More may consider run for governor
As political bombshells go, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s announcement this week that health problems force him to abandon a race for governor where he is the presumed front-runner is right up there with former Lt. Gov. Garland Byrd’s.
And, as with the apparent heart attack that took Byrd out of a 1962 governor’s race at the age of 38, the political world is thrown into a tizzy of debate, wonder and speculation. Byrd’s withdrawal was at first denied and was later followed by speculation that he might be an independent candidate for his old office.
Cagle’s decision to withdraw from the governor’s race but to remain in the lieutenant governor’s race has politicos and pundits scratching their heads. But no matter. That will sort itself out, too.
Interestingly for Byrd, the decision to leave a governor’s race that was ultimately won by Augusta State Sen. Carl Sanders over former Gov. Marvin Griffin, was the end of his career in elective office. He was defeated by Bo Callaway for Congress in 1964 and drew about 5 percent of the vote when he ran to succeed Sanders in 1966. Byrd, of Reynolds, died of leukemia in 1997 at age 72.
The point here is that decisions like Cagle’s are consequential. He’s likely to have primary opposition, at least from State Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah.
It’s consequential, too, for the gubernatorial field, which is certain to grow.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, whose 3rd Congressional District extends from metro Atlanta to the Columbus area, is rethinking an earlier decision to remain in Congress. “When this came about, I started getting phone calls saying ‘you need to reconsider,’” said Westmoreland, a strong conservative who served as minority leader in the Georgia House, a leadership post he resigned in 2003 to run for Congress. He was elected in 2004. His district is solidly Republican and he wins there handily.
Westmoreland will take his time making a decision– though the landscape is such that all serious candidates will be declared by the GOP state convention that starts May 15 in Savannah. “I just don’t want to get sucked into things that are not really real,” he says of the phone calls.
One consideration is that Georgia has no recent record of electing members of Congress as governor. One of the most popular and well-financed, former U.S. Rep. Bo Ginn of Millen, was defeated by the low-key State Rep. Joe Frank Harris of Cartersville in 1982. Since 57 percent of the vote is now in the 28-county metro Atlanta area, a congressman from the other Georgia – 1st District U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah, for example – has to weigh seriously whether it’s possible to gain the name recognition to be a major candidate in metro Atlanta.
Also reconsidering an earlier decision is State Rep. Mark Burkhalter of Johns Creek in Fulton County, the speaker pro tem of the Georgia House. Burkhalter, a polished speaker with good political instincts, is sitting down with four friends he’s known since grade school – none of the four in politics – to discuss the changed landscape. “Realistically,” he said, “you have to be a credible candidate in this race within the next 60 days or you are going to be behind the curve in organizing and fund-raising.”
He clearly has thought a great deal about it, with an idea already of how much it would cost to win a primary (“$2.5 million, if spent wisely – that’s kind of a thrifty campaign”) and the issues he’d run on: “Jobs, jobs, jobs.”
He will talk with his family and four friends – one is a lawyer, the three others own a film company, a fabric company and a restaurant. “They are nonpolitical and will give me good advice,” he said. “It’s hard not to listen to all the politicos, and, candidly, I value a lot of their opinions. But these guys will [give their honest opinions] without an agenda, without falsely trying to self-promote me in my mind, and will dress me down more than I care to admit. But I know they will tell me the truth – not that my political friends won’t, but sometimes we get caught up in this bubble.”
For politicians, timing is often everything. The woods are filled with those who wanted to be governor – and never felt comfortable that the time was right to plunge in.
Sonny Perdue is governor because he took the risk against long odds. This weekend and in the week to come, that is the risk that prominent political figures in secure jobs have to weigh. The field will grow.
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31 comments Add your comment
Stileatin P'tang
April 17th, 2009
9:21 pm
“More may consider run for governor”
Dang. Step out on a limb there, Wooten.
Churchill's MOM
April 18th, 2009
5:41 am
Here’s our next president in action:
http://www.politico.com/largevideobox.html?id=19989580001
****************PALIN–MCCAIN 2012***************
Mark from Minnesota
April 18th, 2009
7:40 am
It’s great to see that GA is winning the battle against the Liberals. Keep up the great work down there.
Chris Broe
April 18th, 2009
8:13 am
Astonishingly, Wooten remains mired in the past, when conservatism still lived. 1962? 1982? That world is gone. There is no conservative party. The country has moved on. Whats left of Wooten’s shaved-headed dreamworld drinks tea, smart mobs, and chants. They’re the new Hari Krishnas, although Hari Krishna chanters dress better.
