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DEL.ICIO.US“Do you want to go back?” Perdue asks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They called it “Sonny’s Primary Party,” but it looked a lot like a campaign kickoff.
About 1,000 people crowded a ballroom at the Buckhead Westin late Tuesday night to cheer Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had only token primary opposition from Republican challenger Ray McBerry of Henry County.
Speakers blared John Cougar Mellencamp’s tune “Small Town” as slides and video of Perdue — much it from his 2002 underdog campaign — flashed across a huge screen near the stage.
Perdue touted his administration’s accomplishments on the economy, private property rights, education, welfare reform and even wait times at driver’s license offices. The governor said when he came into office, the state had a $640 million deficit, but now has a half-billion dollar surplus due to his “solid conservative leadership.”
“This is our record. Do you want to go back?” Perdue asked. “No,” the crowd shouted back after he made each point.
Bouquets of red-white-and-blue balloons lined the room, and Perdue’s backers held signs that read: “Sonny — Georgia’s Governor.”
Perdue, who comes from the tiny middle Georgia town of Bonaire, is Georgia’s first modern Republican governor, and he faces a tough, four-month fight to repeat his historic 2002 victory. He’ll face either Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor or Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who battered each other with waves of attack ads.
Perdue also has another big advantage — he begins the general election race with his campaign coffers brimming. The governor has raised $10 million for the campaign and has about $9 million cash on hand, said campaign spokesman Derrick Dickey. He gets his campaign rolling this weekend with an eight -county campaign rally in Hiawasee .
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