The Evolution and Birth of the Rural Caucus - Its Present Role in Georgia's Democratic Party. By James Salzer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
If you read the ajc regularly and keep up with state politics, you know the name James Salzer. He is one of the ajc's top state government reporters, and I always enjoy he keeping me informed about what is going in the General Assembly while it is in session.
Prior to joining the ajc, Mr. Salzer wrote for Morris News Service, and the ajc did a good day's work when it persuaded him to join its staff of fine political reporters.
I still refer back to his post-runoff, mid-August story of this year when refreshing my memory on some of then current thinking on how various state and federal elections likely would come out on Nov. 2. His article of that date was prescient, being entitled "November could be political watershed - Summer primaries set the stage for what may be a momentous year at the polls."
In that article, Mr. Salzer wrote:
-- Come November, Georgia voters have a good shot at making history.
Republicans could complete their takeover of state politics, electing a second GOP U.S. senator, winning control of the Legislature and writing a conservative definition of marriage into the Georgia Constitution. Republicans have never had both of the state's U.S. senators and haven't held the state House since Reconstruction.
-- "The biggest thing Republicans are counting on is George Bush's coattails, but local politics control the dynamics," said Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), a Clark Atlanta University political scientist. "A lot of people out there still feel their local Democrats are better representatives than their local Republicans. I don't think Bush's coattails will bring people in."
-- Georgia Legislature: Experts are expecting legislative races to be more competitive than they've been in decades. Republicans are fighting to keep control of the Senate, while Democrats struggle to maintain their lock on the House. Both sides hope to break the gridlock that has existed since a divided Legislature took over in 2003.
Republicans now hold a 30-26 advantage in the Senate. In the House, Democrats have a 103-76 edge, with one independent.
Holmes expects Democrats to have a slight margin in the House after November but said the Senate is less certain.
-- Same-sex marriage: Georgia will be one of at least nine states voting on gay marriage in a Nov. 2 referendum. Georgia voters will decide whether to add a ban on such marriages and civil unions to the state Constitution.
Missouri approved a constitutional ban this month with 70 percent support, and Georgia is expected to follow the "Show Me" state's lead . . . .
Opponents say the measure was cynically pushed by Republicans to increase voter turnout among religious conservatives in a presidential election year.
Those who go to the polls will see only a sentence stating that marriage will be between a man and a woman. Included in the amendment will be a section that would prohibit courts from recognizing any civil union or legally binding relationship between same-sex couples.
The 2004 Legislature voted to put the matter before the voters after passionate debate. The issue split Democrats. White rural Democrats supported the gay marriage ban, while white liberals and most black legislators opposed it.
-- U.S. Senate: Isakson has been criticized as not being conservative enough — especially on the litmus-test issue of abortion . . . .
-- Congress: Depending on which party takes the upper hand nationally, Democrats have a shot at pulling almost even with Republicans in Georgia's congressional delegation.
Two of the state's 13 congressional districts are considered very much in play: the 12th, which stretches from Savannah through Augusta to Athens, and the 3rd, a Middle Georgia district centered on Macon.
_______________
The above background about James Salzer is for one reason. To let you know that he knows his subject. Consider this in reading his latest in the acj for 12-23-04 entitled:
Rural Democrats face a new reality
Less than two months after a disastrous election defeat, a battle for the soul and direction of the Democratic Party is being played out in the state House.
Rural Democrats, who ran the chamber for generations, have formed a caucus separate from their urban colleagues in an effort to remain relevant and protect their interests. They say they must make sure small-town Georgia is well represented in a House they fear will now be dominated by suburban Republicans.
But their move is also an attempt to achieve what conservative Democrats have tried to achieve nationally for decades: make the party more palatable to rural and small-town voters, who are increasingly supporting Republicans.
"We're trying to refocus the Democratic Party on a more middle-of-the-road, or conservative, philosophy," said Rep. Richard Royal (D-Camilla).
The caucus is an example of the split between rural conservatives and urban liberals that has long been present in the state Democratic Party. The question is whether those two elements can work together to rebuild the party, or whether rural Democrats will merely become "Republican light," as some have suggested.
GOP lawmakers doubt rural Democrats will be able to move their party to the right.