Right here, on our shoe, (a really, really big shoe), we’ve got the Hari Krishna dancers!!
Bill Murray clobbered a woman with an errant tee shot yesterday. Hulk Hogan says he understands. If anyone saw the Hulk Hogan reality show, where he kept pestering his wife to shave his back hair, (and where she could barely disguise her disgust), then this latest flap about “understanding what OJ did to his disobedient wife” makes sense. Hogan thinks “OJ” is a verb.
This Hulk Hogan is the loosest cannon since OJ. He appeared on Richard Belzer’s 1985 talk show and put a sleeper hold on the host who fell and hit his head. Belzer was unconscious for about ten seconds, then leaped to his feet with a visible a stream of blood spurting from his neck. He managed to say ‘We’ll be right back” and broke for commercials. Hogan settled out of court.
But if you paid attention to his wife on the reality show, it was obvious that Hulk Hogan had married WAY over his head. The Goddess and the Gorilla. It was great television. The irony and pathos just washed over the script. I was spellbound.
The camera doesn’t lie.
jt
April 18th, 2009
9:07 am
Even though our local republican politicians held the line on taxes this session, they are stilled attached to the party of Snowe, Spector. and Juan McCain.(also our two big goverment, tax and spend senators).
I’ll be voting Libertarian.
Road Scholar
April 18th, 2009
9:34 am
MFM: Obviously, you have not seen our legislature at work….or in session. I think ya’ll need to keep your thoughts about GA to your self. Ya’ll can’t even count votes!
Lefty
April 18th, 2009
9:42 am
I still say that Chris Broe has way too much time on his hands.
Chris Broe
April 18th, 2009
9:59 am
Libertarian? Lets get some original thinking here. A new party. Maybe a Papacy and a Puppet state, the PupPap Party.
Just no good. There’s no party in existence that matches what the USA has become. We need new blood. New words. New. New! NEW!!!
A Logocracy is government by words. A Kakistocracy is government by Peter Principle. (see where this is going?) Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the KakaLog Party!!!
Maybe a Papacy and a Duchy. (I’m not going there). Aw, why do we keep resisiting it? Politics is still all about the Lewinski, lets face it.
We worship women. Period……..D’oh!
Chris Broe
April 18th, 2009
12:39 pm
I think I can clear up any doubts Burkhalter has about running for guv’nah with less than three million: He may as well just ransom pirate hostages with it. It’s not that he’s less than qualified, it’s that nobody ever heard of him except Wooten, and Wooten is obsolete. Burkhalter will come across as just another candidate with a lawyer, and a film company owner, a restaurant owner and a fabric company owner for friends. Talk about epitomies, stereotypes and poster children for insider elite! Lets see, what’s the common thread…. Fabric. Film. Food. Pettifogger…. THE FOUR F’s and a P! They’ll make a great campaign team If you had any sense you’d hunt me down and politely ask me to write a platform that would sell. I have my finger on america’s geo(political) spot. I know how to form language that makes people listen. Jobs Jobs Jobs? How about that. I’ll bet he’s also got an Iraqi Mission statement that doesn’t admit Bush’s War cost us those jobs.
Burkhalter hasn’t a Chinaman’s chance to win unless he finds a writer, and a good one. and now. Palin is the face that launched a thousand Bill Shipps, so maybe he can get himself one of them guys.
Jklol
name
April 18th, 2009
1:23 pm
Churchills mom..I don’t know if you’re being facetious (Palin video) or not. But, please cease and desist. Seeing and hearing that person on a Saturday morning goes being cruel and unusual punishment!
catlady
April 18th, 2009
2:31 pm
Maybe he doesn’t have the cojones. Or maybe it is just a lot easier to be Lt. Gov (Governor, Light) because all you have to do is whine, bithc, and moan about what the other leaders say, rather than actually lead. Or maybe it is just easier (and cheaper) to coast again into the Lt. Gov instead of having to work harder to run for Governor.
Poultry
April 18th, 2009
5:30 pm
It would be helpful to Georgia were the gubernatorial frontrunner’s withdrawal from that race to bring new talent onto the field. I never liked Casey Cagle, not because he took the easy shots but because he loved to take cheap ones in overtime. To his credit though, he and Richardson, rivals though they may have been, both were unwilling to see the State rudderless when Perdue so frequently was AWOL. Still, Mr. Cagle too often hatcheted his own party’s most visionary plans, and he seemed to despise any Democrat with a policy thought in her head. Which he saw as the larger threat to his ambition, an individual Republican of talent or the remaining Democratic machine itself, is anyone’s guess.
