So I haven't written a lot about this race in while and that's because I've been holding tight to see how it's been evolving. Last month, Republicans finally picked their two candidates from a crazy, crowded GOP primary with businessman David Perdue (R. GA) coming in first and Rep. Jack Kingston (R. GA) coming in second place. And the recent polling shows Kingston in the lead:
http://www.13wmaz.com/...
U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston has taken an 11-point lead over David Perdue, six weeks before their Republican runoff for a U.S. Senate seat.
Those are among the results of a SurveyUSA poll taken for WXIA-TV in Atlanta. The pollsters questioned 2,200 Georgians June 3-5.
Among their findings:
Kingston leads Perdue, a former Reebok CEO, by 52 percent to 41 percent in their July 22 runoff. The winner faces Democrat Michelle Nunn and Libertarian Amanda Swafford in November. That question has a 4.9-point margin of error.
Both Kingston and Perdue are likely to win the Senate seat over Nunn and Swafford. Kingston currently leads Nunn, 43 percent to 37 percent; Perdue leads Nunn, 43 percent to 38 percent, the poll says. - WMAZ, 6/6/14
Keep in mind, that poll showed 13% remain undecided in the general election so don't write this race off just yet. I'll list the reasons why in this diary but first lets focus on Kingston and Perdue here. Kingston's internal polling also gives him the lead:
http://thehill.com/...
Kingston leads Perdue by 49 percent to 35 percent in to a live-caller poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for Kingston's campaign, the latest sign the congressman has the momentum heading into their July 22 primary runoff.
Internal polls should always be viewed with some skepticism, as they often are released to boost a candidate's standing. But these numbers are close to what two other recent polls of the race have found: That after trailing Perdue in the first round of voting, Kingston has built up a double-digit lead.
The live-caller survey of 500 likely GOP primary runoff voters, including 100 who only have cell phones, was conducted from May 27-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent. - The Hill, 6/10/14
Keep in mind that McLaughlin & Associates was the same polling outfit that gave Eric Cantor (R. VA) a 34 point lead four days before the primary election. Yes, Kingston has been gathering endorsements from Next Gingrich, Phil Gingrey, Erick Erickson, Sean Hannity, Karen Handel, Tom Price, Hershel Walker, the Chamber of Commerce and the Tea Party. How was Kingston able to secure all those endorsements? Here's some perspective:
http://www.salon.com/...
Now one of the first runoffs polls, courtesy of Public Policy Polling, is out, and it shows Kingston leading Perdue 46 to 34 percent. It’s still early, but support from self-identified “very conservative” voters — 54 to 30 percent – contributes to Kingston’s sizable lead thus far.
And boy, this Jack Kingston is some kind of hell-raising grassroots firebrand. Here’s an ad from April in which he rails about lazy folk on the welfare and his plan to put all these good-fer-nuthin’ bums to work. He also plans to put children to work — poor children, that is, who’ve been mooching like the dickens off the federal free-lunch teat. Give ‘em a broom and learn ‘em the value of a dollar. And then there are those fat-cat GOP insiders in Washington trying their best to “amnesty” all those illegal immigrants from Illegaltown. Take your amnesty and shove it, Jack Kingston would tell them. What else? Common Core is the devil’s work. Abolish the IRS. Fair Tax now.
That is one conservative, populist platform, let me tell you. And runoff endorsers are taking notice. Commentator Erick Erickson, who’d previously endorsed Kingston’s rival Karen Handel in the primary, has now thrown the full weight of his critical blogging apparatus behind Kingston. “[A]fter all these years of knowing and liking Jack Kingston, I’ll have the pleasure of voting for him,” Erickson, ever the cuddly sweetheart, wrote. And now Julianne Thompson, chair of the Atlanta Tea Party, has also endorsed Kingston. “We do not need someone to be another member of the Senate Country Club,” Thompson said. “We need courage…someone who is strong enough to fight for our principles in an atmosphere that is sometimes very difficult. We also need someone who is accessible and respects the fact that the people that elected him will hold him accountable.” And that brave Constitutional Conservative, of course, will be Jack Kingston.