"A majority of the Democrats up there would like the party to be more moderate, but you have a very vocal minority that won't allow that," said Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta).
Until 2003, the General Assembly had been dominated by Democrats and most of its leaders were rural Democrats or other lawmakers from outside metro Atlanta.
When longtime House Speaker Tom Murphy of Bremen was defeated in 2002, he was replaced by Terry Coleman of Eastman. Other House leadership posts also went to Democrats from outside metro Atlanta, including DuBose Porter of Dublin, who became House speaker pro tem, and Jimmy Skipper of Americus, who became House majority leader. Democrats from outside the metro area were appointed to most of the top committees and the conference committees that negotiated the state budget.
Rural Democrats hung with their city brethren on many issues, especially those affecting the party. But when legislation on social issues, like gay marriage, hit the House floor, many voted with Republicans.
Rural vs. urban
House Democrats tried to display unity in November, when they picked Porter, a floor leader for Gov. Zell Miller in the early 1990s, as minority leader. Miller has become famous nationally for backing Republicans and criticizing the Democratic Party as being a captive of the left.
While Porter was a nod to small-town Georgia, the rest of the top House Democrats are mostly urban. Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus) became minority whip, Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) was re-elected Democratic caucus chairman and Rep. Nan Grogan Orrock (D-Atlanta) became caucus vice chairman.
A few weeks later, rural Democrats formed their own, largely white, caucus, which is expected to have 38 to 40 members, about half the House Democrats.
"We think we have a lot of issues in rural Georgia that are different than those in the urban areas," Royal said. "We are concerned the rural issues could be overlooked."
Rep. Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island), who will become majority leader in January, said the GOP leadership includes plenty of non-Atlanta lawmakers. More than half the Republicans nominated for leadership posts come from outside the area, though the new speaker and speaker pro tem are from Dallas, in Paulding County, and Alpharetta, respectively.
"It's amazing to me that because Republicans are in charge, [they say] everything will be driven by the Atlanta area," Keen said. "The reason we have a majority is we won seats outside of Atlanta."
Several veteran rural Democrats have also switched to the GOP over the past two years as the political tide shifted.
'Republican light?'
The need for a caucus of rural Democrats is a mystery to urban lawmakers like Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), a Clark Atlanta University political scientist and one of the House's longest-serving members.
"They have been in control," he said. "Where are they going to go from here? It's like trying to be Bush light. It's like trying to be Republican light."
But University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock compares it to the conservative Democratic groups that formed years ago in hopes of moving the national party to the right.
"Whether they say it or not, it seems like they buy into what Zell Miller is saying," Bullock said. "If the Democratic Party's face is Bob Holmes and Nan Orrock, it's going to be a hard sell in rural Georgia."
In Miller's latest book, "A National Party No More," he argues the Democratic Party is out of step with the country. While the outgoing U.S. senator hasn't directly attacked the Georgia party, which has traditionally been more conservative, he also didn't campaign for Democrats here this year and was one of President Bush's biggest backers.
The rural caucus picked Rep. Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa), a Miller loyalist from North Georgia, to head the group. Jamieson joined other rural House Democrats this year to endorse Republican Johnny Isakson in his successful race to replace Miller.
Jamieson said the caucus' goal is to represent rural Georgia on issues such as road funding, the viability and availability of health care and school funding. Rural schools rely heavily on state funds.
"In the last two budgets, education has taken a tremendous hit," she said. "Local schools have had to make up the difference. It's much more difficult in rural Georgia to do that than in other areas."
She acknowledged the caucus may have a beneficial impact for Democrats, but didn't cite that as a main goal for forming the group.
"We could say we hope it will offer reassurances to these rural areas that the Democratic Party is indeed in tune to their needs and concerns," she said.
_______________
Rep. Holmes' name is in bold in both the excerpts from the Aug. article and the 12-23 article. He was wrong in August, and I think he is wrong now.
The 11-08-04 ajc's Political Insider described the then upcoming contest for House minority leader as follows:
"By postponing a vote on who will be the House minority leader, Democrats have given themselves 10 days to figure out whether the mixed-race, mixed-geography, mixed-philosophy coalition — which was first built by Jimmy Carter and which ruled Georgia for 30 years — is at an end.
