AJC endorses Mark Taylor for Governor

Excerpts from the ajc endorsement:

Two experienced, capable Georgia Democrats --- Secretary of State Cathy Cox and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor --- are fighting for the chance to challenge Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue in the fall election. While their struggle has been bitter and difficult, and unnecessarily marred by negative advertising, it has also succeeded in identifying the better candidate between the two.

That person is Taylor.

His 20 years under the Gold Dome --- first as a state senator and later as lieutenant governor --- have prepared Taylor well for the political and policy challenges he would face as a Democratic governor trying to work with a state Legislature that will almost certainly be dominated by Republicans.

In particular, his experience of the last few years, as a Democrat presiding as lieutenant governor over a Republican state Senate, has been good training for what might lie ahead, maturing Taylor as a leader and schooling him in the art of tough compromise.

While Cox has also served in the Legislature, she has made her mark in Georgia politics as secretary of state. And while she has certainly been competent and at times progressive in that job, it is a post well removed from the difficult give-and-take of Capitol politics. Her knowledge of the challenges facing Georgia is thus less detailed than that of Taylor, and her political skills less well-honed.