It did not look like much more than a social event, but a Monday evening gathering on the Decatur Square is part of something that in Georgia amounts to an audacious political insurgency: an attempt to topple an incumbent Superior Court judge.

Even before he held Monday's kickoff reception, challenger Tom Stubbs had served notice that his challenge to Judge Linda Hunter may not be a run-of-the-mill judicial campaign. In late May, Stubbs distributed a fund-raising letter. The first supporter on the letterhead: former Gov. Roy Barnes.

The campaign, which will last until the November general election, also already shows signs that the candidates will speak frankly about each other — rather than the résumé-reading that often characterizes judicial elections.

Stubbs, a Decatur lawyer, says Hunter lets her emotions get the better of her judgment, particularly in family law cases. Hunter replies that lawyers and clients who lose cases before her sometimes are disgruntled, and she adds Stubbs lacks the experience to step into her job.

In 2006, 49 Superior Court judge incumbents in Georgia won without opposition. Eight incumbents were challenged, and only one was defeated.

Both candidates say they will run primarily on their own records. But the race could get heated on some fronts, including:

Performance: Stubbs says Hunter has made rulings that seem based on "preconceived ideas and non-legal concerns."

He cited a Georgia Court of Appeals decision this year that Hunter should not have ordered two women taken into custody for making derogatory comments about a child custody ruling to the children involved in the case.

Hunter said the ruling hinged on whether the comments, made in a courthouse hallway, were made close enough to the court to allow her to punish the women for contempt without a full hearing. She said she did not want to subject the children to testifying in open court against the women, one of whom was their grandmother. She said she dropped the matter when the appeals court said a hearing was required.

For her part, Hunter cited a medical malpractice lawsuit before another DeKalb judge in which Stubbs' clients lost.

Hunter said Stubbs failed to produce a proper witness to support a document about hospital accreditation standards, a mistake she said "even a first-year law student" should not make.

Records of the case show some witnesses testified about the standards, but the document was excluded from the trial. Stubbs appealed. The Georgia Court of Appeals did not rule on the document, instead finding that Grady Memorial Hospital could not be held accountable for the death of a mental patient who committed suicide a day after escaping from Grady.

Experience: Hunter points to 21 years of service as a judge, the last 17 on the Superior Court bench. A former prosecutor, she said Stubbs has had relatively little experience in criminal cases.

Stubbs said he has handled murder and other criminal cases, although the majority of his work has involved lawsuits. He said he has broader experience than Hunter in 17 years of private law practice around the state and in federal court.

Race: "I'm the fourth African-American female that Tom has run against," Hunter said. Asked how she interpreted that, she said, "That's just a statement of fact, no interpretation."

Stubbs, who is white, said he has not previously challenged a black incumbent. He said he ran for an open seats on the Decatur city commission and school board, both of which were won by black female candidates. He said he also sought an appointment to an unexpired term on the school board and did not know that a black female friend had also applied until he arrived at an interview meeting.

"I was raised in this county and I know the history of the damage [caused by racism]. ... Racism is alive and well, but this is one political race where it makes for a poor, poor filter by which to measure either candidate," Stubbs said.

He pointed to his endorsement by Vivian Moore. Moore is county president of the NAACP, an organization which does not endorse candidates. Moore said is she supporting Stubbs because she thinks he is a caring person. She said she does not know Hunter, but "what I had heard about her wasn't the best." She declined to be specific.

Meanwhile, former District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, who is white, has endorsed Hunter. Morgan said he has known Hunter since law school.

"She was a great prosecutor and has done a good job on the bench," he said.

Barnes: Hunter said then-Gov. Barnes appointed her to a state panel studying sentencing. She noted he lives in Cobb County, not DeKalb, and also that she ruled against him in a dispute over attorney's fees in March before she heard he was endorsing Stubbs.

"I don't know if there's a connection, but I think it's interesting," she said.

Barnes did not respond to several requests for comment.