Still, I wouldn’t wish a degenerative spinal disease on my worst enemy, and Lt. Gov. Cagle was never an enemy of mine, but only an enemy of ideas.
While I pray for his return to health, though, I can’t see why he’d pursue reelection. I’ll certainly work to frustrate his attenuated ambition. I’ll do so with a degree of sadness, however, as I wish him well.
who dat?
April 18th, 2009
9:57 pm
somebody needs to step up
Just Nasty & Mean
April 18th, 2009
11:43 pm
This back thing w/ Casey Cagle sounds a little fishy to me. Give it two weeks and see what else comes out of the closet.
I mean, after all—how does it make sense that Casey says he’s not physically able to run for governor, but he is well enough to run for Lt. Gov. HUH?? Somebody “splain” that to me…
I heard Karen Handel speak today. Folks–she ain’t no slouch. She’s been in multiple leadership positions and kicked-butt in all of them–especially Fulton County Chairman and Sec. of State.
Can you even imagine what a USELESS joke of a governorship Roy Barnes would have with the Senate and House all Republican. He could win the race, and get absolutely NOTHING done but to run his mouth bashing Republicans. What a joke that whole vision is.
I think the Democrats should run Vincent Ford. He could stand around and run ‘racism” all day and he’d still get all the black vote–just like Obama.
Chris Broe
April 19th, 2009
8:05 am
CNN just reported that one of the Somalia Pirates has thrown his tri-cornered hat into the Georgia Governor’s race. He’s running on an oil platform. He’s strong on defense, and thinks water boarding should be banned, but only in favor of a good keelhauling. He has plenty of soft money everywhere. His litmus test for cabinet and supreme court nominations: are they missing any limbs? His campaign slogan: “Vote for me and me matey’s”.
Peach Man
April 19th, 2009
8:39 am
Last week, Governor Sonny Perdue, and his team of powerful financial and political advisors, sent an unmistakable signal to the political insiders that meander around under the Gold Dome and the message was heard loud and clear.
His message: the first Republican Governor since Reconstruction will not sit on the sidelines in the Georgia Republican Primary next year, and given the stakes, he would like to clear the field, if at all possible.
Indeed, having taken full advantage of the challenges that followed the divisive and expensive Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor / Secretary of State Cathy Cox Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2006, Governor Perdue and his team have apparently decided early that they have no intention of suffering the same fate in the aftermath of a Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle / Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine / Secretary of State Karen Handel Republican gubernatorial brouhaha which would leave the GOP divided, depleted, and ripe for political defeat.
Within days of a meeting of the Governor’s key folks, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle announced that he would abandon his bid to become Georgia’s eighty second Governor. Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle cited health problems as the reason for his decision to give up on a gubernatorial run in 2010. His statement, with his wife and children at his side, was compelling. However, most political insiders are not sold. In the same announcement in which he detailed debilitating health problems, Cagle confirmed that he would nonetheless seek reelection as Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor and will wage a hard campaign for that position.
AmVet
April 19th, 2009
9:42 am
Why not Westmoreland?
We could then go from a governor solely noted for a) getting the traitors their flag back, b) praying for rain on the capitol steps and c) getting that critical Go Fish campaign implemented to another knuckle-dragger solely noted for doing his best Slim Pickens imitation by calling the President of the United States “Uppity”.
Georgia Republicans – an embarrassment even by Washington standards…
downtownguy
April 19th, 2009
10:59 am
Lynn Westmoreland is a fool!
get out much?
April 19th, 2009
11:33 am
Has Lynn Westmoreland learned the 10 commandments yet?
Stileatin P'tang
April 19th, 2009
11:38 am
Dammit, Spock…Jim’s dead.
Diogenes
April 19th, 2009
11:59 am
Good morning, Jim,
My sympathies to Mr. Cagle. It surprises me, however, that, as badly as the Republicans have botched the job of governing, you wouldn’t warn your admirers of the dangers of electing another Republican.
Peter
April 19th, 2009
12:04 pm
Palin for President….HA HA HA…Wow wonderful to get in a good laugh !
Jackie
April 19th, 2009
12:09 pm
AmVet for Governor, Peter for Lt. Governor.
We would get the truth AND reasonable policies that would be beneficial to all of GA.
Call Wooten the Mailman
April 19th, 2009
12:55 pm
You stuck your neck out there that time Wooten. Anyone willing to vote for these characters deserves what they get. Handel and Cagle don’t have a college degree. I’m sorry but thats a no go for me. I know some people say that doesn’t matter, but to me it does. Look how Handel handled last year’s election with people standing in line for 8 hours to vote, while she did nothing. These people are not concerned with the majority of citizens in this state. They only care about the needs of a small minority. Thats why metro Atlantans sit in endless traffic, while rich Georgians can get a four lane road built to their cabins on Lake Oconee. What have Republicans done, seriously, for them to get another vote from you?
