Cracker Squire sees Georgia Democratic election results a little different from the Political Insider

The ajc's Political Insider writes:

If you want to play political nerd on Tuesday night, watch the Democratic races for governor and lieutenant governor.

From the moment they were cast from power in the state Capitol, Democrats have been arguing over the best path back — whether to cater to hard-core loyalists, and rely on enthusiasm to drive up their numbers, or to reach out to the middle. Steal voters from Republicans, in other words.

Jim Martin, the candidate for lieutenant governor, has chosen the base strategy. Mark Taylor, the candidate for governor, is reaching for the middle.

The result has been a genuine field experiment.

Watch for which candidate out-polls the other. It could determine the direction of the state Democratic party for years to come.
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Jim Martin will out-poll Mark Taylor. But this will not necessarily determine the direction of the state Democratic party in the future.

Jim Martin is what he is. Cathy Cox ran a terrible primary campaign and beat herself, leaving the Democratic party with a less competitive candidate than Cox would have been.

This year John Barrow and Jim Marshall will probably both squeak by with victories. Both ran as middle of the road moderates, with a tilt to the right.

As noted in a 10-24-06 post, in the country's competitive congressional districts there are twice as many voters who describe themselves as moderates than liberals, so moderates are the linchpin of Democratic chances.

If a Democratic majority depends on moderate voters, it also depends on the victory of moderate candidates. In five of the seven races likely to decide control of the Senate, Democrats have nominated candidates who simply cannot be seen as conventional liberals.

Assuming a Democratic victory tomorrow, there must be an incipient Democratic alliance, which while tilting slightly leftward, plants its foundations firmly in the middle of the road, because its success will depend on overwhelming support from moderate voters.

The Democrats' dependence on moderate voters and moderate candidates belies Republican claims that a Democratic victory would bring radically liberal politics to Washington. In fact, the first imperative of Democratic congressional leaders, if our party is successful, will be finding policies, ideas and rhetoric to allow our party's progressives and moderates to get along and govern effectively together.

Thus, even though Jim Martin will out-poll Mark Taylor, I do not foresee the state Democratic party veering toward the left.