"Right now, the three veteran candidates for House minority leader are: Bob Holmes, an African-American academic from Atlanta, who thinks Democrats have moved too far right; Georganna Sinkfield, a black real-estate agent from Atlanta who feels somewhat the same; and DuBose Porter of Dublin, a white newspaper publisher who represents the last vestige of white rural power within the Democratic party."
_______________
And it was Baxter and Galloway's PI that first alerted us to this caucus, a minority within a minority the PI called in in a 11-18-04 story entitled:
A group guaranteed to remember the past 150 years or so as the good old days
A pre-meeting of House Democrats was held this week, before the election of DuBose Porter of Dublin as minority leader. It was an organizational meeting of "the rural caucus," chaired by Jeanette Jamieson of Toccoa.
Most are white, many have been listed as possible switchers to the Republican Party. Ideally, Jamieson said, the rural caucus will serve as a voice on issues ranging from transportation to water to public health to education.
Other members said the new caucus is intended to protect members — all now in red counties — from being tied too closely to their Atlanta brethren. "We realize that's a problem. That's not to say Atlanta's bad," said Gerald Greene of Cuthbert.
Keep in mind that this is the same group that ruled the state Capitol — and all of Georgia — for more than a century. And now they're a minority caucus within a minority party. It wouldn't surprise many to see a rural caucus turn into more of a way station. [This quote was in the 11-22-04 post.]
_______________
And now going to just what many of you are dying to hear, what Jim Wooten had to say this weekend about the Democrats' rural caucus:
"• Good news . . . for two-party Georgia. A group of House Democrats has formed the rural caucus to move the party "on more of a middle-of-the-road or conservative philosophy," explained Richard Royal (D-Camilla), one of the vanishing breed of Southern conservative Democrats. The caucus had the good sense, too, to elect Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa) as their leader. She's a lot like Zell: tough and with a deep streak of mountain independence. I usually try not to mess with people from the mountains. They'll whup you. It would be the party's good fortune if she could whup them away from the national herd."
(And recall the advice Mr. Wooten recommended to our Party that is noted in the 11-27-04 post criticizing all of the pork contained in the omnibus spending bill that was passed without any of our U.S. Congressman or Senators having had the opportunity to read:
"Hint to defeated Democrats: Become fiscal conservatives and run against the tax-and-spenders."
Prior to joining the ajc, Mr. Salzer wrote for Morris News Service, and the ajc did a good day's work when it persuaded him to join its staff of fine political reporters.
I still refer back to his post-runoff, mid-August story of this year when refreshing my memory on some of then current thinking on how various state and federal elections likely would come out on Nov. 2. His article of that date was prescient, being entitled "November could be political watershed - Summer primaries set the stage for what may be a momentous year at the polls."
In that article, Mr. Salzer wrote:
-- Come November, Georgia voters have a good shot at making history.
Republicans could complete their takeover of state politics, electing a second GOP U.S. senator, winning control of the Legislature and writing a conservative definition of marriage into the Georgia Constitution. Republicans have never had both of the state's U.S. senators and haven't held the state House since Reconstruction.
-- "The biggest thing Republicans are counting on is George Bush's coattails, but local politics control the dynamics," said Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), a Clark Atlanta University political scientist. "A lot of people out there still feel their local Democrats are better representatives than their local Republicans. I don't think Bush's coattails will bring people in."
-- Georgia Legislature: Experts are expecting legislative races to be more competitive than they've been in decades. Republicans are fighting to keep control of the Senate, while Democrats struggle to maintain their lock on the House. Both sides hope to break the gridlock that has existed since a divided Legislature took over in 2003.
Republicans now hold a 30-26 advantage in the Senate. In the House, Democrats have a 103-76 edge, with one independent.
Holmes expects Democrats to have a slight margin in the House after November but said the Senate is less certain.
-- Same-sex marriage: Georgia will be one of at least nine states voting on gay marriage in a Nov. 2 referendum. Georgia voters will decide whether to add a ban on such marriages and civil unions to the state Constitution.
Missouri approved a constitutional ban this month with 70 percent support, and Georgia is expected to follow the "Show Me" state's lead . . . .
Opponents say the measure was cynically pushed by Republicans to increase voter turnout among religious conservatives in a presidential election year.
