Republicans leave state convention watching their backs

Savannah — The state of play in the race for the 2010 Republican nomination for governor: Talk straight, watch your back.

That, at least, appears to be the message following the two-day state Republican convention. The party’s six gubernatorial hopefuls all sought to find a head of steam headed out of this port city and into the long days of summer.

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And they left with a request, and a warning, from the man they want to replace.

“We have to be very careful,” Gov. Sonny Perdue told the crowd as the convention wrapped up. “Democrats will be firing at us, and there will be sniping within our own party.”

It shouldn’t go further than that, Perdue warned.

“We cannot allow our party to lose out because we were mortally wounded by friendly fire. We cannot sacrifice good, conservative government and effective leadership to mantras and attacks ads from our own.”

Most of the candidates appear ready for a spirited campaign.

“It’s going to be a tough campaign, and I look forward to that,” Secretary of State Karen Handel said today. “It’s too important to be easy. I welcome a tough, formidable campaign.”

Handel showed Friday she’s capable of duking it out. Her campaign video, with its direct and indirect attacks at the other candidates, which played during the convention, proved as much.

One of the biggest targets in those attacks was the man who many (himself included) consider to be the front-runner, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. The narrator of Handel’s video spoke of “the Ox” as a beast that “moves not with grace, but with a lumbering gait.”

Oxendine, himself, seems inclined to do as Perdue asked.

“I cannot reveal my value to others by tearing down someone else,” Oxendine told the delegates in a speech today.

But Oxendine, too, has previously taken shots at Handel. In the end, it’s all relative.

But who goes negative and when will be an issue. Using the social-media tool Twitter, Oxendine and another gubernatorial hopeful, state Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah, both made Handel’s negativity an issue — on the Internet at least.

“Karen Handel went negative in her speech at GOP convention,” Oxendine said in a “tweet,” the 140-character messages sent via Twitter. “Thanks, Karen for confirming I am [the] front-runner.”

Johnson also twittered about it: “Our campaign is about TRUST. Who do you trust [to] lead Ga.? We will not attack our opponents or Gov. Perdue.”

Finally, this morning, Oxendine twittered that Handel’s move was backfiring: “Picking up lots of new support after Handel’s attack.”

But as Oxendine’s team argued that Handel’s video upset convention delegates, others were not so sure.

“The delegates love a healthy primary fight,” conservative author and pundit Phil Kent said. “It’s basically, let the games begin. They want to see who has the steel to be governor.”

State Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton said he does.

“From this point, the whistle is blown, the ball is in the air and it’s time to play,” said Scott, an acknowledged underdog.

But the playing for the next several months will be a quieter affair. This convention was the last major public gathering of the candidates until perhaps early 2010. The next several months will be about raising money, gaining commitments and shoe-leather campaigning.

“We’ve had very good support and we’ve introduced ourselves to people outside our congressional district,” said U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, the most recent candidate to join the race.

“We’ll work to solidify our base in the 9th District, and then it’ll be back across the state,” Deal said.

Over the weekend Deal picked up the endorsement of five of the state’s six other GOP congressmen. U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, who lives here, is supporting local boy Johnson.

Johnson believes his campaign “is right where we expected to be.”

“We want to be below the radar screen and above the fray in the crossfire,” he said.

Ray McBerry, the Henry County states rights activist, has perhaps the toughest climb. He has less name recognition than the others and will likely have the most difficulty raising money. But that, he said, will not stop him.

“We had a very good response this weekend,” McBerry said. “For many people it was the first time to hear us. And we had dozens of GOP county commissioners invite us to come speak.”

McBerry has already begun airing radio ads in the Atlanta market and said he’ll have television commercials in production next month. If so, it will make him the first candidate to hit the television airwaves.