Back in the day, Sovietology emphasized the study of photographs of that era's vast military parades -- which showed who in the Kremlin stood next to whom, and was thus in or out of favor.
We can use the same trick when it comes to invitations for campaign fundraisers, which amount to declarations of alliances.
The invitation below makes formal what has been well-known, but unspoken. Former Gov. Roy Barnes is backing state Sen. Vincent Fort in the 2017 race for mayor of Atlanta:
The name of U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, is also significant here. Like Barnes, Scott is considered far more conservative than Fort, who was a Bernie Sanders supporter in the 2016 presidential contest.
Scott is also a former member of the state Senate. In fact, he was chairman of the powerful Senate Rules Committee. The other names listed belong to current members of the state Senate -- colleagues of Fort in the chamber.
Another sign the race for mayor of Atlanta is heating up: We received this press release from the office of former mayor Sam Massell, who heads up the Buckhead Coalition:
This nonprofit association of one-hundred invited CEO-type business leaders operates the Better Community Political Action Committee (BC PAC) to address City of Atlanta nonpartisan contests of Mayor, City Council, and Board of Education every four years. This kick-off of the Mayor's competition will take place at the Coalition's Annual Meeting scheduled for January 25th.
The "Conversation" with these individuals will include questions of Peter Aman, Keisha Bottoms, Vincent Fort, Kwanza Hall, Ceasar Mitchell, Mary Norwood, Michael Sterling, and Cathy Woolard, conducted by Rickey Bevington of Georgia Public Broadcasting and Denis O'Hayer of Atlanta Public Broadcasting.
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