Martin scores upset victory over Jones in Georgia U.S. Senate primary
By Tom Baxter
Southern Political Report
August 5, 2008 — There should have been a sigh of relief in Chicago and the District of Columbia when the results of Georgia’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary runoff rolled in Tuesday night. Former Atlanta legislator Jim Martin, an Atticus Finch type who set no woods on fire in an unsuccessful statewide race for lieutenant governor two years ago, walloped DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones to win the right to carry the Democratic standard against incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Martin had money, and the name I.D. from a statewide race, and he was running against an opponent with a ton of baggage. But make no mistake, a victory in a low turnout race, in which Martin defeated Jones in his own county and several others where African-Americans are in the majority, amounts to an upset of some proportions. It spared Barack Obama’s campaign the potential embarrassment of sharing a stage with a candidate whose primaries tactics – a flier which makes it appear the two African-American candidates are standing together – Obama has already repudiated. One early spin on the results was that such a surprising loss for an African-American candidate spells bad news for Obama. But this was an African-American who admitted voting twice for George W. Bush, and wouldn't commit to supporting Martin if he lost. That would have presented a problem for the Obama campaign, which wants to make a serious stand in the state. Jones’ politics would have been a problem for Obama, and his race wouldn’t have generated more black votes than Obama will on his own. Martin won a lot of precincts, black and white, that went heavily for Obama last February. Did this surprising primary deliver up a formidable opponent to Chambliss? Not from outward appearances. Chambliss still holds a massive lead in both money and organization. But Jones would have been a much easier challenger for Chambliss to marginalize. Martin, who’s kept a pretty clean reputation through a long career in the legislature and as director of the state Department of Human Resources, is at least a harder target, and in a year when voters could be willing to look at qualified candidates in either party, he could be a mild-mannered surprise. As many advantages as Chambliss has, his conduct at a recent Senate hearing into the explosion which claimed 13 lives at the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery in Port Wentworth. The first-term Republican heatedly grilled Graham H. Graham, the sugar company executive turned whistleblower. He later said he was speaking on behalf of the families which had suffered in the tragedy and was “infuriated” at Graham, who was in change of safety at the plant but claims higher executives tied his hands when he pushed for changes at the facility. But Graham’s lawyer charged that Chambliss was acting for Imperial Sugar, and that’s an impression no incumbent Republican anywhere can leave standing this year. The Democrats might wish for a more aggressive challenger to push those points, but Martin is sure-footed, and from a family of lawyers. If he makes this a race he’ll take a long time to do it, but it’s no longer one the GOP can consider in the bag. |
