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Sunday, December 7, 2008
Barnes on a 2010 race for governor: He won’t say yes, but he won’t say no
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roy Barnes, the former Democratic governor of Georgia, insists that he doesn’t want to return to the office.
His new house just off the Marietta Square is nearly finished. His nearby law office, where he practices with his daughter and son-in-law, includes a nursery that allows him a daily dose of grandchildren.
“I really don’t want to run. I’ve told everybody that,” said Barnes, 60. But he acknowledges that visitors have called on him.
“Yes, I’ve had a lot of the business folks come out here. Sometimes they just show up. And basically, what they say is, ‘Listen, you need to try this again,’” Barnes said.
The former governor says these visitors have left him with a request: If you won’t say yes to a run for governor in 2010, then at least don’t say no. And, for now, Barnes has decided to oblige them.
On one hand, the former governor says he doesn’t want to be known as an actor who refuses to recognize his cue to leave the stage. Barnes was defeated in 2002 by Republican Sonny Perdue, ending more than a century of dominance by Democrats in Georgia.
But the former governor makes sure an interviewer knows that his ambivalence isn’t absolute.
“I’m absolutely heart-broken, as to what’s happened to my state. In transportation and in education,” he said. “It just breaks my heart that we have such a great a wonderful opportunity, and we don’t seem able to get our act together.”
Barnes didn’t mention Perdue, the man who beat him — not by name. But there’s no question buyer’s remorse would be a major part of any campaign strategy.
“What scares the business community, and I understand it completely, is if [Georgia] ever gets labeled as a state that can not address and solve its own problems, then our growth future is going to be very dim,” he said.
“If I were governor, I would be very concerned, for example, that the bio-science center is going to Kansas. And we were third behind Kansas and Mississippi.”
(Last week, Perdue pointed to “a small activist minority” in Athens as “the definitive reason” for the loss of the $450 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.)
Barnes’ comments about the 2010 governor’s race came as part of a broader look at the implications of President-elect Barack Obama’s 47 percent showing in Georgia last month — which was followed four weeks later by the solid, 14-point defeat of Democrat Jim Martin by GOP incumbent Saxby Chambliss in the U.S. Senate runoff.
Barnes said he wasn’t surprised by Martin’s defeat — but was startled by the margin. “The Republican vote was more intense, angry and frustrated,” he said. “And the Democratic vote was exhausted. They were tired.”
Like many others, Barnes called Obama’s strong showing a bellwether for change in Georgia. “But it’s not necessarily a change from Republican to Democrat. And I think that’s what we’re missing in all this,” he said. “I think that it is a change from extremism to moderation.”
The libertarian tendencies of younger voters that Obama has brought into the process, plus the current economic instability, will mean less emphasis on gay rights, abortion and other wedge issues, Barnes theorized.
Organization and charisma will be necessary for any Democrat candidate to match and exceed what Obama did statewide. But competence will be the key. Wonkish details, explaining to voters exactly what must be done, will trump ideological generalities, the governor said.
“When you open your mouth, you have to say something,” Barnes said. “People are tired of politicians opening their mouths and saying nothing.”
Trial balloons to test public reaction are nothing new. And a 2010 Barnes campaign could be a bag of helium on two levels.
Two other Democrats have expressed interest in a run for governor — former state adjutant general David Poythress and House minority leader and newspaper publisher DuBose Porter of Dublin. Barnes is wealthy enough to be considered a self-funder — that’s important in a minority party.
But there’s also an upcoming session of the state Legislature. Leaders of the same business community allegedly asking Barnes to hold fire will demand that the General Assembly’s GOP leadership tackle the expensive issue of transportation and traffic congestion.
In some GOP quarters, there has been talk of stalling action on a transportation sales tax until 2010. But a Roy Barnes looming in the background might help those reluctant Republicans reconsider.
Photo credit: Andy Sharp/AJC
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From SNL: No stake through Hillary’s heart, and Obama as founder of a new Beat Generation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” has shifted into transition mode.
Last night, Hillary Clinton (Amy Poehler) returned to celebrate her nomination as secretary of state — with her husband.
“You may think we’’re down, but like the South, vampires and Britney Spears, we will rise again,” she promised.
And here’s Fred Armisen as Barack Obama doing an impression of Miles Davis.
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