Jack Kingston must have a great, principled, outsider’s backstory to appeal to all of these far right-wingers, huh?
Or not.
Kingston has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1993. He served in leadership from 2002 to 2006, a rather corrupt time in the House’s history. He has been a longtime member of the appropriations committee, the famous enemy of Tea Party reformers. On paper, he’s the definition of an entrenched Washington insider.
And look at who else has endorsed him, after all: the nefarious Chamber of Commerce, supposed enemies of all things “real” conservatives believe. As we’ve noted, you don’t exactly have to check all the right boxes to win the Chamber’s support this year. You just have to not be a “goofball” who would go out of your way to blow a perfectly winnable race. And for Georgia, the Chamber has decided that Jack Kingston is that man.
Kingston is a prime example of how things are actually working out pretty well for both sides of the GOP “civil war” this spring: Tea Partiers are getting their issues, Establishment types are getting their candidates. - Salon, 5/28/14
So yeah, Kingston is just an establishment candidate who embraced the Tea Party's nonsense to get ahead. Perdue, on the other hand, is just a mix of Mitt Romney and Saxby Chambliss (R. GA) who's outside image has faded:
http://mdjonline.com/...
Although endorsements may not count for much as a rule, they can help. Perdue’s big problem is he probably maxed out on votes in the May 20 primary with his campaign against career politicians — meaning Kingston, Gingrey, Broun and Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state.
Perdue’s strategy failed, a point made by Handel when she announced her support for Kingston. While not backing off her theme that Washington needs new blood, Handel said, “Hitting the ground with some political experience is important.” She said that in the primary, “the people Jack serves every day gave him an outstanding job performance evaluation. The 74 percent of the vote he received there speaks volumes about how well Jack has served the people in his district.” Kingston’s congressional district in southeast Georgia includes the coast and, ironically, Perdue’s home on St. Simons Island.
Kingston’s campaign is rolling along full speed, while Perdue’s recent news included opening a new office in Columbus with more openings coming around the state. Perdue is now playing the tax return card, trying to push Kingston into releasing 10 years of returns. Perdue has made 10 years of his tax returns available for media review. We’ll see if this resonates with the voters in the runoff.
Meanwhile, Kingston is beating Perdue hands down on endorsements. While Perdue has won over talk show host and former presidential candidate Herman Cain, Kingston has lined up support that ranges from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to such notable conservatives as National Tea Party Express leader Julianne Thompson, RedState.com editor Erick Erickson, both of Georgia, and Fox News personality Sean Hannity.
Kingston also has gained the backing of key figures in the Bulldog Nation, including none other than running back Herschel Walker and Barbara Dooley, wife of former Bulldog coach and AD Vince Dooley. Walker appeared in Athens with Kingston, a UGA graduate, to announce his endorsement, saying he had known the congressman for a long time. They are teammates in the biennial Congressional Football Game for Charity, a fundraiser for children of fallen police officers. - The Marietta Daily Journal, 6/5/14
Not to mention Perdue has his share of baggage like his support for raising taxes, bailing out Wall Street, outsourcing jobs and refusing the pay women an equal wage. Plus there's this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
A Republican Senate candidate may be forced to defend his ties to a utility company that supported a cap-and-trade system, after President Barack Obama's administration released its highly anticipated carbon emission limits Monday.
Businessman David Perdue, who is competing in a Republican runoff in the hope of succeeding retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), has sat on the board of the Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy Corp. since 2001.
As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, during his tenure on the utility company's board, Perdue served on the board’s environmental and safety committee while the company’s leaders voiced support for efforts to implement a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions.
A number of utility and energy companies didn't immediately oppose cap and trade when Obama first proposed it back in 2009, perhaps because they foresaw that state-based cap-and-trade systems would entail fewer limitations than the Environmental Protection Agency's new rules, which call for a 30 percent cut in carbon emissions from existing power plants by 2030.
The new EPA rules allow states to meet the new emissions standards by directing power plants to cut emissions, increasing the amount of energy drawn from renewable sources or implementing cap-and-trade markets. - Huffington Post, 6/2/14
So yeah, Perdue has his share of baggage. But Kingston might have this to worry about:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
As the weekend began, Lori Geary of Channel 2 Action News gave you a first glimpse of Robert Miller, the marketing consultant who blew the whistle on more than $80,000 in campaign contributions to Jack Kingston, the frontrunner in the GOP runoff for U.S. Senate.
