Thursday, March 01, 2007

Gossip

According to a blurb over at Peach Pundit there are now ten people in the race for Charlie Norwood's congressional seat, seven of whom are Republicans, two Dems and one "L":

CANDIDATE
Paul Broun Jr., R
Bill Greene, R
Terry Holley, D
Ralph Hudgens, R
Julian Hutchins, R
Evita Paschall, D
Jackie Poteet, R
Nate Pulliam, R
Jim Sendelbach, L
Jim Whitehead, R

I'm assuming Paul Broun, Jr. is related to Paul Broun of the "Paul Broun Parkway" here in Athens, but wasn't Sr. a Democrat?

Speaking of Peach Pundit what's up with their slam of our own intrepid political reporter Blake Aued's comment on the paper's blog that he'd like to see Athens get a fair shake in the upcoming congressional election?

"Good things to say to a majority-conservative district....And too bad for Athens that the next Congressman from the 10th will most likely not reflect the unified'’s politics in pretty much any way."

Yeah, "too bad". The writer, someone named Jeff Emanuel, also goes on to drop the obligatory "People's Republic of Athens" slam, which is something I haven't heard since, oh I dunno, the end of the Soviet Union when the "joke" would still have been kinda relevant.

Meanwhile, back in the 21st Century...

Pete McCommons said in his column yesterday that with Hudgens officially running, Brian Kemp is expected to take over the seat Hudgens is vacating, thus giving he and his brother-in-law Bill Cowsert a solid lock on state Senatorial representation. "Cosy" indeed.

And so far the first two to announce for Commission District 8 following States McCarter's beaming back to the Enterprise, are still the only ones in the race, Andy Herod and David Hamilton. Is that the race?

Dish, folk.

23 comments:

Al_Davison said...

I can't see any way that Whitehead or Kemp lose except for the old jokes about finding them with dead girls or live boys in their beds. These are locks - pure and simple. Those races are over.

I expect the District 8 race to be close. I think it will go to Andy Herod but it would be stupid to count out David Hamilton even at this late stage. Andy seems to have the edge at this point but I knoe David is a very smart, personable guy. The battle will be, of course, Cedar Creek because David will need a substantial margin of victory there to overcome Andy's strength in Green Acres and the surrounding neighborhoods. It will be the only race that will be fun to watch.

Al_Davison said...

oh! and the whole "Jeff Emanuel, also goes on to drop the obligatory "People's Republic of Athens" slam" is just Emanuel channeling John Elliott but, he does that a lot. John Elliott (one or two "t's"?) popularized that phrase about 10 years ago - along with the "Moscow on the Oconee" thing - hyperbole is nothing new to those guys.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was "Berkeley on the Oconee."

Blake

Anonymous said...

Oh, it's definitely the People's Republic. This town has only deepened it's blue as much of the country east of Pelosi and south of Kennedy have moved conservative. Let's examine the leadership...

Was: Doc, Tom Chasteen, Cardee Kilpatrick, Charles Carter, Ken Jordan, John Barrow, etc.

Now: Heidi, Kelly Girtz (Heidi puppet #1), Elton (Heidi puppet #2), Doug Lowry (long time rail sniffer, and I'm not sure where he stands), vacant (Andy would be Heidi puppet #3), David Lynn (Heidi puppet #4, and lover of roads less auto-centric), and lest we forget Alice Kinman (Heidi's closest puppet and #cinco).

I don't mind the liberal vs conservative debate. After all, that's a wonderful check and balance. The problem that I have is the level of control that Al... err... Heidi is obtaining. No one should hold all of the strings. I applaud her savy to accomplish this feat, but it concerns me and scares me. Just being frank.

Anonymous said...

By the way, Paul Broun Jr is the son of Paul Broun Sr. That would be an amazing coincidence if not. I do believe Sen Broun was a long time "D", much in the Sam Nunn sense of the letter. Certainly not in the Pelosi/Kennedy/Byrd sense. Wait a minute... that would mean that you can't judge a person by the letter behind their name. No... can't be. That would take too much thought and imagination. I'd rather vote for the letter.

As for the 8th, it will definitely be close. It will certainly hinge on who turns out their folks on the 20th. David wins if we count signs. Andy's door-to-door efforts may lessen the margin in Cedar Creek. Seems like University folks, who are numerous in SE Clarke, are leaning Andy. That may be the difference. Who knows, though. We'll hope for the best and see who CNN projects at their 7:01 news report that night.

Al_Davison said...

nobody wins unless the majority of the voters are with them...for me, it's nothing more than the home field advantage. When there's a lot more blue than red in the stands, it makes a huge difference...

