Does our Emperor Governor have any clothes? - If no one steps forward to challenge Perdue, GOP might be headed back into the political wilderness.
The following post-article comes from a blog written by a Macon attorney and GOP consultant. His name is Erick-Woods Erickson; the name of the blog is Confessions of a Political Junkie. This post was previewed in the preceding post.
The views expressed in this post are solely those of Mr. Erickson, and I am not saying whether I agree or disagree with any or all of such views, with two exceptions.
Such two exceptions are things I have written about in previous posts on this blog.
Such exceptions -- that is, the two things with which I am saying I agree -- are: (1) Ralph Reed being in the race for lieutenant governor will help Democrats in that and other races; and (2) Gov. Sonny Perdue is vulnerable, very vulnerable, if challenged by a strong Republican candidate such as Max Collins or Rep. Jack Kingston.
Return to the Wilderness
By Erick-Woods Erickson
Confessions of a Political Junkie (a blog of the Republican persuasion)
By any stretch of the imagination, Republicans in Georgia should be sitting pretty and loving life. They are not. There is a restlessness, a nervousness, in the air – the feeling of doom on the horizon. 2006 will arrive sooner than expected and the Republicans are starting to wonder if the Governor has any clothes.
For the first time in Georgia’s history, the Republicans control the State House, State Senate, and Governor’s Mansion. Just this year the GOP has started pushing an aggressive pro-business agenda ranging from tort reform to development confidentiality (a bill that the media has made controversial, but is actually straight forward: when the state is trying to attract business development, it will not have to reveal the name of the business being wooed or the terms with which the business is being wooed – something the media hates). But, ask a Republican member of the General Assembly or a Republican consultant what Governor Perdue has actually done and most cannot count his accomplishments on one finger. Therein lies the problem for the GOP.
While no one doubts that the Governor, through executive order, appointment power, and steerage of legislation has done well, few can actually name his accomplishments. Instead, many see his staff as, at best, young and inexperienced and, at worse, young and incompetent. Across the hall from the Governor, Secretary of State Cathy Cox is making her bid to oust him. Republicans hope for a blood bath in the Democratic primary and are very nervous that Cox will get the Democratic nomination.
Cox is a dynamic and attractive Secretary of State. She is smart without having to prove it to you, she has a long list of accomplishments, and she comes across as a genuinely nice person. Knowing her somewhat informally, I can attest to her natural charisma and charm – she may be pro-choice and pro-high taxes, but you would love her for being that way once you have been exposed to her charm. She is, in a sense, a female Bill Clinton removed of all the slime and filled with ethics – a natural politician who is savvy, well regarded, and has a sense of what the people want. Whether you really can or cannot, you think you can trust her.
Secretary Cox is being opposed by Mark Taylor, the current Lieutenant Governor. Taylor is like Bill Clinton as well, with double the weight, double the slime, and the same lack of ethics that got Clinton in trouble. Taylor plays hard ball and he aims to win. Unfortunately for him, many a good ole boy in Georgia will not like it when he beats up on that nice lady from Bainbridge, Secretary Cox.
Put together Cox’s natural likeability and known accomplishments with Perdue’s good nature, but, as of now, uncompelling story of gubernatorial leadership, and you have a disaster in the making for the Republicans. Additionally, the GOP keeps pouring new people into the Lieutenant Governor’s race – John Oxendine, Casey Cagle, Ralph Reed, and possibly Karen Handel. Reed scares the moderates, Cagle annoys the conservatives, Oxendine inspires no one, and Handel is the token female. Right now Reed has the advantage, which artful Dems might be able to use to hurt the GOP with moderate voters across the board.
If that was not enough, there is the General Assembly. By all accounts, Glenn Richardson, the first Republican Speaker of the House, is a great leader with a good sense of what is right. He keeps his team together. On the Senate side, however, things are more factious. Like the U.S. Senate, the Georgia Senate is filled with many lightweights and many competing personalities. The leadership tries to keep everyone together, but their efforts equate to herding cats. For all the talk of a united agenda, several Senators have their own agenda with the friction between the competing agendas causing too much heat.
Bill Stephens, the Senate Majority Leader, wants to run for Secretary of State. David Shafer, a Gwinnett County State Senator, exudes ambition. In addition to backing Casey Cagle for Lieutenant Governor, Shafer wants Stephens’s current job, but Stephens and Shafer have a history of not exactly getting along. Eric Johnson, the current President Pro Tem of the Senate, is friends with Stephens, both of whom are aligned with the Ralph Reed wing of the party. Behind their backs, Shafer and Cagle have been effective at rallying support for Cagle among freshman GOP Senators readily inclined to support their own. With the start of a new elections season, Stephens, Cagle, and others will begin making their legislative marks, all leaving Perdue marginalized.
