Campaigning is Different in Rural Georgia

He didn’t shake my hand, she didn't ask for my vote, so I’m not going to vote for him or I'm not going to vote for her. For a long time, I've often-heard this remark by voters in various rural areas of Georgia. That's what I hear now when the name of Michelle Nunn or any other candidate comes up. Political campaigns and races in rural counties have often been decided by just such seemingly whimsical reasoning.

Roy Barnes appearance in rural Berrien County in 2010 during his run for governor

However, if you’ve spent any time in rural areas, then you have some grasp of how small town people and farm folks look at elections and politicians. On the surface, that remark may seem foolish but rural residents reasoning runs much deeper and more serious than that statement may seem. Longtime residents of metropolitan cities here in the state probably think that’s a silly reason for voting or not voting for a candidate. But, having spent the majority of my life in a small town I understand the reasoning. It goes to character.

Yes, it says something about the candidate’s character but it also raises the question of the depth of the candidate’s character. While, metro residents may seem to be more attuned to issues, small town and rural folks put a lot of stock in a candidate who has the gumption and, yes, strength of character, to look a man in the eye, shake his hand and ask for his vote. I know how important this is, I seen it first hand two years ago while working on a campaign for State House. Numbers, of course, play a major role in how a candidate and his campaign people approach the race. If the area to be represented is sizable in both population and/or geographic area, much of the candidate’s appeal will be directed through appearances at events catering to candidates and through advertising and mass media messages to the electorate.

But, a candidate who dismisses the press-the-flesh/knock on- doors approach as too time-consuming, colloquial and lacking depth is usually making a major mistake. And, to think that a voter who wants to look you in the eye probably doesn’t know what the issues are, is usually a misjudgement by a candidate and his campaign workers. A voter who wants a candidate to shake his hand and look him in the eye, can probably tell from the candidate’s reaction if the politician is committed plus confident in his depth of knowledge of the job and the issues. (Again I go back to 2012 when I worked for Thomas Coogle campaign for State House 139...that kind of outreach works!)

Rural and small town folks have always done a lot of handshake business so they generally have a good feel for a person’s sincerity and honesty. Of course, there is a difference between a politician and someone you see and do business with regularly. Naturally, if the pol is local, he/ she understands that they have to face most voters frequently. Maybe they see them shopping every week or go to the same church or hold civic club membership in common.

That kind of exposure will go a long way toward ensuring a candidate’s honesty. He or she knows they have to look the same people in the eye daily or weekly and there are less places to run and hide.

For statewide candidates, especially democratic candidates, this is a MUST! They may not go door to door, but attending those summer festivals across Georgia and during the fall, attending friday night football games offer a valuable opportunity for them to connect with voters. Already I've seen candidates such as Liz Johnson (Insurance Commissioner) visit Coffee County, Chris Irvin (Agriculture Commissioner) visit several rural counties such as Early, Peach, and Crisp Co for example and Robin Shipp (Labor Commissioner) trek to Sumter and several other rural counties since announcing her candidacy.

The Top Two Candidates, Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn need to do more of this as we now are into August, especially Michelle Nunn who really needs to raise her profile in rural Georgia ASAP!

I Get Mail

Much ado is made today about the right wing Republican Party here in Georgia. However, little is said about why the Democratic Party cannot win in areas of the state that have Black Populations less than 40%.

It`s because they are universally viewed by many voters in these areas as being all left-wing with no middle of the road or conservative dissent from anyone inside the party. Furthermore, if anyone with the slightest of right-wing leanings speaks out, they are looked upon with disgust, silenced and never heard from again by the public.

Like many in Georgia, I had always voted Democrat up until I voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984. But I still voted democratic here in Georgia from Sam Nunn until he retired in 1996 to Max Cleland until he lost in 2002 to Jim Marshall who lost his re-election bid in 2010. Since 2002, I have voted for republican candidates (with the exception of Jim Marshall) ever since. This was due to the Republican Party’s openness for conservative leaning types in their party.

All this while the Democratic Party was excluding conservatives from its party, which it still does. If the Democratic Party wants to win in Georgia anytime in the near future like starting this year, they need to become more tolerant, inclusive and create more diversity within their party by making room for rural, small town and white conservatives such as myself.