Miller has alleged, to the AJC and the FBI, that Khalid Satary, a Palestinian expat whom the feds are attempting to deport, allegedly arranged bonuses for employees of two companies so that most of the cash could be given to Kingston last November and December.
Kingston has returned the money. Now what’s at issue is when the Savannah congressman knew of the problem. When the story first broke, earlier this month, Kingston said he was surprised by the details.
But Miller says he and his attorney sat down with the Kingston campaign on May 1 and unloaded the details. “There’s a credibility issue now, and there’s an integrity issue,” Miller said. “I am a disgruntled ex-employee, sure. But the truth is the truth. And the facts are the facts.”
Also, Kingston says he doesn’t know Satary. Miller said that, at the December fundraiser, the congressman sat next to Satary for two hours. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/16/14
And here's the kicker:
http://www.ajc.com/...
An Atlanta attorney claims he informed Kingston’s campaign six weeks ago about potentially illegal contributions to his campaign and the criminal background of Khalid Satary, a Palestinian who allegedly orchestrated the fundraiser where the funds were collected.
Alex Kaufman’s account of a face-to-face meeting with Kingston’s campaign attorney and an attorney for the Georgia Republican Party on May 1 contradicts what Kingston told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview June 4. In that interview, Kingston said he had no knowledge of Satary’s criminal past or that his campaign had received potentially illegal contributions. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/13/14
So with this news breaking after polls show Kingston on a momentum high, Perdue may now have some fresh ammunition to go after Kingston with:
http://newstimes.augusta.com/...
However, the eleven-term congressman has yet to come up with a coherent explanation as to why his campaign would have even accepted money from such questionable sources in the first place. As many times as Kingston has run for office, you would think he knows better than that.
Unable to explain itself, the Kingston campaign has now fallen back on a time-tested political tactic: blame the media. Kingston’s spokesman says these “baseless attacks” by reporters are part of a “smear campaign” being waged against the congressman.
The story of the mysterious contributions from a convicted felon does not seem to have had an impact in any runoff polls, as least not yet. But the uproar did provide an opening for Perdue to go after his runoff opponent.
“Any campaign can have rogue contributors – that happens,” Perdue said after the story first broke.
“It just raises questions,” Perdue said of the Kingston contributions. “Why did they keep the money then if they think it’s appropriate to give it back now, and why did they cover it up for two months? I think the voters of Georgia would like an answer to that question.”
To make up ground in the runoff race, Perdue may have to ask those same questions in campaign commercials that keep the issue alive with Georgia voters. There are many advertising consultants who could take the basic facts of the Kingston story and come up with a dozen attack ads right off the top of their head.
Perdue has the financial resources to take that line of attack, if he chooses.
He and Kingston have both raised credible amounts of money for the Senate race. The last available campaign reports showed Kingston had raised $5.62 million, a total that included $1.9 million he transferred from his U.S. House campaign account.
Perdue had raised $4.34 million, with about $2.65 million coming out of his own pocket. As the wealthy, retired CEO of several large corporations, Perdue would be able to write one more large check to his campaign for one last push in the runoff campaign.
Is he willing to do that? When I raised the question in a recent interview, Perdue did not give a definitive answer.
“We will have the resources to get our message out,” was all he would say. “I’m a business guy – I put serious skin in the game.”
That may be the decision on which this Senate runoff hinges. Is Perdue willing to go all out in one last surge against Kingston? Or can Kingston hang on to enough of his polling lead to run out the clock and get the nomination? - The Columbia County News-Times, 6/18/14
We shall see. Right now, both Kingston and Perdue are back on the airwaves, attacking each other and hyping up their conservative credentials:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
In his first TV ad of the long-ago GOP primary for U.S. Senate, David Perdue called himself “the outsider.” Apparently, the word doesn’t have the same charm in a hot summer runoff.
