11 congressional incumbents heavily favored

It’s a tough time to run against a sitting member of Georgia’s congressional

delegation.

With one exception, the Republican challengers seem to be getting little, if any, support from the national party. That’s because the GOP is too busy fighting for endangered Republican U.S. House seats outside Georgia. The seven GOP-held seats in Georgia appear to be safe.

Meanwhile, the Democrats appear largely to have written off the solidly red state. Two incumbent Democratic congressmen, 5th District U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta and 4th District U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Decatur, are running

unopposed. The other four incumbents, by varying degrees, are favored to win.

Emory University political scientist Merle Black says Georgia’s 11 incumbent GOP and Democratic congressmen facing challengers this year “would be strongly favored for re-election.”

“Unless there’s a real irritation with an incumbent, it’s really hard to beat one, ” Black said.

Yet these candidates aren’t deterred.

“I’m doing great for a man with no campaign manager, no press secretary, no office,” said Lee Ferrell, a Republican from Albany, who is challenging Democrat U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop of Columbus.

“I’ve only had one Democrat try to punch me in the nose,” Ferrell said. “That’s pretty good.”

These are the 11 congressional seats at stake in the state:

DISTRICT 1

Jack Kingston, incumbent (R-Savannah) vs.

Bill Gillespie (D-Tybee Island)

Location: Coastal Georgia. Covers 25 countie. Includes city of Valdosta and part of Savannah.

How it stands: Kingston is seeking his ninth term in Congress. Gillespie, a retired U.S. Army colonel who served in Iraq, is one of four moderate-to-conservative military veterans recruited by the Georgia Democratic Party to challenge GOP incumbents.

According to their most recent campaign disclosures, Kingston enjoys a 7-to-1 fund-raising advantage over Gillespie. However, the campaign finance reports filed by all of Georgia’s congressional candidates are more than two months old. Gillespie, who only had $5,700 on hand on his second quarter report, says his fund-raising has picked up since July 30. The candidates’ next campaign disclosures are due in mid-October.

Last week Gillespie won the endorsement of Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate and retired U.S. Army general.

DISTRICT 2:

Sanford Bishop, incumbent (D-Columbus) vs. Lee Ferrell (R-Albany)

Location: Southwestern Georgia. Covers 32 counties. Includes Columbus and Albany.

How it stands: Ferrell, an Air Force security staff sergeant, says he’s burned a lot of shoe leather, but hasn’t raised much money. His second-quarter campaign disclosure shows he hadn’t raised any.

Bishop, like Kingston, was first elected to Congress in 1992 and has held the office ever since.

DISTRICT 3

Lynn Westmoreland, incumbent (R-Grantville) vs. Stephen Camp (D-Newnan)

Location: Runs from south metro Atlanta to the Alabama border. Includes 15 counties, among them Fayette and much of Henry and Douglas counties.

How it stands: Westmoreland is seeking his third and possibly last term in Congress. The former Georgia legislator is considering running for governor in 2010.

Camp is a Newnan attorney who, as of June 30, had nearly $14,000 in his campaign account. Westmoreland reported having more than $559,000 on hand.

DISTRICT 6

Tom Price, incumbent (R-Roswell) vs.

Bill Jones (D-Marietta)

Location: North metro Atlanta, including Cherokee County and parts of north Fulton, Cobb and DeKalb counties.

How it stands: Jones has raised more money than any other Georgia Democrat challenging a sitting GOP congressmen. By the end of June, Jones had raised $225,773. However, the retired Air Force pilot is running in a heavily Republican district.

In 2006, Price trounced Democratic challenger Steve Sinton by 3-to-1. The district ranked second to last in the percentage of voters who cast Democratic ballots in Georgia’s presidential primary elections on Feb. 5. Democrats accounted for 37 percent of the votes cast in the 6th District.

DISTRICT 7

John Linder, incumbent (R-Duluth) vs.