Polusplanchnos said...

Instead of "Heidi puppet," how about "Heidionette"?

Not that I agree with the thought.

Anonymous said...

I thought about Heidi-ho, but I thought better of it. Until now, of course.

Anonymous said...

By the way, jackasses, it's A-U-E-D. It's not like it's spelled out for you in the paper, oh, every single day or anything.

Sorry for not being Anglo-Saxon.

Blake

Anonymous said...

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's just that in Mayoress Heidi's case, absolute power had a lot less to do to reach that point.

Anonymous said...

I thought Athens' own Jane Kidd was going to recruit a legitimate Democratic candidate for Congress.

Does she believe Holley is that person?

Todd Mitchell said...

Blake writes: "By the way, jackasses, it's A-U-E-D. It's not like it's spelled out for you in the paper, oh, every single day or anything."

Get the f*ck out of here.

"Sorry for not being Anglo-Saxon."

[snicker] Tres fixed.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Blacke Aude is a bit on-edge. Or he just likes to see his name in print, thus seeing it spelled correctly is a must.

Jane is surely recruiting some folks. The silverest bullet that I've heard is former-Mayor Gwen O'Looney. Good lord, though, if that's her best shot I don't think that I would even bother. Other rumors include John Barrow wanting to move closer to home. Oh, he has that Savannah pad for the current seat. But his home is obviously still here. I suppose John and Dougie McKillip study the same residency rules as it pertains to their office. At least John's Savannah camp was ready to live in. The McKillips are still working on their investment-property-turned-homestead-to-qualify-for-this-district-home in 5 Points.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 4:13pm -

You are a political MORON!!! You think that John Barrow is going to give up his current congressional seat to move into 63% a Republican district, not to mention your oral diarrhea regarding Representative McKillp. You must be the most stupid political analyst I have ever heard. You have the political acumen of Ann Coulter.

Jmac said...

Gotta say ... Blake was funny. Sorry Todd.

Anonymous said...

I'm a moron, but you can't read. Or you are so busy putting words in people's mouths that you do it even when you read a blog. I believe my statement was... "Other rumors include John Barrow wanting to move closer to home." Actually, those were my exact words posted just 5 inches above. I didn't create the rumor, I just passed it along. Blake has even heard it as well... just ask him.

Like my "diarrhea" regarding Rep McKillip, it and the truth are sometimes messy.

On both fronts, I apologize for obviously hitting some cord close to your heart. It wasn't intentional.

Al_Davison said...

Heheheee! That thing that Blake wrote about John Barrow was a joke - I mean it was intended to be humorous. It was something that came up in a conversation that he and I were having and we both had a great laugh about it. Ahhh...it's hard to get the context in plain text sometimes...

OK, now you Anons can go back to kicking each other's anonymous backsides though I can't figure why either mine or HerzHonor's needs to be included in any of this...whatever...it's amusing. ;-)

Al

Anonymous said...

Al's right. It's all in good fun.

Mr. Barrah is not moving back here to tilt at windmills. Ditto for Gwen O'Looney.

Terry Holley is not the Democratic candidate of choice and will be encouraged to drop out if someone more likely to win can be recruited.

The only absolute power Heidi has is the power to appoint committees.

And it doesn't matter to me how you spell my name, everyone spells/says it differently. Though I will say that was a new one. Points for creativity.

One day I will learn not to use sarcasm in print ... gets me in trouble every time.

Blake

Todd Mitchell said...

Blake, it must have been the biography of the Aleuts I had just finished.

Ditto my use of sarcasm as well...I'll remember my ;> thingy next time.

Anonymous said...

Jim Marlowe rumored to be #11 and the supposed Democratic saving grace.

Al_Davison said...

Just saw this on Peach Pundit:
http://www.peachpundit.com/2007/03/09/hudgens-to-drop-out/

Sorry, I can't remember how to make a linky thing and I don't care. ;-)

Anyway, if Ralph drops out, a lot of the Republican leadership is not going to be happy because they were hoping to get rid of him. That's according to well-placed Republican sources whom I will not name. ;-)

thepinkpanther said...

Why doesn't Brian just run for Congress? He already has state-wide name recognition from his campaign for ag commissioner.

Al_Davison said...

I don't think Brian Kemp is quite as ultra-conservative as he would need to be to be elected in the 10th. Sure there are some isolated pockets of liberal and moderate voters in the 10th but not enough to win an election.

Winning in the 10th takes good ol' bible-thumping hatred for gays and Mexicans and Muslims and wrapping yourself in the flag with "Support Our Troops" tatooed on your forehead. That might not be enough but it would meet the minimum requirements, I think. ;-)