bucks for her race against Nan 'make em get an ultrasound before they get an abortion' Schaeffer). Someone who can build a team of loyal hard workers, who will throw a ton of mail out there, charm the heck out of the media, (or at least return their calls) knows the nuts and bolts of phoning, basic house and county party events, and fundraising. Someone, in other words, who is competent.
That's all I'm sayin'. I hate to settle for mediocre again. I'm afraid on such short notice we don't have a lot of options.
If we end up w/him, I'm still going to be working on growing the party in the 10th. But I'm not going to work to get him elected. Not even a little bit. He hasn't earned my vote, (he had someone call me to ask me for it last cycle, lol, and I'm not kidding!) but he'll get it anyway, because I am a Democrat.
Thing is, as a volunteer I am the decider. And I get to decide not to lift a finger for him except at the voting machine.
I hope people w/in the sound of this blog will plug into their local party, or if you don't have one, the one next door. Both Oconee and Oglethorpe county parties have been kicking some bootay. Madison County too, for such a new group!
There's also NO excuse not to support the young Dems that are really the future of the party as far as I'm concerned. Write them a check. There's even a group out at the North Oconee High School, started by Karen Solheim, who is one of the secretaries of the CDCC.
There is a lot of great stuff going on in the tenth district. Terry, however, ain't the one for me, or us, IMHO.
Very Concerned Democrat
Well said.
This is a real test for us as a party. While democrats nationwide saw a good year in 2006, Georgia democrats were left out in the cold. We're woefully underfunded, have (had) no cohesive leadership, and no "rising stars" to speak of. The last thing we need is a loser like Holley stepping up again.
And I don't mean "loser" in some juvenile, playground way -- I mean it literally. He just finished losing a race for this seat to a guy on the edge of death. OK, a really popular guy on the edge of death, but still... The bigger issue is how badly he ran his campaign, and how little impact he had. He doesn't deserve a second chance to lose again.
If we are going to rebuild this party, we're going to need money, people, and lots of it. If Holley can't step up and raise even half of what Carol Jackson did in a state race, then that's it, he's done. He doesn't deserve our support, and if Jane's comments in the paper mean he's not going to get the state party's support, then I, for one, see that as a sign of good things to come under her leadership. Nothing personal, but we need winners in this party, or at the very least, candidates who bust ass and go down swinging -- those are candidates who live to fight another day.
Terry, for the good of the party -- for the future of the party, do the right thing and step out of the way.
Another very concerned democrat.
I don't think its fair to blame Holley for the fact that Republicans out-vote Democrats consistently in rural areas (we could get into how shitty and useless the DPG is to county parties, but that's for another day). And I believe Holley did better than either of the last two contenders against Norwood, who was seriously ill in 2004 too.
If you had a Michael Thurmond or a Tommy Irvin or someone with a long career and reputation, you might have a shot at it... who else ya got?
anonymous 8:56 writes: "If you had a Michael Thurmond or a Tommy Irvin or someone with a long career and reputation, you might have a shot at it... who else ya got?"
For what it's worth, I've "heard" a rumor Keith Heard is mulling the race.
lol, wish he would, then we could go ahead and put Nancy Denson in his seat, which is going to happen soon whether he likes it or not.
anonymous 2:29
very funny - unfortunately there is no way that Nancy Denson would beat Keith Heard. African-Americans make up a vast majority of the democratic primary and it wouldn't matter even if everyone knew he doesn't live in Athens. Nancy Denson may be the most well liked political figure in Athens, but she'll still lose. She would have a better shot at Congress.
...and I really don't see Keith running for Congress.
I don't think its fair to blame Holley for the fact that Republicans out-vote Democrats consistently in rural areas (we could get into how shitty and useless the DPG is to county parties, but that's for another day). And I believe Holley did better than either of the last two contenders against Norwood, who was seriously ill in 2004 too.
I don't blame him for not getting enough votes. I don't really "blame him" at all. I just think he ran an uninspiring, lackluster campaign. His lack of fundraising was not due to lack of available funding sources, but due to his lack of fundraising efforts. By all accounts, he just gave up on fundraising.
If he did a little better than Norwood's previous opponents, well that's great, but my point above was that his performance as a candidate, judged alone, regardless of whether he won or not, or picked up a few more percentage points that the guy before -- it's his performance that was uninspiring, win or lose, and that's why he should get out of the way. Why should the state party support someone who is eother unwilling or unable to step up and do the fundraising legwork to be a serious contender?
There is no second act in american politics, right? Someone needs to tell Terry that.
that same (another) very concerned democrat.
Voters in ACC will have no real influence on who is elected in either this congressional race or the SD47 seat. We've been effectively neutered by the redistricting.
If Doc and Tom need a hobby, they can run for this congressional seat but neither of them are the type of hard-right extremists that will appeal to majority of the voters outside of ACC. This district isn't going to elect a moderate - they equate moderate with liberal which, for them, equals something like satanic terrorist. Very sad.
SD47 voters may not be quite as bad but Kemp is a lock and anybody else who enters this race will just be another sacrifical lamb and noise maker.
It would be great to have some Dems who are willing to take a beating for the team but, there's no way that a Dem or even a moderate Republican is going to win either of these seats this time around.
The big dumb kids almost always beat the crap out of the smart kids and that's going to be the fate of Athens, especially at the state level, for at least 2 more election cycles.
African Americans, primary, the Democratic vote? lol I'm just sayin'...
have you ever tried to move the African American vote in a primary? or any other race??
take me for granted, won't you? holy cow and
lol
Not to thumb ones nose at anyone,
but I think this thread needs a mention of the entirely
and completely Democratic Mayor and Commish of Athens-Clarke County.
We are and will be and continue to rise.
Redistrict that.
Very Concerned Democrat
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