I would love to vote in the great Georgia Democratic Party once again, but not at the cost of anything and everything goes.


C. Dunaway

Irwinville, Georgia

Forget About Being Nice: Democrats Need To Tap The Anger Vein In Voters

Midterms are all about anger....and in some instances rage.  Polls never really show the exact extent of this.  There’s no identifiable or authoritative Anger Poll – a "how angry are you" poll. Personally, I’d like to see an anger poll.  Not another level of dissatisfaction with Congress poll or how much voters disapproves of President Obama poll.  And even though it’s something like news for the horse race gamblers, some of us get unbelievable headaches from survey after survey measuring how much half the public still detests the Affordable Care Act or "Obamacare" a it called.

But, an anger poll could go beyond the political divisions and reveal the root cause of electoral anxieties we see in polls and hear on the street.  The deciding factor in this upcoming midterm elections isn’t really about which party base is the most mobilized, but it’s more about how angry or anxious certain blocks of voters are.

This is problematic for both Democratic and Republican parties.  However, at this stage, it’s much more problematic for Democrats as the left has proven itself incapable of using voter anger as a valuable resource simply because they are too nice.  While progressives are writing diatribes and pity party scripts, conservatives are coming up with creative twists on anger and that strategy works everytime. Defensively, Democrats are earnestly rolling out a wave of populist themes designed to win the hearts and minds of lost base voters. From the minimum wage to equal pay, the issues seem solid on paper and in polling headlines bearing upbeat assessments of a Democratic Party comeback in this year’s highly critical midterm election.

Issues such as the minimum wage increase appeal to non-white voters at a much higher rate. But for any democrat to do well this november and win, he or she will have to go after the white vote. For all the talk about democrats needing to turnout their base, which will not be on the level of that of 2008 or 2012, white voters..those who are middle of the road, bluecollar will be the deciding bloc for democrats this year. If the Democratic party, is to thrive for instance like here in Georgia, it cannot simply accommodate itself to Republicans. The party needs to seize control of the battle for new ideas, reinvigorate its grassroots base, and develop new mechanisms for communicating its ideas to the public.

Jason Carter heads to Plains for Fundraiser this weekend

Jason Carter who is running for governor will be in Plains, Ga this weekend for a fundraiser hosted by his grandfather, former Georgia Governor & President James E. "Jimmy" Carter.

Jason Carter Campaign Ad - 10th Generation

Jason Carter Campaign AD - Our Kids

Negative Ads, Lies Key For GOP against Jason Carter

Candidate for Gov. Jason Carter

Negative campaigning is hardly new, and already the Republican Governors Association in association with Nathan Deal are already running a misleading ad against challenger Jason Carter as Deal'a approval rating has dipped way below 50% and polling shows Carter either neck & neck or with a slight lead over the incumbent. Mudslinging is crucial to the Republican plan for this year's midterm elections, because the party's hold on the governor's mansion power will hinge on shifting attention from the state's educational system, cuts to the Hope Scholarship, Jobs and Medicaid and other state issues that cut against him. And let's not forget about the Ethics problem that continue to haunt Deal since he left congress 4 years ago.

When people are looking at issues that are affecting Georgia and that are not breaking the way favorably for Deal & Co, what you want to do is focus on your opponent and that's what the latest RGA ad does against Carter, accusing him of supporting to expand Obamacare, where in fact he supports expanding medicaid. They took his support of expanding medicaid and twist it in a attempt to say he support expanding Obamacare. It's a tough tactic, one they hope will drive up Carter's negatives among Georgia voters especially among white swing voters.

Their strategy from now up to November is to define Carter immediately and unrelentingly. The strategy rests on the widely held belief that negative political ads make more of an impression on voters than positive one. Voters are in some ways more ready to accept the negative about politicians than the positive and they often say they would like to see a more reasoned debate in campaigns and more talk about the ideas, but in fact they often respond to negative ads because they tend to find them more credible.

So the question now for the Carter campaign is how to respond to a attack ad that takes his support of medicaid as a interpretation that he supports Obamacare, which are entirely two different things.