As to your point about him being a formal candidate, Loren Collins chose to run as an independent. He considered himself a voice for, in his own words, “economically conservative Democrats, socially liberal Republicans, classical liberals and libertarians.”

I think someone who follows the rules of the Secretary of State’s office to be an official write-in candidate should be considered a formal candidate. Or maybe you’re happy with the fact that Georgia’s ballot restriction laws have meant that no third party or independent candidate for U.S. House has met the legal requirements to have his name placed on a general election ballot in over 65 years. But why someone would be opposed to more voices being heard and more citizens running for political office is beyond me.

Loren Collins also opposed Hank Johnson in 2006. He appeared at debates that year with Johnson and Republican Catherine Davis, at which, any unbiased observer would state, he was just as knowledgable about policy and current events as the two major party candidates. Loren Collins also created YouTube campaign commericals and maintained a web site and blog.

If someone is truly interested in “change,” then they should understand that labeling a candidate as being credible or not is just a tactic the powers that be use to keep playing the same political game. Four years ago, would anyone have considered Barack Obama to be a credible candidate for president?

In addition to Loren Collins, two other people were qualified write-in candidates against Hank Johnson in 2008: Faye Coffield, a former aide to Cynthia McKinney, and Jacob Perasso, a member of the Socialist Workers Party.

As for your faulty logic behind the assumption that any other member of Congress from Georgia would have gladly “changed places with Hank,” I can think of seven Republican congressmen who would not want to run in the Fourth Congressional District.