GOP to get a peek at battles faithful

When Georgia Republicans gather this coming weekend in Savannah, five men and one woman will have a job to do.

It’s more than 11 months before hopefuls can even officially become candidates for 2010 races, more than 14 months before the Republican primary and nearly a full year and a half before the 2010 general election —- yet the weekend is, to some degree, crucial.

It’s when those six people —- Secretary of State Karen Handel, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), state Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), state Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) and states’ rights activist Ray McBerry —- face the largest annual gathering of Republican activists and make the case for why they should be the next governor of Georgia.

The 2009 Georgia Republican Convention will be a talk-fest. And if recent history is any indication, it will also be a pressure cooker. In 2006, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss was booed for his support for an immigration bill that many activists said was too lenient on illegal immigrants. In 2008, GOP general counsel Randy Evans was hissed at for what some Ron Paul supporters saw as a patterned effort to keep them out of delegate slots for the national convention.

This year? Well, this year could be all sunshine and bouquets. Or, it could be fire and brimstone. The candidates for governor have a choice to make: how to distinguish themselves from the others and gain ground and future help from the hundreds of grass-roots activists, precinct captains and county chairmen who will gather at the Savannah Convention and Trade Center.

State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, chairman of the House Rules Committee, thinks the eventual front-runner for the July 2010 GOP primary will be the one who separates himself or herself from the rest of the pack at the event.

“If someone is truly going to make a run to be an obvious front-runner in the primary, they have to do something that resonates with the base that’s just one step beyond the others,” said Ehrhart, who has not endorsed a candidate. “Right now, there’s not a lot of separation.”

Liz Hausmann is a member of the Johns Creek City Council and a delegate to the Republican convention. She is one of the uncommitted activists that all candidates need.

For Hausmann, who works in sales around the state, transportation remains a key issue.

“We need a transportation plan in Georgia that keeps businesses here and attracts new ones,” she said, and it’s not just metro Atlanta. “Good grief, I drive all over the state. There are problems all over the state, and they need to be addressed.”

Hausmann hasn’t chosen a candidate, but sees lots of possibilities.

“I’m looking forward to hearing the candidates,” she said.

She’ll get her chance on Friday shortly after the convention gavels to order at 2 p.m. The statewide candidates will all get to speak. Different gubernatorial hopefuls have different goals for that day.

For Johnson, the state senator whose hometown is the host of the convention, not everyone in the room might know that he is running for governor. Until Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle pulled out of the governor’s race to seek re-election, Johnson had announced he would seek Cagle’s current job. But Cagle’s decision prompted Johnson to vault into the governor’s race.

Beyond that, Johnson said, he wants to remind the delegates of who he is, “to remind them I’m the only one in the race who’s been sitting in those chairs with them, starting in the Reagan revolution and through the Gingrich revolution and into the Georgia revolution. I’ve been precinct chairman, state party board —- I’m one of them.”

Johnson must also work to blunt the impact of Deal’s entrance into the race. With Handel and Oxendine considered front-runners likely to take much of the metro Atlanta vote, Johnson was free to concentrate on South Georgia and the conservative north. But Deal, whose congressional district includes much of North Georgia, changed all that. Now, Johnson must be prepared to battle Oxendine and Handel in the metro area and Deal to the north.

Handel’s mission is somewhat different. She is quickly gaining the moniker of the one to beat for the nomination, thanks in large part to the direct or indirect support of Gov. Sonny Perdue. Much of the term-limited governor’s campaign organization, and several former top aides, are backing Handel, and the lone woman in the race is believed to have Perdue’s personal backing. Handel was Perdue’s deputy chief of staff in the governor’s first term. Perdue, however, has not publicly endorsed her.

Handel said she sees this coming weekend as a chance to work the grass- roots.

“That’s the real opportunity, to talk with them, interact with them, most importantly get the issues that they care about,” she said.

Oxendine has a different strategy. He has the luxury of history with the state’s GOP activists. Oxendine has been elected to statewide office four times, and became the first Republican to control a state agency in 1995. He’s sold himself to conventions often before. Handel has, too, although she was elected secretary of state in 2006.

So, Oxendine has his focus on helping others this weekend. Specifically, he wants to help state party Chairwoman Sue Everhart, who is up for re-election at the convention. Everhart has no announced opponent, but a floor fight is expected.

“My single mission at the state convention is that of the foot soldier for the party and to help re-elect who I think has been one of the finest chairs of the party,” Oxendine said. “There’s a lot of time to focus on the candidates for governor down the road.”