Your morning jolt: John Barrow as a political condor of interest
Suddenly awarded the status of an endangered species, U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah – the last white Democratic member of Congress from the Deep South – is a man getting a lot of attention.
U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga. at a 2006 forum in Vidalia/AP
My AJC colleague Daniel Malloy in Washington was on the phone with Barrow on Wednesday afternoon, even as the state Legislature was handing him a newly drawn 12th District they hope will result in his ouster from Congress.
“This isn’t the first time that politicians in the state house have redrawn these districts in an attempt to reverse the outcome of my election, and I don’t suspect this will be the last,” the five-term congressman said.
The new 12th District is much more hostile for Barrow. According to an AJC analysis, Republicans have given themselves a 20-point advantage in the new district, in part by removing Chatham County and Savannah. The African-American voting population has been decreased from 42 percent to 33 percent.
Barrow said the shift does not bother him.
“I plan to run as the kind of Democrat that I’ve always been,” he said. “Someone that puts the interests of his district ahead of either team in Congress. I work with folks on all sides.”
Barrow, a Blue Dog Democrat who has voted against his party on such major items as the health care reform law, said his independent streak is well-known to voters in his new district — who adjoin his current one. He said he intends to keep up his current practice of getting out and introducing himself to as many people as possible.
Barrow hasn’t decided on a new residence, though it’s clear that he’ll have to move out of Savannah. (Republicans forced him to move from his native Athens in 2006.)
The congressman declined to address the racial polarization represented by the new Georgia congressional map, which, if it accomplishes Republicans’ stated goal, will transform Georgia’s delegation into 10 white Republicans and four black Democrats. But Barrow did point a finger at politically minded redistricting as a root cause for ideological polarization in Washington.
“This process at the state level is driving excessive partisanship at the national level,” he said. “The old saw is people hate Congress and love their congressman. What they don’t realize is there are subtle forces that make that happen. I suspect that congressmen today are probably more representative of their districts than anytime before. …
“It’s the districts that they represent are unrepresentative of the states and the country as a whole. That’s the real driving force.”
***
Over at the Savannah Morning News, Larry Peterson points out that Barrow has one advantage — $655,422 already tucked away for his re-election bid.
***
Politico.com, too, has delved into Barrow’s chances, interviewing not just Roy Barnes, but the fellow in charge of the former governor’s 2010 attempt to turn back the GOP tide:
Chris Carpenter, a Democratic consultant in the state and former top Barnes aide, predicted that Barrow would focus narrowly on local issues and seek to paint himself as independent of a national Democratic Party that is out of favor in his more GOP-oriented district.
“He will have to run as independent of Obama,” said Carpenter. “He’s going to try to make the race as local as possible.”
Keith Mason, a former chief of staff to ex-Georgia Gov. Zell Miller who has known Barrow for nearly three decades, said the congressman’s conservative record had helped him survive in the past – and that it could again in 2012. Running from the center, said Mason, would make a “compelling” message for Barrow.
“The fact that he withstood a challenge from the left helped him withstand a challenge from the right in the general,” he said.
***
Now, for the sticklers: Some of you have questioned Barrow’s status as the last white Democrat from the Deep South, noting that North Carolina has three white Democratic members of Congress. Here’s the Wikipedia definition:
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the “Upper South” as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period. The Deep South was also commonly referred to as the Lower South or the “Cotton States.”
North Carolina is in what’s considered the Upper South.
***
Three state lawmakers on Wednesday appeared at the side of GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain at the state Capitol.
The Cain campaign, in the press release that followed, awarded the trio with the description of “key.” Which could work, depending on the lock involved.
All are fine and upstanding fellows, but one wouldn’t normally consider them ranking members of the General Assembly.
State Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, is a freshman, and state Rep. Rusty Kidd of Milledgeville is an independent with no leadership duties. State Rep. Billy Maddox, R-Zebulon, is the only one of the three with a committee to call his own. It is in charge of code revisions.