Those who go to the polls will see only a sentence stating that marriage will be between a man and a woman. Included in the amendment will be a section that would prohibit courts from recognizing any civil union or legally binding relationship between same-sex couples.
The 2004 Legislature voted to put the matter before the voters after passionate debate. The issue split Democrats. White rural Democrats supported the gay marriage ban, while white liberals and most black legislators opposed it.
-- U.S. Senate: Isakson has been criticized as not being conservative enough — especially on the litmus-test issue of abortion . . . .
-- Congress: Depending on which party takes the upper hand nationally, Democrats have a shot at pulling almost even with Republicans in Georgia's congressional delegation.
Two of the state's 13 congressional districts are considered very much in play: the 12th, which stretches from Savannah through Augusta to Athens, and the 3rd, a Middle Georgia district centered on Macon.
_______________
The above background about James Salzer is for one reason. To let you know that he knows his subject. Consider this in reading his latest in the acj for 12-23-04 entitled:
Rural Democrats face a new reality
Less than two months after a disastrous election defeat, a battle for the soul and direction of the Democratic Party is being played out in the state House.
Rural Democrats, who ran the chamber for generations, have formed a caucus separate from their urban colleagues in an effort to remain relevant and protect their interests. They say they must make sure small-town Georgia is well represented in a House they fear will now be dominated by suburban Republicans.
But their move is also an attempt to achieve what conservative Democrats have tried to achieve nationally for decades: make the party more palatable to rural and small-town voters, who are increasingly supporting Republicans.
"We're trying to refocus the Democratic Party on a more middle-of-the-road, or conservative, philosophy," said Rep. Richard Royal (D-Camilla).
The caucus is an example of the split between rural conservatives and urban liberals that has long been present in the state Democratic Party. The question is whether those two elements can work together to rebuild the party, or whether rural Democrats will merely become "Republican light," as some have suggested.
GOP lawmakers doubt rural Democrats will be able to move their party to the right.
"A majority of the Democrats up there would like the party to be more moderate, but you have a very vocal minority that won't allow that," said Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta).
Until 2003, the General Assembly had been dominated by Democrats and most of its leaders were rural Democrats or other lawmakers from outside metro Atlanta.
When longtime House Speaker Tom Murphy of Bremen was defeated in 2002, he was replaced by Terry Coleman of Eastman. Other House leadership posts also went to Democrats from outside metro Atlanta, including DuBose Porter of Dublin, who became House speaker pro tem, and Jimmy Skipper of Americus, who became House majority leader. Democrats from outside the metro area were appointed to most of the top committees and the conference committees that negotiated the state budget.
Rural Democrats hung with their city brethren on many issues, especially those affecting the party. But when legislation on social issues, like gay marriage, hit the House floor, many voted with Republicans.
Rural vs. urban
House Democrats tried to display unity in November, when they picked Porter, a floor leader for Gov. Zell Miller in the early 1990s, as minority leader. Miller has become famous nationally for backing Republicans and criticizing the Democratic Party as being a captive of the left.
While Porter was a nod to small-town Georgia, the rest of the top House Democrats are mostly urban. Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus) became minority whip, Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) was re-elected Democratic caucus chairman and Rep. Nan Grogan Orrock (D-Atlanta) became caucus vice chairman.
A few weeks later, rural Democrats formed their own, largely white, caucus, which is expected to have 38 to 40 members, about half the House Democrats.
"We think we have a lot of issues in rural Georgia that are different than those in the urban areas," Royal said. "We are concerned the rural issues could be overlooked."
Rep. Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island), who will become majority leader in January, said the GOP leadership includes plenty of non-Atlanta lawmakers. More than half the Republicans nominated for leadership posts come from outside the area, though the new speaker and speaker pro tem are from Dallas, in Paulding County, and Alpharetta, respectively.
"It's amazing to me that because Republicans are in charge, [they say] everything will be driven by the Atlanta area," Keen said. "The reason we have a majority is we won seats outside of Atlanta."
Several veteran rural Democrats have also switched to the GOP over the past two years as the political tide shifted.
'Republican light?'
The need for a caucus of rural Democrats is a mystery to urban lawmakers like Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), a Clark Atlanta University political scientist and one of the House's longest-serving members.
