Following his vicious smearing of Max Cleland to win election to the United States Senate in 2002 people on Daily Kos have been really looking forward to taking out Republican Saxy Chambliss in the 2008 elections. However, we face the obstacles of not faring at all well in the state in 2006 (where we nearly lost 2 Congressional incumbents and had our nominee for Governor get landslid). So it probably bears looking at any and all potential candidates for the election next year.
Chambliss doesn't have horrible approval ratings but this is his first re-election campaign so he is vulnerable. However, the candidate situation is as follows:
Only candidate publicly interested:
Dekalb County C.E.O./ex-State Representative Vernon Jones - Jones is considered a bad candidate as their are ethical/legal issues surrounding him. However, with a power base in heavily Democratic Dekalb County (part of the Atlanta metropolitan area) give him some strength in the general election.
Rumored Candidates:
Congressman/ex-Macon Mayor Jim Marshall - Marshall is facing some pressure not to run as it is fairly likely that the Democrats will lose his House seat if he were to run. However, with his experience in central Georgia, his moderate record, and his ability to survive tough campaigns Marshall would make a very interesting candidate in November 2008 where he to run.
Attorney Jim Butler - Of whom I know nothing.
Possible candidates:
Attorney General Thurbert Baker - Baker has regularly been re-elected by healthy margins in the state but probably won't run as he's considered likely to run for Governor in 2010.
State Labor Commissioner/ex-State Representative Mike Thurmond - Labor Commissioner is an elected office in Georgia and Thurmond was re-elected in 2006 in a year when the top of the ticket was of no help at all. He'd make an interesting candidate but he has a fairly low profile state office.
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin - She'd be an impressive progressive candidate but: A. She probably wouldn't play statewide and, more importantly, B. I have heard at various places that she doesn't really want to move above being Mayor.
Sam Nunn's daughter - I can't recall her name offhand but I know Sam Nunn's daughter, who runs a non-profit, was being talked about as a potential candidate in 2004 and she would certainly have name recognition going in.
ex-Secretary of State/ex-State Representative Cathy Cox - She lost the 2006 Governor's primary to eventual nominee Mark Taylor and may be damaged goods (and a lot of progressives here don't like her for bringing touch screen voting into Georgia) but there have been rumblings that she's interested and she'd have some statewide name recognition and wouldn't cost us a US House seat.
Outside the Box Candidate:
Businessman/ex-Heavyweight Champion of the World Evander Holyfield - Holyfield has given money to the Democrats before (and, according to newsmeat, only to the Democrats), would probably have the ability to self-fund (in addition to his boxing career he owns a record company, a piece of The Black Family Channel, and I've heard that he is co-owner of the Atlanta cable system). Having said that, I believe Holyfield has been found to have had a large number of illegitimate children which would probably hurt him.