Doug Heckman (D-Norcross)

Location: Northeast metro Atlanta, including most of Gwinnett County, part of Newton and Forsyth counties, and all of Barrow and Walton counties.

How it stands: The 7th District is becoming more ethnically diverse, but not nearly enough, political experts say, to tip it to the Democrats this election. Like Jones, Gillespie and Ferrell, Heckman has a military background but has never held elected office.

Heckman on Monday became Georgia’s first congressional candidate to run TV ads in metro Atlanta. The ads currently are running on cable TV and not on broadcast stations, which charge far higher rates for ads that reach more viewers.

DISTRICT 8

Jim Marshall, incumbent (D-Macon) vs.

Rick Goddard (R-Warner Robins)

Location: Middle Georgia and South Georgia. Covers 21 counties. Includes Macon, Dublin and Tifton.

How it stands: The most competitive congressional race in Georgia. The national GOP has repeatedly targeted Marshall’s seat. Goddard, a retired Air Force general, has enlisted the aid of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who were the featured speakers at two Goddard fund-raisers over the summer.

Goddard’s latest financial disclosures show the Republican has raised more money than any other GOP challenger running against an incumbent Democrat this year. Goddard’s second-quarter campaign disclosure showed that he’d raised more than $770,000, approximately a half-million dollars less than Marshall.

Both candidates are currently running broadcast TV ads.

DISTRICT 9

Nathan Deal, incumbent (R-Gainesville) vs.

Jeff Scott (D-Chickamauga)

Location: Northwest to part of northeast Georgia to the Tennessee line. Covers 15 counties. Includes Gainesville and Dalton.

How it stands: In a July 10, letter to the Federal Election Commission, Scott stated that he’d neither raised nor spent $5,000 and therefore was not required to file a campaign contribution report.

At that time Deal had raised more than $551,000. Deal, a former Democrat, who switched to the GOP after serving one term in Congress, has held the seat since 1992. Scott recently announced that he soon will campaign by bicycle across the North Georgia district.

DISTRICT 10

Paul Broun, incumbent (R-Athens) vs.

Bobby Saxon (D-Nicholson)

Location: East and northeast Georgia. Covers 20 counties. Includes Athens and Augusta.

How it stands: Saxon has hammered Broun over accusations the GOP incumbent abused taxpayer funds. Broun, who faced a primary election opponent this year, spent most of his congressional office budget on mailings and automated phone calls before the July 15 election. Broun insists the mailings and calls were not campaign-related.

However, Saxon, so far, doesn’t have the money to attack Broun on TV.

DISTRICT11

Phil Gingrey, incumbent (R-Marietta) vs.

Hugh “Bud” Gammon (D-Rome)

Location: Runs from north Cobb County to the Alabama state line.

How it stands: The amount of money Gammon has raised isn’t available. The Democrat said he’s already filed a campaign finance report, but none has appeared on the Federal Election Commission’s Web site.

Gammon says he’s “spending a lot of money on gas” to attend as many public events as possible.

DISTRICT 12

John Barrow, incumbent (D-Savannah) vs. John Stone (R-Hephzibah)

Location: East-central and South Georgia. Covers 22 counties. Includes Savannah and Milledgeville.

How it stands: The contest seems quiet at the moment. Stone has aired radio ads blasting Barrow’s voting record on offshore drilling. It’s not clear if Stone will have enough cash for a TV ad campaign. Stone, who served as a spokesman for former GOP U.S. House Rep. Max Burns and the late Republican Congressman Charlie Norwood, reported having less than $8,200 in his campaign account as of June 30.

Once a toss-up, the district appears to be growing more Democratic. On Feb. 5, six of 10 presidential primary voters in the 12th District cast Democratic ballots.

DISTRICT 13

David Scott, incumbent (D-Atlanta) vs. Deborah Honeycutt (R-Riverdale)

Location: Includes parts of Henry, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, Douglas and Cobb counties.

How it stands: The district leans heavily Democratic. Honeycutt ran against Scott in 2006 and was trounced by more than 2-to-1.