"They have been in control," he said. "Where are they going to go from here? It's like trying to be Bush light. It's like trying to be Republican light."
But University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock compares it to the conservative Democratic groups that formed years ago in hopes of moving the national party to the right.
"Whether they say it or not, it seems like they buy into what Zell Miller is saying," Bullock said. "If the Democratic Party's face is Bob Holmes and Nan Orrock, it's going to be a hard sell in rural Georgia."
In Miller's latest book, "A National Party No More," he argues the Democratic Party is out of step with the country. While the outgoing U.S. senator hasn't directly attacked the Georgia party, which has traditionally been more conservative, he also didn't campaign for Democrats here this year and was one of President Bush's biggest backers.
The rural caucus picked Rep. Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa), a Miller loyalist from North Georgia, to head the group. Jamieson joined other rural House Democrats this year to endorse Republican Johnny Isakson in his successful race to replace Miller.
Jamieson said the caucus' goal is to represent rural Georgia on issues such as road funding, the viability and availability of health care and school funding. Rural schools rely heavily on state funds.
"In the last two budgets, education has taken a tremendous hit," she said. "Local schools have had to make up the difference. It's much more difficult in rural Georgia to do that than in other areas."
She acknowledged the caucus may have a beneficial impact for Democrats, but didn't cite that as a main goal for forming the group.
"We could say we hope it will offer reassurances to these rural areas that the Democratic Party is indeed in tune to their needs and concerns," she said.
_______________
Rep. Holmes' name is in bold in both the excerpts from the Aug. article and the 12-23 article. He was wrong in August, and I think he is wrong now.
The 11-08-04 ajc's Political Insider described the then upcoming contest for House minority leader as follows:
"By postponing a vote on who will be the House minority leader, Democrats have given themselves 10 days to figure out whether the mixed-race, mixed-geography, mixed-philosophy coalition — which was first built by Jimmy Carter and which ruled Georgia for 30 years — is at an end.
"Right now, the three veteran candidates for House minority leader are: Bob Holmes, an African-American academic from Atlanta, who thinks Democrats have moved too far right; Georganna Sinkfield, a black real-estate agent from Atlanta who feels somewhat the same; and DuBose Porter of Dublin, a white newspaper publisher who represents the last vestige of white rural power within the Democratic party."
_______________
And it was Baxter and Galloway's PI that first alerted us to this caucus, a minority within a minority the PI called in in a 11-18-04 story entitled:
A group guaranteed to remember the past 150 years or so as the good old days
A pre-meeting of House Democrats was held this week, before the election of DuBose Porter of Dublin as minority leader. It was an organizational meeting of "the rural caucus," chaired by Jeanette Jamieson of Toccoa.
Most are white, many have been listed as possible switchers to the Republican Party. Ideally, Jamieson said, the rural caucus will serve as a voice on issues ranging from transportation to water to public health to education.
Other members said the new caucus is intended to protect members — all now in red counties — from being tied too closely to their Atlanta brethren. "We realize that's a problem. That's not to say Atlanta's bad," said Gerald Greene of Cuthbert.
Keep in mind that this is the same group that ruled the state Capitol — and all of Georgia — for more than a century. And now they're a minority caucus within a minority party. It wouldn't surprise many to see a rural caucus turn into more of a way station. [This quote was in the 11-22-04 post.]
_______________
And now going to just what many of you are dying to hear, what Jim Wooten had to say this weekend about the Democrats' rural caucus:
"• Good news . . . for two-party Georgia. A group of House Democrats has formed the rural caucus to move the party "on more of a middle-of-the-road or conservative philosophy," explained Richard Royal (D-Camilla), one of the vanishing breed of Southern conservative Democrats. The caucus had the good sense, too, to elect Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa) as their leader. She's a lot like Zell: tough and with a deep streak of mountain independence. I usually try not to mess with people from the mountains. They'll whup you. It would be the party's good fortune if she could whup them away from the national herd."
(And recall the advice Mr. Wooten recommended to our Party that is noted in the 11-27-04 post criticizing all of the pork contained in the omnibus spending bill that was passed without any of our U.S. Congressman or Senators having had the opportunity to read:
"Hint to defeated Democrats: Become fiscal conservatives and run against the tax-and-spenders."
posted by Sid Cottingham | 8:57 PM
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