10th District Voters Get No Party From Democrats
One hundred fifteen friends of James Marlow are about to be in pain! After Tuesday’s election, voting indicates that Democrat Marlow in in third place, trailing his nearest Republican opponent by 115 votes. The margin is so close that Marlow can ask for a recount, but that’s not the point.
Turn out was dismal. According to the Secretary of State’s Office, less than 55,000 voters participated in a district that includes a slice of metro Atlanta, Athens, and Augusta. The people who ought hang their heads here are the Democrats! Where were they? If the results are to be believed, for every three Democrats in the 10th district there are eight Republicans. This seems unlikely. While the legislature redistricted to give Republicans a change to win, this is a bigger margin than they need. They’d have moved Some of the Republicans into a more competitive district.
Nope. The answer here is the Democrats did not come out and vote. It appears that they couldn’t even get their guy into a run-off. Moveover, where was the party? If they party had induced even one of the two other Democrats to get out of the way, the citizens of the 10th could get a real run-off featuring two candidates that disagreed with one another. Debates here will be meaningless!
Jim Whitehead must be ecstatic! He’s on his way to congress because the guy running against him agrees with him on ninety percent of the issues!
10 years ago, the Democrats in the state were a powerhouse. Now? Their the mat on the back porch that Republicans use to wipe their muddy feet.
This is so true that even in town State Representatives in Liberal areas are changing affiliation! The Democratic Party needs to get it’s act together. They need to Fund YD groups and get the state thinking again.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:19 am
You seem to be assuming that the democrats did not turn out because the democratic candidate is trailing in the results. It’s possible that democrats turned out in equal number as the republicans and voted for the republican candidate.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Take a closer look at the district. It really is that Republican. Without Athens, this district would have fifteen Republicans for every Democrat.