Thoughts on Barnes, Deal Race so far.

Let me call it like I see it: Right now Barnes looks like a Strong, Decisive, Confident leader, while Nathan Deal looks Weak, ineffective & in some ways naive.

Deal is the weakest candidate that the GOP have fielded here in Georgia since the 1980s with no ability to inspire the public’s imagination.

With the state facing a record unemployment rate, rising deficits, a stalled economy, and a education & water crisis that bit by bit is eating away at Georgia's pride, this may very well be the year of all years that democrats may see a light at the end of the tunnel. Deal has fallen at or below 45% while Barnes is stalled between 39-43%. But the more I look at this race, the polls may not be an indicator on what might happen on November 2. The Rural Vote will determine whether or not Barnes will become governor again.

Someone told me this yesterday that some republican-leaning voters who maybe supporting Barnes aren't going to do it openly like displaying a Yard Sign in his/her yard or mentioning it among their friends. There might be some truth to that notion!

What Barnes & other "competitive" statewide democrats need to do is to enlarge the state electorate, democrats have relied on the Urban, Liberal votes hoping it would be enough to carry them over the finish line. I saw this as a problem when Mark Taylor was running for governor in 2006. Trips to rural Georgia were minimal at best while using the National Democratic strategy of ignoring the rural vote altogether.

The ability for Thurmond, Barnes, Porter to stir Georgians at a deeper level than politics ordinarily does is the biggest advantage they have. If you look at Isakson's Ads, its full of GOP talking points & you see the same thing from Deal & Cagle.

None of these candidates can inspire the electorate Barnes can tap into a repressed memory of what politics can be like when it lifts our aspirations instead of dashing them when at a time its badly needed.

In addition you got to look at both men's character (Barnes, Deal)

To address the character point its absolutely vital because they give people the best possible guidance as to what you're going to do, in the end the real test of being a governor, is how you respond to the difficult crises that are put in front of you. That is when character and your reaction come to the fore. Can you build a good team, can you listen to people, do you think before making decisions, do you basically understand the instincts of those you're trying to govern? That's all about character, and in the end I think that's more important than any one particular policy. Like many out there, I can't get a good feel about Deal. He never had a tough challenger in his entire political career except when first ran for congress in 1992 (as a democrat).

Now faced with a tough race, many of his skeletons that were kept in the closet are all coming out now & it seems like every other day or week something new is coming out about Deal that'll continue his drop in the polls & eventually voters will makeup their minds & come to a conclusion that they do not have confidence in Deal's ability to govern this state out of the economic & educational mess it has been left in by the Perdue Administration & weak leadership from the General Assembly.

If you can't keep your own house in order, how in the hell can you keep the state's house in order with close to 10 million people living in it?