Keown to seek Thomas County Commission District 4 seat, will not run for Congress

Mike Keown will seek the District 4 Thomas County Commission seat that becane vacant by the death of Incumbent Louis Rehberg back in April.

Keown almost pulled the upset over Sanford Bishop for the 2nd Congressional District during the 2010 elections.

Keown says he is not considering another run for Congress, adding that his involvement in politics has been what the Lord led him to do. “I never say never,” Keown said.

With Keown out of the picture, who will challenge Bishop in 2012?

My Own Version of Reapportionment: Georgia Style 2011

Here's what the districts would look like if I were redrawing the maps (Sorry I didn't include the Metro Atlanta Districts) If you are the democrats here in Georgia especially Barrow, Bishop, I would hope & pray that this version or something similar would be the end result after the special session. (Note: Clayton is still in Scott's District, not in Bishop's) In the 2nd, I included all of Muscogee County, as well as Upson comes into the fold. Tift, Cook are brought back into the district. The District will be knocking on the door of 50% African-American population. And it sets up nicely for Bishop's replacement when he decides to retire from congress. But it may spur more GOP candidates in running for this seat with the inclusion of Tift & Cook County, but Bishop represented these counties before & did very well in them

In the 8th, Tift (Scott's former home is now gone) & East Atlanta Republican Suburb of Walton County is brought in the 8th, all of Newton is now included as well & Lamar County is back as well. This district should help Scott in retaining the seat. Bibb County stays in the 8th. It belongs in Middle Georgia, not in a SW Georgia based district. The district remains a republican tilt district, but if the right democrat comes along, it can be won back by the dems.


In the 12th, Chatham is gone from the district & Greene, Morgan, & Putnam is brought into the district, all of Richmond Co is now included & Johnson Co is gone, making the district a Tossup/lean democratic district. And it will force Barrow to either run in the 1st (Jack Kingston) or relocate to Augusta. Remember, here in Georgia, a candidate does not have to reside in his or her district to run for congress, (Saxby Chambliss back in 1994 lived in the 2nd, but represented the old 3rd, now 8th District)

In the 3rd, Westmoreland District remains safe, no worries there for the GOP

In the 10th, Broun loses Greene, Morgan, & Putnam Counties, but that's offset with the inclusion of fast growing Barrow County. Its still safe for Broun for now!

The Cost of Reapportionment

When trying to redraw a legislative district here in Georgia, if you want to place 55,000 voters into a current rural house district, do not leave out a entire county in the process.

And while redrawing a legislative district, don't split a county in two, three districts

And while redrawing a legislative district, don't dilute minority voting strength in a particular area to ensure the election of certain candidates.

And while the VRA protects Majority-Minority Districts, please do not create anymore of these type of districts. Where would they be located. Democrats,(Black Democrats) in general, the more you push for these type of districts, the more you are ensuring the democratic party of a permanent minority status over the next 10-15 years. So no more deal making with republicans over "GIVE US MORE MAJORITY-MINORITY DISTRICTS & IN RETURN, WE'LL SUPPORT ANY MAP YOU PUT FORWARD".

And plus this only solidify the notion that if you're black, you belong in the Democratic Party & if you're white, you belong in the Republican Party.

A BLACK & BROWN GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY, SPRINKLED WITH WHITE LIBERALS CANNOT WIN IN GEORGIA! ESPECIALLY STATEWIDE!!

No more Racially Gerrymandered Districts (just as they want to do with the 2nd by moving predominently Black, Inner city of Macon into Sanford Bishop's 2nd Congressional District, while leaving the unincorporated areas in the 8th District, held by first term Congressman Austin Scott.

Keep an eye on Gerrymandering over in the 12th Congressional District held by John Barrow, a conservative democrat. Despite Barrow only needing around 660+ more voters to meet the 692,000+ needed, the Georgia Republicans will "likely" alter the district significantly to lessen the chances of Barrow getting re-elected & increasing a prospective republican's chances of GETTING elected.

Dems have complained about being shutout of the process, while some republicans like State Senator Tommie Williams keeps referring to 2001 when Democrats ran the show & kept republicans out as well. Its like republicans such as Tommie Williams are saying, "Now its payback for what you tried to do to us (GOP) 10 years ago".

And lastly, Georgia Republicans are considering instead of going through the DOJ to get approvals of the maps, they might instead go to a court in tryin to get the maps approved because many from what I've heard say the Obama DOJ are very Partisan. You didn't think the Bush DOJ was partisan when they approved a mid-decade 2005 redistricting after the GOP got full control of the State Legislature in which they tried to oust Jim Marshall & John Barrow back in the 2006 elections?