One consultant told me yesterday, “The egos and fissures within our party are going to kill us next year if Cathy Cox doesn’t.” That about sums up the state of the party in Georgia. There is time for remedial action, if someone steps forward. If no one does so soon, the party might be headed back into the political wilderness.
The views expressed in this post are solely those of Mr. Erickson, and I am not saying whether I agree or disagree with any or all of such views, with two exceptions.
Such two exceptions are things I have written about in previous posts on this blog.
Such exceptions -- that is, the two things with which I am saying I agree -- are: (1) Ralph Reed being in the race for lieutenant governor will help Democrats in that and other races; and (2) Gov. Sonny Perdue is vulnerable, very vulnerable, if challenged by a strong Republican candidate such as Max Collins or Rep. Jack Kingston.
Return to the Wilderness
By Erick-Woods Erickson
Confessions of a Political Junkie (a blog of the Republican persuasion)
By any stretch of the imagination, Republicans in Georgia should be sitting pretty and loving life. They are not. There is a restlessness, a nervousness, in the air – the feeling of doom on the horizon. 2006 will arrive sooner than expected and the Republicans are starting to wonder if the Governor has any clothes.
For the first time in Georgia’s history, the Republicans control the State House, State Senate, and Governor’s Mansion. Just this year the GOP has started pushing an aggressive pro-business agenda ranging from tort reform to development confidentiality (a bill that the media has made controversial, but is actually straight forward: when the state is trying to attract business development, it will not have to reveal the name of the business being wooed or the terms with which the business is being wooed – something the media hates). But, ask a Republican member of the General Assembly or a Republican consultant what Governor Perdue has actually done and most cannot count his accomplishments on one finger. Therein lies the problem for the GOP.
While no one doubts that the Governor, through executive order, appointment power, and steerage of legislation has done well, few can actually name his accomplishments. Instead, many see his staff as, at best, young and inexperienced and, at worse, young and incompetent. Across the hall from the Governor, Secretary of State Cathy Cox is making her bid to oust him. Republicans hope for a blood bath in the Democratic primary and are very nervous that Cox will get the Democratic nomination.
Cox is a dynamic and attractive Secretary of State. She is smart without having to prove it to you, she has a long list of accomplishments, and she comes across as a genuinely nice person. Knowing her somewhat informally, I can attest to her natural charisma and charm – she may be pro-choice and pro-high taxes, but you would love her for being that way once you have been exposed to her charm. She is, in a sense, a female Bill Clinton removed of all the slime and filled with ethics – a natural politician who is savvy, well regarded, and has a sense of what the people want. Whether you really can or cannot, you think you can trust her.
Secretary Cox is being opposed by Mark Taylor, the current Lieutenant Governor. Taylor is like Bill Clinton as well, with double the weight, double the slime, and the same lack of ethics that got Clinton in trouble. Taylor plays hard ball and he aims to win. Unfortunately for him, many a good ole boy in Georgia will not like it when he beats up on that nice lady from Bainbridge, Secretary Cox.
Put together Cox’s natural likeability and known accomplishments with Perdue’s good nature, but, as of now, uncompelling story of gubernatorial leadership, and you have a disaster in the making for the Republicans. Additionally, the GOP keeps pouring new people into the Lieutenant Governor’s race – John Oxendine, Casey Cagle, Ralph Reed, and possibly Karen Handel. Reed scares the moderates, Cagle annoys the conservatives, Oxendine inspires no one, and Handel is the token female. Right now Reed has the advantage, which artful Dems might be able to use to hurt the GOP with moderate voters across the board.
If that was not enough, there is the General Assembly. By all accounts, Glenn Richardson, the first Republican Speaker of the House, is a great leader with a good sense of what is right. He keeps his team together. On the Senate side, however, things are more factious. Like the U.S. Senate, the Georgia Senate is filled with many lightweights and many competing personalities. The leadership tries to keep everyone together, but their efforts equate to herding cats. For all the talk of a united agenda, several Senators have their own agenda with the friction between the competing agendas causing too much heat.
Bill Stephens, the Senate Majority Leader, wants to run for Secretary of State. David Shafer, a Gwinnett County State Senator, exudes ambition. In addition to backing Casey Cagle for Lieutenant Governor, Shafer wants Stephens’s current job, but Stephens and Shafer have a history of not exactly getting along. Eric Johnson, the current President Pro Tem of the Senate, is friends with Stephens, both of whom are aligned with the Ralph Reed wing of the party. Behind their backs, Shafer and Cagle have been effective at rallying support for Cagle among freshman GOP Senators readily inclined to support their own. With the start of a new elections season, Stephens, Cagle, and others will begin making their legislative marks, all leaving Perdue marginalized.
One consultant told me yesterday, “The egos and fissures within our party are going to kill us next year if Cathy Cox doesn’t.” That about sums up the state of the party in Georgia. There is time for remedial action, if someone steps forward. If no one does so soon, the party might be headed back into the political wilderness.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 7:49 AM
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