Cain, whose campaign headquarters is in Stockbridge, also noted that the candidate dropped in to converse with Gov. Nathan Deal and a “Lt. Gov. Casey Kagle.” Who might be related to that radio guy, Casey Kasem.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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27 comments Add your comment
Ric
September 1st, 2011
10:50 am
Barrow has no spine. I have no problem with moderates, but Barrow is no moderate. He merely uses centrism as a guise for his lack of a spine.
Last year Barrow sent out two campaign mailers on the same day — one to the conservative parts of the district boasting about “standing up to the Obama administration” and another one to liberal parts bragging about “working hand in hand” with President Obama.
I’m ashamed to live in his district and I look forward to having him gone. Unfortunately, he will likely be replaced with a spineless neocon.
honested
September 1st, 2011
10:58 am
Ric,
Spot on!
tom mitchell
September 1st, 2011
11:01 am
John Barrow should do much better than anyone expects. He is a strong campaigner and already has a war chest. The current crop of Tea Party Republicans have demonstrated they will drive the country into a ditch just to get their way. The bloom will be off the Tea Party’s rhetoric by next year.
Will
September 1st, 2011
11:13 am
North Carolina is the Upper South, but in fact has six white Democrats in Congress: G.K. Butterfield (1), David Price (4), Mike McIntyre (7), Larry Kissell (8), Heath Shuler (11), and Brad Miller (13).
Mr. KnowitAll
September 1st, 2011
11:32 am
Down here in the “Deep South” we call a politician who speaks one way with one audience, and another way with a different audience—a scalawag—ALWAYS to get reelected. .
Barrow will say anything to anybody to get reelected.
He has no principles~~~~other than getting reelected.
Ric
September 1st, 2011
11:52 am
Mr. KnowitAll is absolutely right.
I worked for one of his GOP opponents who didn’t make it out of the primary last year, so I got quite an earful of Barrow stump speeches (the ones he bothered to show up to, that is).
In Columbia County and upscale parts of Savannah, he would sound polished and professional. In predominantly black areas of Chatham, Richmond, and Taliaferro counties, he’d pander. In the rural white parts of the district, he’d put on a thick “good ole boy” accent.
T.E.
September 1st, 2011
12:55 pm
Well, I hope the two of you one day decide to familiarize yourself with American Political Thought…specifically early APT. Our entire political system has been built upon the idea that reelection should be the ultimate goal.
Last Man Laying Down
September 1st, 2011
12:56 pm
Legally doesn’t have to be a citizen of the district to run in it, but practically it makes sense.
Red
September 1st, 2011
1:32 pm
Ric – welcome to microtargeting. With the accumulation of a broad range of data, candidates can pinpoint who gets very specific messages. It used to be a single vague message being sent to the whole district. Now they can send specific messages – blue collar union types, artsy activists, gun toting NASCAR fans, etc. Information is changing politics.
Retired Solider
September 1st, 2011
1:39 pm
Anyone that thinks Pelosi should be Speaker of the House should go.
Raquel Morris
September 1st, 2011
1:58 pm
@Will,
Congressman Butterfield is Black.
greencracker
September 1st, 2011
2:03 pm
Code-switching? IE, putting on a good-’ol-boy accent in the places it’s called for? Taking it off otherwise? I do it. It’s wise. If I get pulled over in Mississippi, I’m not going to bust out any 25 cent words I learned in college. I’m going to say I reckon I mighta been goin a little fast and I’m gwine downta see my mamma and’dem, sur.
Frederick Douglass
September 1st, 2011
2:11 pm
Raquel Morris
@Will,
Congressman Butterfield is Black.
Who knew the G.K. stood for Ghengis Khan huh?
Diehard
September 1st, 2011
2:46 pm
Barrow was an accidental congressman who fulfilled his sainted mother’s hope and dream of birthing a liberal LBJ democrat to DC. Go west, Congressman Barrow, your chances are better there now . . . stop in Chicago, become a community organizer, run for President. . . make your Momma proud.