The campaign unleashed its first attack ad in the GOP Senate runoff this morning with a 30-second spot that proclaims the businessman as the “true conservative” in the race and questions Rep. Jack Kingston’s spending on earmarks. The word “outsider” doesn’t receive a mention.
It was only a matter of time until Perdue’s campaign unloaded after a few quiet weeks. The candidate is sitting on a pile of cash as the July 22 runoff nears and the millionaire former Fortune 500 executive has enough resources to significantly boost his war chest.
The only question was how early Perdue would go on the offensive during a nine-week runoff that is the longest – and surely will be the costliest – in state history.
Perdue’s opening runoff ad plays off the crying baby theme that served him so well in the primary campaign. It also invokes Kingston’s role on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, dubbing his rival a “liberal” spender. There’s no mention of recent stories that tied Kingston’s campaign to potentially illegal campaign contributions.
There’s no immediate word on how much the campaign set aside for the ads, but federal filings show the initial buy amounts to more than $100,000. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/18/14
Not bad but one little problem for Perdue when it comes to the debt ceiling:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
In David Perdue’s new ad thwacking Jack Kingston in the Republican U.S. Senate runoff, the announcer ominously informs us that Kingston “voted to raise the debt ceiling repeatedly, adding trillions to the national debt.”
Debt ceiling attacks are powerful and predictable, as the AJC reported in detail in October, but what’s interesting about this dig is Perdue has repeatedly warned against breaching the debt ceiling.
In the video above, shot by a tracker in December and passed along to us Wednesday, Perdue tells the crowd:
“We have two things the rest of the world does not have. We have a $16 trillion economy. It’s bigger than the next five economies in the world. And we have the good faith and credit of the United States of America.
“And we’ve been trying to kill both of them this year –Democrats with the economy and the Republicans by threatening to default on the federal debt. And I spoke out against that.”
This difference is nuance you don’t get in a 30-second clip. Perdue, in fact, sided with Ted Cruz during last year’s government shutdown and debt limit debate. In general, he was in the a-pox-on-all-their-houses camp when it came to debt ceiling brinkmanship, saying fiscal reforms should have been worked out long ago and without an economy-rattling deadline. Our own Galloway called him the adult in the room for giving a similar quote to the one above. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/19/14
Now here's Kingston's attack ad:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
Jack Kingston’s first television ad salvo of the runoff features a Barack Obama impersonator singing David Perdue’s praises as “my kind of guy.”
The spot is a throwback to one Kingston made in the primary in which Obama tells Kingston’s voicemail that the Savannah Congressman needs to “back off Obamacare.”
In the new spot — a hat tip goes to Georgia Pundit’s Todd Rehm for the link — “Obama” brings up that Perdue served on the board of a company that got money from the stimulus, served on the board of the National Retail Federation when it endorsed an immigration reform bill and “said he’d raise taxes.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/18/14
Expect this shit to go on until July 22nd:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
We are entering the scorched-earth period of the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate – perhaps in honor of the 150th anniversary of this modern style of warfare.
Jack Kingston is celebrating by grabbing every endorsement in sight, starving rival David Perdue of support. Today it’s state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, recently ousted from the 11th District congressional congress. Like his predecessors, Lindsey goes with the “stranger danger” motiff:
“Jack Kingston is not a “David-come-lately” in the fight to advance Republicans and Conservatives in Georgia. He helped build the modern Republican Party in our state. He was part of the Republican Revolution in the 1990’s that stood up to President Clinton, balanced the federal budget, and reformed welfare.”
In his own way, David Perdue is burning bridges, too.
Consider the press release his campaign sent out about an hour ago, in its attempt to brand Kingston, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, as “king of earmarks” and congressional spending.
The Perdue campaign includes this bit of history:
From 2008-2010, earmark requests were assigned to a sponsor prior to the all-out ban. During those years, Jack Kingston made more earmark requests than any Georgia congressman, Democrat or Republican. Among Georgia Republicans, Kingston requested nearly twice as many earmarks (in both quantity and value) as the other six Republicans combined. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/23/14
So yeah, it's going to be a long runoff. But the longer Perdue and Kingston duke it out, the more time Michelle Nunn (D. GA) has to get ready for November. She's already working on getting a key voting group on her side:
http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/...
