Where is Eric Johnson?
The former state senator who finished third in the July 20 Republican primary for governor was expected to be the difference in the runoff between Karen Handel and Nathan Deal.
Johnson is a respected leader in the party who made a late charge up the polls but fell short of time to make the top two.
Even on primary night nearly everyone in the race, including Handel, expected Johnson to back Deal in the runoff. Deal predicted he’d get Johnson’s support. But nearly two weeks later, Johnson hasn’t said anything.
Johnson is on vacation and was unavailable for comment. His campaign spokesman, Ben Fry, said nothing has changed.
“Eric is spending time with his family, thanking his supporters and taking a break from the campaign trail,” Fry said. “He has not, at this point, endorsed anybody.”
Much of Johnson’s vaunted finance team leaped to Handel while many of Johnson’s former colleagues in the Senate went with Deal, as did U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah, who originally endorsed Johnson.
“For those who supported Eric Johnson, Nathan is the natural fit for the Aug. 10 runoff,” Kingston said.
But is Johnson himself content to ride out the runoff on the sidelines?
Johnson isn’t saying, and the Handel and Deal campaigns are mostly quiet on the subject.
“We’d like to have Eric’s support, certainly,” Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said. “Nathan and Eric share a commitment to serving this state, and they share the conservative values at the core of the Georgia Republican Party.”
Handel’s campaign said it knows nothing new on the subject. Handel spokesman Dan McLagan said that Handel and Johnson have spoken.
But the urgency for Deal, who finished second in the primary, has grown with the news last week that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will visit Georgia the day before the runoff to stump for Handel.
Palin is widely seen as the most popular — and polarizing — figure in Republican politics.
A visit from her the day before the election could be a huge plum for Handel.
In other words, Deal likely needs Johnson more than Handel needs Johnson.
Still, Deal has emphasized the support he has from actual Georgians, rather than from Palin, who has endorsed candidates in races around the country.
Last week, most of the Republicans in the state Senate endorsed him and this week a good many GOP House members are expected to. Those include Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
That doesn’t mean Handel isn’t interested in Johnson’s support.
In a meeting with the editorial board of the Savannah Morning News last week, Handel refused to repeat the charge she leveled against Johnson in the primary when she said Johnson, Deal and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine all had “iffy ethics.”
When asked about that charge, Handel told the paper, “I’m not going to rehash the primary. It’s over. I finished 11 (percentage) points ahead. I’m moving on.”
Johnson’s silence isn’t surprising, said former state GOP chairman Chuck Clay, the president of Atlanta-based InsiderAdvantage, a polling and media firm.
After dedicating his life for the past year or more toward this goal, Johnson is likely still recuperating, Clay said.
“The let-down is simply enormous on so many different levels,” Clay said. “It is something that is very real and takes time.”
And, Clay isn’t sure what impact a Johnson endorsement would have.
“The people who will come back to vote (in the runoff) are going to be driven by things other than an endorsement,” he said. “They’re there for a very specific reason.”
Clay says he does not believe that Johnson is holding out for the highest bidder, waiting to see whether Deal or Handel or their supporters offer him a job.
If that were the case, he said, Deal needs to pony up the best offer.
“Nathan has got to convince someone who voted for another candidate that they should, number one, come back to vote, and number two, come back and vote for him,” Clay said. “That’s the tougher job.”