Savannah Moderate
September 1st, 2011
3:26 pm
Ric and Mr. KnowitAll, can you name one politician that DOESN’T pander to different audiences? Every politician says that it’s his/her goal to do what’s right, but the only goal that most of them have is to get re-elected, and they will do whatever they can to achieve that goal. This is a flaw of the system as a whole rather than a flaw in the character of individual politicians. As Ric admits, if Barrow loses, he’ll only be replaced by a Republican who panders to the same extent, if not to a greater extent.
Retired Soldier, Barrow doesn’t think that Pelosi should be speaker of the house. When Republicans took control of the house at the beginning of this year, Barrow voted AGAINST Pelosi’s re-election to the Democrat leadership.
Can anybody put forth a valid reason as to why Barrow should not be re-elected, other than the fact that after his name comes one letter rather than another? Despite being a Democrat, Barrow is conservative and smart, and he has worked tirelessly for the interests of his constituents. He voted against the bank bailout, Obamacare, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, cap and trade, etc. You name the bill that raised taxes or unnecessarily expanded federal oversight – he voted against it. Also, as a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, he has done more for his district’s veterans than Tommie Williams, Ray McKinney, or any Republican who wants to challenge him. He voted against the repeal of Obamacare simply because that Republican effort in the House was a waste of time. The Democrat-controlled Senate never would have approved of the repeal, and even if it had, Obama never would have approved of it. Barrow wants to use his constituents’ tax dollars as efficiently as possible by forgoing such worthless legislative endeavors in which the symbolism outweighs the substance.
Retired Solider
September 1st, 2011
3:52 pm
Moderate-
He may have but you can’t take many votes at face value, why? Because they are given a pass by leadership and they know the measure will pass or fail regardless of their vote. Example, Dems that voted against Obamacare, they would have had the LBJ treatment if their vote meant passage or failure.
How to stop or limit pandering? Term limits.
Question- If you like that Barrow votes like a republican, why not vote for the real thing?
Savannah Moderate
September 1st, 2011
4:33 pm
Retired Soldier,
I don’t follow your first point about not being able to take many votes at face value. The ratification of Obamacare was an extremely long and drawn out process precisely because Blue Dog Dems like Barrow were getting “the LBJ treatment”. On that issue, despite personally taking a lot of heat from both Obama and Pelosi, Barrow stood up for what was right and voted against Obamacare.
I agree with your point about term limits. Term limits could curb the pandering, but there are few politicians that would ever support such legislation. As I mentioned before, almost every politician’s primary goal is to get re-elected, and a bill legislating term limits would be antagonistic to that goal.
As for your question as to why I don’t want to vote for “the real thing”: I, like John Barrow, am a moderate. I want neither “real” Republicans nor “real” Democrats because more and more often nowadays those two (in disjunction) are bringing the operation of government to a state of paralysis. While the big-government whackadoodles on the left and the pigheaded, tea party yoohoos on the right (the two groups that roughly evenly share the bulk of power in Congress) can’t come to an agreement about anything, our country is circling the drain. Many moderates like Barrow, on the other hand, are conservative and principled, but they can compromise when that’s what our country needs. Moderates like John Barrow are our country’s last hope.
Retired Solider
September 1st, 2011
4:49 pm
Moderate-
You simply don’t understand the process if you think blue dogs weren’t given a pass on votes by leadership. The”heat” from Pelosi and Obama would have come ONLY if it was in danger of not passing.
That is why we need a constitutional amendment for term limits, a balanced budget and repeal of the income tax to be replaced by the Fair tax.
Ric
September 1st, 2011
5:03 pm
Well I certainly can’t think of many politicians who pander to the extent that Barrow does. It’s one thing to tailor your message to the audience, but it’s quite another to send out two diametrically opposed mailers one the same day.
As I’ve already said, I think centrism and moderation is a good thing in politics. After all, our state motto is “wisdom, justice, and moderation.” Even if I didn’t always agree with Jim Marshall, I at least had some respect for him because I usually knew where he stood on the issues. Now that Laurens County is in the 12th, I’d love to see DuBose Porter run as the Democratic nominee instead of Barrow. Again, I may disagree with him o some issues, but he’s a principled moderate with a backbone.
