Karen Handel paused for the latest in a long string of handshakes and small talk at the Georgia Republican State Convention.
“Are we thinking about the Senate?” asked GOP delegate Jean Studdard.
“I’m running. I’m in,” Handel replied.
“Oh you are!” Studdard practically squealed. “I’m with you.”
Former Georgia Secretary of State and gubernatorial hopeful Handel dropped the much-anticipated announcement just hours before the state’s officers gathered for the convention, where they will elect a new chairman Saturday.
She became the fourth declared candidate to replace U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, joining a trio of congressmen: Phil Gingrey of Marietta, Paul Broun of Athens and Jack Kingston of Savannah. David Perdue, former CEO of Dollar General and a cousin of former Gov. Sonny Perdue, has formed an exploratory committee.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Handel said she stands out from the declared crowd because she does not have the taint of a career in Washington and because she has run a statewide race before.
“I’ve stayed in touch with — as you can see — a lot of my friends around the state,” Handel said. “And just having run statewide in a contested race really toughens you up and gets you ready. I would say, clearly, I’ve been vetted.”
Known for an aggressive campaign style, Handel displayed a video four years ago at the state GOP convention depicting gubernatorial primary foe John Oxendine as a lumbering ox.
Handel, who lives in Roswell, served as Georgia secretary of state from 2007 until 2010, when she left the post to run for governor. She lost in a contentious runoff to Nathan Deal, and bad blood remains between their respective camps.
She went to work for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation but resigned after a highly publicized dispute between the foundation and Planned Parenthood. Handel wanted Komen to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood for cancer screenings because the organization also performs abortions, but Komen reversed its stance after getting blowback.
The controversy earned Handel national anti-abortion credentials, and she wrote a book about it. But old feuds die hard.
Georgia Right to Life, which sparred with Handel during the governor’s race, issued a statement Friday demanding that she join Broun and Gingrey in declaring her opposition to legal abortion in cases of rape and incest.
“We applaud her courage while at the Susan G. Komen Foundation to deny funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. However, she also has made it clear that she supports abortion in some instances,” said Georgia Right to Life PAC director Melanie Crozier.
In the interview, Handel waved off the attack.
“They’re going to do what they’re going to do,” she said. “I think they showed their true colors in the governor’s race. I will say, a lot of people talk a lot about their pro-life beliefs, but very few people are put in the spot of actually having to stand up for their pro-life beliefs — and I did.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, for one, appreciates the growing Republican field for the Senate.
“The divisive Republican primary appears to get more volatile by the day and is certain to produce a nominee that is too extreme for mainstream Georgians,” said DSCC spokesman Justin Barasky.
U.S. Rep. John Barrow, an Augusta Democrat, elected not to run after being courted by the DSCC, which now has set its sights on Points of Light chief executive Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.
One person with the power to unite Georgia Republicans is President Barack Obama, whose scandal-plagued week was a hot topic here. The Internal Revenue Service’s improper scrutiny of tea party groups’ applications for nonprofit status made it into nearly every speech.
“It’s an organization that’s run amuck,” said U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who will get to grill outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday.
“It’s an organization that’s systemically corrupt. It’s an organization that must be brought to its knees and held accountable for the abuse of power that it has done.”
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