Former state representative and Lt. Governor candidate Jim Martin announced yesterday that his fledgling primary campaign exceeded its fundraising goal of $250,000 by raising $346,000 in less that 12 days.
Martin is a solid progressive who faces five other opponents in the June 15 Democratic primary, none of which have the statewide name recognition or fundraising capabilities Martin so well demonstrated in his Lt. Governor campaign versus right wing Republican Casey Cagle. Martin earned 75,000 more votes in the Lt.Gov. race than Dem gubernatorial candidate Mark Taylor in his race against Sonny "Pray for Rain" Perdue.
Martin joins the race with top contender Vernon Jones, DeKalb County CEO,and four other potential candidates: Ecologist Rand Knight, Statesboro's Josh Lanier, former WSB talking head Dale Cardwell, and Rockdale County School Board member Maggie Martinez.
Following an Emory University forum in which three of the six candidates participated, an excellent summary of the multi-candidate primary race dynamic was offered this past week by Ken Edelstein, Editor of Atlanta's alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing in the paper's online blog Fresh Loaf:
It’s important to remember that not all these guys are necessarily running. None will officially qualify for the contest until later this month. Qualifying ends May 2.
All three had announced their intention to jump into the race when it looked as if Jones — the controversial DeKalb County CEO might be the lone Democratic bigwig. But Martin’s March 19 announcement that he’s running foils the alternative-to-Jones strategy.
The former state rep from Atlanta and one-time state Human Resources commissioner ran a strong campaign for lieutenant governor in 2006 against Republican Casey Cagle, losing by a much smaller margin than did the Democrat for governor. Though Martin’s late entry into the Senate race will force him to convince people that he’s really committed to running hard against Chambliss, he was recruited by national Democrats, which should give him a nice jump in fund raising.
The entire article can be found here.
Martin and Rand Knight both have solid progressive credentials, but in the opinion of this author, only Martin can generate adequate funding and the broad support statewide necessary to be a viable challenger to Saxby Chambliss.