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DEL.ICIO.USWhitehead says he’ll sit and wait
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got the press release below from the campaign of Jim Whitehead, which was blind-sided on Tuesday by Paul Broun of Athens in the run-off for the 10th District congressional seat.
Whitehead says he won’t say anything more until Secretary of State Karen Handel certifies the race. The campaign says that will happen at the end of the week — which may not be right. She has a total of 14 days to do that — the counties have seven days, and she has a week on top of that.
The Friday deadline may be a reference to the fact that the 20th is the last day that overseas military ballots can be counted. Here’s the Whitehead release:
July 18, 2007 News Release Whitehead for Congress
Whitehead to Wait for Secretary of State Vote Certification
(Augusta, GA) — State Senator Jim Whitehead (R-Evans) will wait for Georgia’s Secretary of State to officially certify yesterday’s special election run-off before making further comment, based on the razor-thin margin of votes cast in the election.
The Secretary of State is expected to verify results later this week.
Comments
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By GOPeach
July 18, 2007 1:05 PM | Link to this
CONGRATS to DR. RON BROUN for an EXCELLENT campaign. You have sent the message to the elites that salt of the earth folks still have a voice and we are no longer voting Party. We are voting PERSON!
PAUL BROUN — with YOU not “W”
By OverthrowArrogance
July 18, 2007 1:51 PM | Link to this
The Whitehead campaign was soaked in a sense of entitlement. Whitehead publicly advocating amnesty, revealed 2 wks before the election he was running only for Augusta’s issues and had staff tell a newspaper they planned to bring ‘hell’ to Athens. Why is anyone shocked he lost? Apparently playing 6 or 8 plays at UGA isn’t enough to overcome arrogance and laziness. This is a blow to the GOP establishment who has become everything it campaigned to overthrow.
By Britt Daniel
July 18, 2007 1:55 PM | Link to this
These results do not portend doom for the GOP. To the contrary, they suggest that conservative voters were content with either Whitehead or Broun. Because no liberal democrat made it through to the run-off, the liberals in Athens rallied to vote against Whitehead, whom they perceived as the GOP’s annointed candidate. Conservatives took a similar approach a few years ago to help Democrats choose the more palatable Majette over Don’t-you’know-who-I-am-Cynthia McKinney. Unless somebody starts a conservative party, the GOP is probably safe in Georgia.
By Ray Moore
July 18, 2007 2:13 PM | Link to this
Whitehead lost because he didn’t get out the vote in his Augusta base. In 2008, Broun won’t get the Athens liberal Democrat votes because they will be voting in the Democratic primary to choose their party’s nominee for the general election in November. Whitehead will not make the same mistake twice. Plus he will not have his opponent’s total boosted by Athens anti-Whitehead votes. If I were Broun, I would rent a room at the DC YMCA, because he won’t be in the Capitol long.
By Craig
July 18, 2007 2:53 PM | Link to this
Sorry Ray. But if the conspiracy that Dems crossed over to make him easier to beat, they will ‘protect’ him in the Primary next year as well. Your assumption is that the Dems will actually have a contested Primary. If Broun is weaker why line up a good Dem like Marlow for their primary to cruise to the general and then cross over to ensure Broun is in?
You are banking on 1)Someone within the GOP who is credible enough to take Broun on and 2)The Dems NOT running 2 or more candidates in the Primary and 3)Whitehead will run again after facing severe internal fighting, blame, and loss of credibility for a horrible effort.
As long as Broun keeps his nose clean, he can buy a nice house right down the street from the Capitol.
By toggle
July 18, 2007 7:37 PM | Link to this
I love the “wait ‘til next year!” mentality.
Whitehead really peed in his well when he decided to marginalize the University community, and the UGA folks rallied. Guess he didn’t realize that there are a lot of folks that work for, or indentify with, UGA that don’t live in Athens. Maybe he can take a little time to study about MSA’s while he has some free time.