"Gut feeling" & "fire in belly" are in, Part II -- Charles Bullock: Unions are weak in Georgia, and endorsing Knight was risky & showed that weakness.

A 7-9-08 post entitled "My, my . . . Experience out, gut feeling in," noted The Macon Telegraph's rationale of relying on its gut feeling in deciding whom to endorse for the U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary, and that post quoted from the Telegraph as follows:

[W]hile [Jim Martin's] name recognition and experience may lead him to the nomination, we have to go with our gut feeling and try a different path.

Gut feeling, why not? The Georgia AFL-CIO endorsed Rand Knight for reasons such as the fire in his belly, being young and the union thinking it was only fair that it should give him a chance, even though Jim Martin is "a really good friend."

Oh well . . . .

Now that Martin came is a close second, the union has thrown its support behind him for the runoff. I say forget it; you blew it on round one.

Travis Fain writes in The Macon Telegraph:

Rand Knight turned a lot of heads when he picked up endorsements from three well-known unions in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

But it didn't translate into many votes July 15 for the relative unknown. Despite backing from the Georgia Association of Educators, the National Education Association and the Georgia AFL-CIO, Knight polled a disappointing 5.2 percent. It landed him in fourth place.

Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political science professor, said unions have "never been the healthiest in Georgia." Endorsing Knight was risky, because it showed that weakness, he said.

"When they flex their muscles, they're the 98-pound weakling on the beach," Bullock said.