Bring Roy back.
Peter
April 19th, 2009
6:03 pm
When is the wonderful, and well written article by Jim coming to is……….. about the imploding of the Republican Party ?
CommunistAJC
April 19th, 2009
8:26 pm
This man is the smartest writer in America.
Obamatopia
by Victor Davis Hanson
One wonders whether President Obama, for all the soaring rhetoric, grasps why certain nations really do hate us. Does he think a Grozny, Darfur, Rwanda, Serbia, or Tibet happen in reaction to US global sinful conduct? Does he appreciate why hot spots like Cyprus, Taiwan, or Georgia, do not boil over—or under what conditions they might? Does he really believe that in the pre-Bush era we all got along (cf. his al Arabiya interview); then Bush’s strutting, unilateralism, and preemption, presto, caused anti-Americanism?
Take Iran. It wants to be the preeminent regional power in the Middle East, and win for the Persian Shiites the mantle of Islamic frontline leadership in the long war to destroy Israel. That requires oil revenue, sponsorship of terror, and nuclear weaponry.
Despite Bill Clinton’s past ramblings, it is not democratic; instead, prescreened, preapproved candidates are confirmed by plebiscites, and civil liberties are nonexistent as we know them. The history of Khomeinism is one of executing thousands of Shah-supporters, sending tens of thousands to their deaths in mass wave attacks in Iraq, and using surrogate Hezbollah and Shiite operatives to blow up Americans from Lebanon to Iraq. In other words, a democratic internationalist America stands in the way of their megalomaniac aspirations.
After the Carter humiliations, the Reagan disaster with Iran-Contra, the Clinton feeble attempts at appeasement, Americans gave up on the Khomeinists, and more or less hoped to distinguish the Iranian people from their theocracy, talk up democratic change, and contain the mullahs’ terrorist aspirations. We can do this adroitly or clumsily, but existential differences will remain nonetheless—until a change in ideology on their or our part. Either they reenter the family of nations, or we redefine the family of nations to include thugocracies.
And now? What is there to negotiate over? How soon they can have the bomb? Triangulation with them over Israel? Promises to quit sending shaped charges into Iraq to kill more Americans.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obamatopia/
Stileatin P'tang
April 20th, 2009
7:52 am
You’re late, Wooten. What’s it gonna be today?
A) Whining that releasing the torture memos will make America less safe.
B) Harumphing over the plans to build a high=speed rail network.
C) Tell us about how the sky is falling because Obama spoke to Chavez.
Pick one, phone it in, and go back to sleep.
Your morning jolt: A straw poll in the race for lieutenant governor, other manuevering | Political Insider
April 20th, 2009
9:14 am
[...] Some opinion: Jim Wooten theorizes that more may consider run for governor. [...]
Vexorg
April 20th, 2009
3:29 pm
Once again, we find this forum polluted with the nonsensical rantings of liberals, socialists, neo-communists, and other traitors to the GOD given right of THE AMERICAN WAY.
Why can’t liberals be honest enough to admit that their “Democrat” party philosophies of being the champion of the working man have decayed into being a mouthpiece for a COMMUNIST agenda, currently disguised as the “fairness” of a Socialist solution for this nation’s problems?
Springs
April 20th, 2009
5:01 pm
I knew Garland Byrd; Casey Cagle is no Garland Byrd.
Republitards R Irrelevant
April 29th, 2009
12:48 pm
This is a simplistic analysis of Specter– that comports with the high school right wingnut newspaper AJC has now become.
Specter still votes with pubtards on key issues. It was a cynical move to run in the Dem Primary in Pa. He’s hardly converted the Senate to a vote milieu of “liberalism straight up.” It’s not about having 60 Dems, it’s about having 60 Dem VOTES Wooten.
Of course with the equivalant of a high school education at UGA, Wooten has ignored Specter’s actual VOTES.
Specter has a Republican voting record unlike any Dem in the Senate, even the gutless Blue Dogs who voted Bush nearly every vote.
Specter changes nothing. Specter continues to vote as a Pubtard, and opposes the EFCA.
This was all about Specter trying to survive in the Pa. primary–nothing more.
Olympia Snowe has put up her for sale sign. What will she be offerred to switch?
Iraq is in worse shape than it’s ever been, and Pakistan is on the cusp of becoming Talibanastan as the result of Bush policy.
The revolution is on its way in Pakistan.