Governor’s race already in the wings

Months before President-elect Barack Obama gave his victory speech Tuesday night, Georgia politicians already were jockeying for their next big electoral thing: governor, 2010.

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has already raised about $750,000 in hopes of winning the Republican nomination for governor in 2010. Retired Georgia Adjutant General David Poythress, a Democrat, formally announced for the race over the summer. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, another Republican hopeful, began running TV ads in August promoting his Web site devoted to cutting government waste.

The U.S. Senate runoff between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin is creating a lull in the 2010 race to replace retiring Gov. Sonny Perdue. So may the upcoming legislative session, when lawmakers are barred from raising money and face the daunting task of a fiscal crisis that will eat up much of their time.

Still, potential candidates are raising money and/or lining up supporters across the state in anticipation of putting their campaigns in full 2010 mode early next year.

“The campaigns never stop, really. It’s permanent, and that’s a national trend,” said Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, a possible Democratic hopeful and the only nonincumbent African-American to win a statewide race.

If it seems unusual for candidates to be thinking already about the next big election, it’s not. Perdue is limited to two terms, so he became a political lame duck the day he won re-election in 2006.

Perdue already was collecting checks for his 2006 re-election race in November 2002, the month he won the post. Then-Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor started raising money in the spring of 2004 to challenge Perdue in 2006.

Oxendine began raising money for the governor’s race last spring, while Poythress and Cagle waited until later in the year to form exploratory committees.

Several potential candidates have traveled around Georgia to meet with potential backers, trying to tie down commitments for either financial support or help in organizing campaigns across the state.

“It’s the campaign that’s run largely out of view. The public doesn’t have any idea what’s going on and won’t really pay attention until 2010,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock.

In addition to Oxendine and Cagle, other Republicans mentioned as possible candidates are Secretary of State Karen Handel, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island), Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens and congressmen Lynn Westmoreland and Jack Kingston.

On the Democratic side, Poythress and Thurmond are joined by House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin).

Two of the biggest names brought up are former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. Both have said they won’t run, but their supporters haven’t given up hope that they’ll change their minds.

Porter has been putting off a formal decision until after the election. The Chambliss-Martin runoff will be held Dec. 2, creating another reason to delay.

“This election cycle isn’t over with yet,” Porter said. “We’ll let the dust settle a little bit.”

Oxendine has suspended his fund-raising during the runoff, and he has urged Cagle to do the same.

Keen thinks it’s too early to get a 2010 gubernatorial campaign cranked up, although he has spent part of the past few months talking to potential supporters.

“We just completed the longest and hardest campaign season in my adult life,” Keen said. “I haven’t met a person yet who is not tired of campaigns.

“I think the overwhelming number of people are saying, ‘Let’s get out of the campaign world. Let’s get back into the real world,’ ” he said. “There is more than enough time to worry about 2010 after the 2009 [legislative] session.”

Thurmond, whose agency tracks unemployment and helps Georgians find jobs, said the current economic crisis makes overt campaigning for the next election seem out of place.

“What the voters are looking for is some relief,” he said. “They are looking for some answers, and they will quickly distinguish between people solving problems and political posturing.”

Like Keen, Thurmond said he’s not ready to start campaigning for another office that won’t even come up for a vote until 2010.

“We are just now entering into the teeth of this recession,” he said. “I am going to do my job. If you don’t do your job, how are you qualified for other positions?”