Here are the contenders for the following seats in the House Democratic Caucus

Asterik indicates the ones I'm supporting:

Minority Leader
Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta)
*Virgil Fludd (D-Tyrone)

Whip
Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus)

Chair
*Doug McKillip (D-Athens)
Brian Thomas (D-Lilburn)

V-Chair
Sharon Beasley-Teague (D-Atlanta)
*Carol Fullerton (D-Albany)
Ralph Long (D-Atlanta)
Nikki Randall (D-Macon)
Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta)

Chief Deputy Whip Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain)

Secretary
*Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City)
Sheila Jones (D-Smyrna)

Treasurer
Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta)

What Role are the DPG & Democratic Caucus Playing in helping New & Former Candidates Seeking Office this year?

One question that crossed my mind was does the DPG Democratic party of Georgia or the Democratic Caucus in general, offer any help or assistance to our rural house & senate candidates for the General Assembly?

This year all over rural Georgia, (north, middle & south), we have planty of contested races for State Senate & State House.

But will or have any rural candidates have gotten assistance from the Party or the Democratic Caucus as a whole.

The party do not interfere with races withg more than one democrat running, so let's get that out of the way. Some candidates have ssid that they will get assistance from the party for his or her perspective races.

Two candidates in particular have said & their names will not be mentioned here said that the House Democratic Caucus have told them that they needed to raise $10,000 to as much as $12,000 for their races & do phone banking to raise money for their campaigns. I guess its to show them (DPG, Democratic Caucus) that they are serious about their perspective races & these areas are very hard to raise that kind of cash, especially for a democrat.

Another candidate said she was promised help for her race but have not seen anything from the DPG or the House Caucus in her bid to unseat an incumbent republican.

Going back a couple of years ago, I know some candidates didn't receive any help from Democrats at all, one even putting up $40,000 of her own money in a bid to win a seat to the Georgia Legislature. She did well, but had she had some assistance from the party, she might have won that seat.

One candidate in particular said something that hits the nail right on the head:

Its all about "Money"! And this person goes on to say part of it is that they want you to show them you're serious about it (the campaign) and can you raise money, but then too the question comes from potential donors, how much help have you gotten from the party? If the answer is none, then they don't want to help etther, figuring you must not be a very good bet. I agree with that statement 100% If any potential donors see that you're not getting any help from the State Party, that person will NOT give 10 cents to a person's campaign.

Its hard for newcomers to the political scene to get their feet off the ground if he or she are running for State Rep or State Senator. The Party should do everything it can to assist those candidates, even the ones who have ran before.

Some candidates have said that they were promised help but at the end of the day, didn't see SQUAT!!!

This has got to change if democrats expect to gain seats in the House & Senate as to just competing in districts that are either lean democrats that are represented by a republican or in districts that democrats rule. they have got to make a play for swing districts & districts that slightly lean republican if they ever want to close the Gap with the GOP.

Let me use Chuck Pardue for example: He wants to run for the State Senate 23 seat, but he missed the qualifying deadline so he is now trying to get on the ballot as a independent. (I Blame this on J.B. Powell who should have told perspective candidates like Pardue that he was going to run for Agriculture Commissioner, so they would have had time to make it to Atlanta to qualify instead of picking a guy who doesn't live in the district (L. Baxter Garvin), but at the end of the day I still like Powell.

But back to Pardue, he is getting "some" support from the DPG in paid cavassers to the district for one day of training & that's it. He got his son & daughter going out gathering signatures as well as other volunteers helping out up in SD 23. This is what I call dedication & committment. If the DPG were to send folks over there throughout the rest of the month, he'll have the signatures needed to get on the ballot. He needs 3,958 or 5% of voters signatures. I say right now Pardue will get those signatures. Let's step it up DPG.

House Democratic Caucus must have gone Brain Dead when they created this mailer aimed at Rusty Kidd. I'm sure going to miss DuBose in that Chamber.

I was alert to this flyer by another conservative democrat Jay Stalnaker of Taylor County, who goes by the name of RuralDem for those who are familiar with blogs Peach Pundit & Tondees Tavern, late last night. As you can see above, it blast Rusty Kidd for using lobbyist money to hire strippers, & how he used them. And to top it all off, it has at the very bottom of the flier, it reads: Vote for Angela Moore for Secretary of State & Vote for Mary Squires for State Insurance Commissioner.
What on earth are the democratic caucus doing creating such a flier with the names of statewide candidates at the bottom in small print. It gives the impression that both Mary Squires & Angela Moore endorsed the flier.

Angela Moore might as well drop out of the race right now because she doesn't stand a chance of winning the democratic nomination as I do defeating Georga Hooks for State Senate 14. As for Mary Squires, she is the only democrat so far that has announced a run for State Insurance Commissioner, but that may all chance if State Rep. Keith Heard (D-Athens) decides to run, which is probably likely. Why she would even have her name on this flier is beyond me. And I know DuBose Porter didn't have a hand in this at all. The Democratic Party of Georgia is already running low with cash & this is just a waste of money that could have been stashed away to help fund democratic challengers in 2010 for local races. Sigh!!!!!!