Today from 12:30 to 1:30 PM EDT, C-SPAN will broadcast a
Democratic Primary Runoff Debate between embattled
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her challenger DeKalb County Commissioner
Hank Johnson.
Voters in Georgia's 4th District will vote on Tuesday, August 8th in this primary run-off. Neither candidate received the required majority in the July 18, 2006, Democratic primary.
The live debate will also be shown on WSB-TV, Atlanta Georgia
This diary is intended to serve as an open thread about the debate.
please follow me below the jump
[Please note that this diary has been edited based on further research and suggestions from commentors (or as
jotter calls them 'tators']
The state of Georgia has an open primary system in which voters are permitted to cross party lines. No party affiliation is required to register to vote, nor is it required to vote in primary or general elections. Georgia's 4th Congressional District is considered a
safe Democratic seat. I've read that John Kerry received 70% of the vote in the last presidential election. McKinney contends that
many Republicans chose Democratic ballots for the primary and that her opponent received significant support from individuals who also contributed to George Bush and the GOP. The election this coming Tuesday is a run-off between the two candidates who received the highset vote count in the July 18th election.
July 18, 2006 Results:
JOHN COYNE 5,253 8.5 %
HANK JOHNSON 27,529 44.4 %
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY 29,216 47.1 %
I scoured the Elections section of the website for the Georgia Secretary of State but was unable to find out how many Republicans cast Democratic ballots in the July 18th primary. The numbers may well be there somewhere — if anyone know the numbers please share them with us.
Recently, an editorial by Cynthia Tucker which was highly critical of Congresswoman McKinney was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constituion. Here's what the Black Comentator has to say about that publication:
"McKinney faces a solid wall of corporate media hostility, most notably from the daily newspaper monopoly Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). In 2002, the AJC was an extension of Denise Majette's successful campaign against McKinney. The paper claimed Majette was building a "biracial coalition" of voters who were tired of "civil rights-type" politics; that Black middle class voters would flock to Majette's banner in disgust at McKinney's activism. It didn't happen that way. Instead, Majette won with massive white support, including loads of cross-over Republican voters. Nevertheless, the newspaper claimed to have done a post-election study that showed strong Black support for Majette. Black Commentator exposed that lie, in a November, 2002 investigative article by editor Bruce Dixon."
— The Black Commentator, July 27, 2006
McKiinney is suing Cynthia Tucker for making untrue, defamatory and libelous statements in the AJC Op-Ed. Here is a
link to a letter from McKinney's attorney.
I would like to refer readers to two excellent diaries on this race:
Why you should support Cynthia McKinney by Quequeg
Hank Johnson slurs Arab-Americans by Paleo
Paleo directs us to a must see video clip from a previous debate where Johnson makes an unforgivable slur against Arab-Americans.
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peace