All I want is a congressman (or woman) I can trust. But when you can’t decide whether you’re standing up to the Obama administration or working hand in hand with it, it’s difficult to take you seriously.
Savannah Moderate
September 1st, 2011
5:08 pm
Retired Soldier,
Do you have a footnote to educate me on “the process”? Here’s mine: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/102889-house-dems-not-showing-barrow-the-money-after-his-vote-on-health-reform.
The article reads, “Barrow attracted widespread criticism from the left after voting against the final health reform bill earlier this year.” And Obamacare WAS in danger of not passing. Bills that aren’t in danger of passing don’t take 14 months to pass Congress, the way Obamacare did.
A constitutional amendment for term limits would be great, but such an amendment would first have to pass Congress (i.e. the politicians whose terms would be limited by such an amendement) before it goes to the states. The politicians would never pass such an amendment.
12th resident
September 1st, 2011
5:17 pm
For all the kavetching about Barrow riding the middle: if his district is currently 49% Republican and 51% Democratic, wouldn’t voting for some Republican issues and some Democratic issues be in the best interest of the district as a whole? After all, if he voted straight party – one way or another – he’d be ignoring the wishes of half of his district.
Nicely stated, Savannah moderate.
The problem today is that few are educated enough to see that there is more to an issue than just black and white or left and right. Unfortunately, instead of looking at the situation objectively (like Savannah moderate), any Republican operative in the 12th you talk to acts like Barrow is Charlie Rangel – some free-spending, ultra-liberal commie in love with Obama and terrorists. Any measured analysis of his voting record would show that to be completely untrue. In fact, he more fiscally conservative than most Republicans from liberal-leaning states.
And, again you’re right, Savannah moderate, Barrow has consistently championed for Veteran’s Affairs in this district – more than any other politician. Losing his experience and tenure in Washington would be a negative blow to the many retired veteran’s in the 12th.
Retired Solider
September 1st, 2011
5:20 pm
Moderate-
“Barrow attracted widespread criticism from the left after voting against the final health reform bill earlier this year.” I’m sure he did, but did he receive it from leadership? I don’t recall Pelosi, et al attacking Barrow for his votes. Votes are counted long before they are cast and then those that need a “pass” are given the ok.
The republicans would agree to a balanced budget amendment repeal of the income tax/Fair Tax and I bet at least half would agree to term limits. What about your “moderate” democrats?
Savannah Moderate
September 1st, 2011
5:56 pm
Ric,
Working hand-in-hand with Obama on some issues and standing up to him on other issues are not mutually exclusive. Yes, Barrow works in coordination with Obama to make sure that his district’s veterans get the care that they deserve. And then he stands up to Obama on issues such as tax increases and health care. His number one priority is serving the people of the 12th District rather than blindly following either party off of a cliff, which is the direction that both parties’ leadership are currently taking the country.
East Georgia Moderate
September 1st, 2011
6:02 pm
Enter your comments here
Just Nasty & Mean
September 1st, 2011
8:28 pm
I’d rather see a congressman with some principle and conviction. If Barrow votes like a Republican, then why isn’t he? It is because his ideology is with the democRats.
I want a dependable constitutional conservative to count on at crunch time—not when Pelosi or Obama “gives him a pass”–but will vote consistently for the values I most relate to.
I don;t trust that at crunch time—Barrow’s liberal side wouldn’t rule. If not—again….why is he a democRat?
Jon Lester
September 2nd, 2011
6:42 am
If they really want John Barrow out of Congress, why don’t they just nominate a competent candidate for a change? It’s easier than redistricting, and it’s not the voters’ fault if the available talent pool in the district is that poor.
Bill Orvis White
September 2nd, 2011
2:09 pm
I read up on this guy and he’s a Socialist-Democrat. It’s time to run more Tea Party folk so that real reform will happen in Washington. Just say no to ANY Socialist-Democrat and ANY RINO.
Amen,
Bill