The straight-to-court strategy has another possible drawback: It takes more time & ITS VERY EXPENSIVE. They could do like Louisiana & Virginia & take their maps to both the DOJ & the court for approval. In any event, don't be surprised if the Democrats present legal obstacles to a republican plan that they view as not constitutional or diluting minority or democratic strength in any area of the state.

The GOP's best friend: Symbolism!

I’ve seen all sorts of strategies and tactics used by both political parties. Republicans certainly know how to gather support however they can and they understand and perpetuate the cynicism in politics. They don’t see any downside to being hypocritical. They divide and conquer, they pit one group against another….but they understand completely that when it comes down to election time, they can get all their people in line. Usually it entails sending out dog whistles, abortion, immigration, and they throw in a little socialism, fascism, communism and all those salivating dogs coming running home.

Like I said, both political parties use symbolic gestures just to give the impression that they are doing what they promised.

But the GOP are masters at doing such a thing.

Like for instance, the House of Representatives, as expected, voted to repeal the healthcare law which President Obama signed a year ago. This vote was a symbolic victory for Republicans, but not any sort of substantial change, another one is the GOP defunding of NPR over the Juan Williams episode, the defunding of Pro-choice Group Planned Parenthood, these are just puny gestures; or this symbolic stand by Speaker Boehner that in order for the debt limit to increase, the president will have to agree to cut $trillions in order for republicans to cooperate & you know as well as I do, the president is not going to agree to cut $trillions, $billions yes, but seriously $trillions?



All of these symbolic vote by the GOP means trying to create as many tough votes for the Democrats as possible, while simultaneously giving conservatives members of Congress as many good votes as possible to trumpet to skeptical activists back home like a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment, which was pushed by Sam Nunn back in the 1980s (now this is something that is long overdue).

Other symbolic gestures by republicans: ostentatiously reading each bill, fulfilling their (entirely symbolic and meaningless) pledge to insert a clause in bills saying why they're constitutional, investigations, real or imagined, in the Obama administration and among liberals generally.

These things are only to satisfy the Tea Party who rank & file republicans are afraid of. First, many Tea Party and other GOP activists want confrontation for its own sake. That may make the substantive stuff difficult, and may create huge problems for the GOP. Some republican members are going to find it very difficult to pass must-pass items, either because they honestly believe that lots of the normal things the federal government has done for decades are unconstitutional, or because they're terrified of primaries from half-crazed constituents who believe those things are unconstitutional.

So to Congressional republicans, get off your soapbox & stop all of the symbolic crap & roll up your sleeves & start help the president solve some of our most dire ills facing the nation. The games are over, its either put up or shut up!

Pelosi as Minority Leader may still pose a problem for Democrats in '12

Pelosi’s controversial public image and low approval ratings are a liability to Democrats looking ahead to 2012.

Democrats chances are 50/50 in retaking back control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Democrats need to regain between 25-30 seats in 2012 to win back control of the house of representatives.

It can be done, but there still is one problem for democrats..........Nancy Pelosi!

Since losing the house in 2010 she has been a invisible presence around capitol hill these days, but you better believe that she will return as a major factor in 2012.

Republicans tied Pelosi around the neck of every single moderate/conservative democrat in last year's elections that helped contribute to the wave that washed away many rural democrats from the south & midwest, as well as some blue states like Illinois.

The problem for moderate Democrats, and America in general, is that owing to the massive decrease in numbers among those moderate Dems, only the most liberal wing nuts in the Democratic Party are still in office. They think the reason they lost the 2010 election was that the Party didn’t act liberal enough, not that they were too liberal.

Pelosi & many neo-liberals like her are part of the Democratic Party’s problems. If the Democratic Party wants to be seen as a viable alternative in this center-right country, it must pivot away from the liberal policies pursued by Nancy Pelosi & her co-horts that caused such a massive anti-democratic backlash last election cycle.

Her re-election (which was a dumb political move) as minority leader by defiant democrats after mass defeats of democrats may come back to haunt democrats on the campaign trail in 2012 after Republicans made her an object of scorn during the fall campaigns. She represents a continuation of policies that helped the party lose at least 61 House seats.

North Carolina Conservative Democrat Heath Shuler, in a symbolic move challenged her for speaker & got 43 democratic votes in that feat & if I were democrats running for congress in 2012, the motto would be, "a vote for me is a vote for Heath Shuler for speaker of the house in 2012".