It’s sometimes difficult to recruit top-notch political talent to run against an incumbent Senator. Considering the extremely high rate at which incumbents are generally re-elected, most potential candidates prefer to wait until there’s an open seat. In Georgia, however, incumbent pseudo-Dem Sen. Zell Miller is retiring, making the state one of five that will host open Senate races next year.
The other four states — Oklahoma, North Carolina, Illinois, and South Carolina — have already seen strong Dem candidates kick off their campaigns. In Georgia, meanwhile, Dems can’t seem to find anyone.
For months, it was supposed to be former-Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young to launch a campaign. He announced earlier this month that he had decided against it.
On Friday, Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn and a popular community activist, announced that she too will skip the race.
For the time being, at least, this leaves little-known state Sen. Mary Squires as the only announced candidate. The Republicans, meanwhile, are rallying behind Rep. Johnny Isakson, who will be a very formidable and well-funded candidate with strong backing from the Bush White House.
There are other potentially strong Dem candidates out there — including current Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and state attorney general Thurbert Baker — who haven’t announced their intentions. Note to potential candidates: Now might a good time to jump in.
Meanwhile, speaking of Georgia, a statewide Zogby poll in Georgia shows that Gen. Wesley Clark continues to be the Dems’ top choice to challenge Bush next year.
According to the poll, released today, only four candidates have support greater than 5 percent statewide. (margin of error +/- 4.5%)
Clark — 13.1 percent
Gephardt — 11.5 percent
Lieberman — 9 percent
Dean — 7.4 percent
I’m not surprised that Clark continues to lead in Georgia (these results largely mirror a different statewide poll released last week), but numbers like these have to be disappointing for candidates such as Edwards and Dean.
For Edwards, his strength in the South was supposed to propel him to the nomination, yet here he is in Georgia with only 3.8 percent support.
For Dean, poll results like these are the latest to show a lack of support for his campaign in the South. Recent polls show him doing well in states like New Hampshire and New York, but doing poorly in Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama.
The last time we had a candidate who did well in the North but couldn’t compete in the South we ended up with Bush in the White House.