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DEL.ICIO.USBarrow claims win in 12th; 8th still too close
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah claimed Wednesday that he had survived a challenge from the area’s former congressman and held the 12th District by about 1,100 votes. A spokesman for his opponent immediately said a recount request was probable.
If Barrow is a winner, it would bolster the newly won Democratic majority in Congress. A second Georgia congressional race, in the 8th District around Macon, also appeared over Wednesday. The Associated Press declared U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall, a Democrat, the winner over Republican challenger Mac Collins, a former congressman
Elections officials said they could not confirm Barrow’s claim that he had defeated Republican Max Burns until problems with a computer server in Effingham County were resolved and the electronic ballots cast in the Effingham portion of the huge district could be processed.
Technicians arrived shortly before noon to begin working on the computers.
Barrow said he based his claim on a count of the paper ballot receipts early Wednesday, but Effingham officials said they did not expect to have a tally of the electronic memory cards until at least 4 p.m. Bill Hagan, Collins’ communications director, said Wednesday morning that the campaign remained “hopeful” about the outcome. “We’re right there,” he said.
“I would imagine it’s going to a recount. If not, I’d seriously question it,” Hagan said.
The district stretches from Savannah and Augusta northwest to Athens.
Judy Suhor, who oversees elections from the cramped probate court office in Springfield, the Effingham County seat, said the computers stopped reading memory cards late Tuesday night. They were being kept in a sealed box at the end of a bright pink hallway in a back room at the old courthouse.
The last word on the electronic count left 15 Effingham precincts outstanding.
The county had similar problems with its computer in July.
“We checked it and re-checked it,” Suhor said. “Techs came as late as Saturday to work.” Barrow was scheduled to claim victory in a Savannah news conference today.
Doug Moore, communications director for Marshall, said the Democrat’s campaign was “just waiting to see what else comes in” before Marshall spoke to supporters.
Depending on the outcome of other races around the country, the Georgia contests could figure in determining which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives for the next two years.
In 2005, the newly Republican-majority Legislature redrew the boundaries of the two districts — the only ones in Georgia still held by white Democrats, who once dominated the state — to make them friendlier territory for the GOP candidates.
Former congressman Collins’ home county, Butts, was drawn into Marshall’s district, which was renumbered the 8th – the number of the district Collins represented before he left in 2004 for an unsuccessful Senate run.
Athens, Barrow’s former home, was drawn out of the 12th. He moved to Savannah to remain in the district, where he had beaten one-term representative Burns in 2004. Throughout the campaign, Burns criticized Barrow as an outsider and a Harvard-educated lawyer who was not in touch with the rural values of the district.
President Bush visited both districts twice this fall, culminating in rallies in Statesboro Oct. 30 and in Perry Oct. 31.
Running to the right in conservative districts, Barrow and Marshall touted voting records that stuck close to the administration’s positions on the war in Iraq and taxes. Barrow even ran a commercial in which he said he agreed with Bush in opposing a national sales tax — an idea Burns supports.
Marshall, a decorated veteran and former Macon mayor who was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame earlier this year, worked to convince voters he would not only stick with the administration on Iraq, but could be as effective in guarding against cuts to Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, a key to the district’s economy.
Collins characterized himself as a Republican who would vote with the administration, and who would be in a better position to protect the base. That argument lost some effectiveness as the chance that Republicans would lose their majority in the House began to increase.
But while Democrats elsewhere were making inroads by tying their Republican opponents to Bush and his sinking approval ratings, Bush sought to turn the tables in Georgia, where his popularity remains stronger than it is nationally. In his appearances, the president told audiences a vote for Barrow and Marshall would be a vote for U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a liberal, as speaker of the House.
With the national focus, the two races became big-bucks affairs. The National Republican Congressional Committee sank close to $1 million in the two contests, and the Economic Freedom Fund, bankrolled by Robert J. Perry, who also helped finance the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, also advertised in the effort to defeat both Democrats.
All four candidates complained that their opponents’ ads exaggerated or misstated their positions on issues ranging from immigration to Social Security.
In the closing days of the campaigns, immigration became a big issue in both races. Burns called it the top domestic issue in the 12th District, and he and Collins campaigned at the close of the race with leaders from anti-immigration groups. But Marshall, in an ad, charged that Collins’ position amounted to amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Staff writers Andrea Jones and David Markiewicz contributed to this report.
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