While Michelle Nunn is waiting to see who her opposition will be in November’s election, she’s working up a grassroots campaign.
The Georgia Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate met with nearly 40 people in Rome on Tuesday to introduce her Emerging Leaders Council program. The goal is to create a network of people using innovative ideas to increase awareness of her candidacy.
“I think the critical thing is for us to get our message out — which is collaborative and civil leadership that is focused on problem-solving and common sense,” Nunn said.
Republican U.S. Senate hopefuls Jack Kingston and David Perdue are in a runoff for their party’s spot in the general election. The runoff will be held July 22.
The group that gathered Tuesday at The Claremont House bed and breakfast, 906 E. Second Ave., included college students, educators and small business owners.
Berry College students Ree Palmer, Logan Stone and Rachel Renaud said they were excited to hear from Senate candidate Nunn face-to-face at Tuesday’s meeting.
“It was nice to see her make a personal outreach to people,” Stone said. “That is the fastest way to make a change, and it is a good way to make a change.”
Nunn’s campaign literature says one of the purposes of the Emerging Leaders Council is to reach out to a diverse group of younger voters, with a focus on the 25-45 age group.
“Young voters don’t have that involvement or connection to politics, and this is a unique solution to that problem,” said Palmer. - Rome News-Tribune, 6/18/14
She's also using her work as CEO of Points Of Light as way to connect with voters:
http://www.daltondailycitizen.com/...
City of Refuge helps provide clothes, food, warm meals, showers and temporary housing to families or individuals in need.
“My background is around building volunteers,” Nunn said following the tour. Nunn has served as CEO and president of Points of Light, a volunteer-focused organization based in Atlanta.
“There’s a lot we can learn from people working together,” Nunn said. “We don’t see enough of that in Washington (D.C.). Georgia has a lot to teach Washington.”
Nunn has visited organizations that focus on tackling poverty and dealing with housing and veterans issues. She’s hoping to learn how Congress can help the agencies without “getting in the way.”
“There are some tremendous challenges,” she said. “There are high levels of poverty. People are coming together to do something about it.”
Nunn asked City of Refuge officials if they have seen a decrease in the number of people served “post recession.”
“It varies,” Jennifer Nicholson, assistant director, replied. She said they see more people in need at the end of the month than at the beginning, when people are paid and receive food stamps.
Nunn asked for the agency’s wish list.
“A bigger facility,” Nicholson said. “We need to be able to provide more transportation. We need an emergency relief shelter for families. We have calls for that every day.”
Nunn praised City of Refuge for providing for the community despite some limitations with space.
“I am inspired by what you are doing,” she said. “I can feel it’s extraordinary.”
Following the tour, Nunn said she is concerned about the economy — in Dalton and other communities around the state. Congress can help make sure there are jobs available by investing in the right areas, including infrastructure, she said, citing the proposed deepening of the Savannah harbor to meet the growing demands of world trade as an example.
Nunn said another way to help improve the economy is to make sure people have access to adequate training, such as apprenticeship programs. She also wants to see the tax code simplified, which she says will help existing businesses succeed. - The Daily Citizen, 6/19/14
Not to mention she has an army of female volunteers ready to go:
http://www.gpb.org/...
On a Monday night at Michelle Nunn’s campaign headquarters in midtown Atlanta, a crowd of female volunteers are busy at work.
They’re part of a group called Women For Nunn, and it’s their night to call voters.
Many of them find time to sandwich in volunteering between work and family. Others like Carol Baird are retired, but feel so passionate about Nunn they treat volunteering like a job.
Baird answers phones four days a week at the campaign headquarters. And it’s because she thinks Nunn is one of a kind.
“She’s such a breath of fresh air. She listens. And she doesn’t just listen. She hears,” said Baird.
And after speaking with a dozen of her supporters -- they believe that Nunn’s ability to listen and hear -- will help her re-introduce consensus-building to Washington.
If it all sounds like what every candidate’s volunteers says, that’s because it is. But Nunn’s supporters say it with a passion bordering on fanaticism.
Anna Foote, an executive at a credit union in Atlanta, brushes off any questions about Nunn’s lack of political experience. She points to Nunn’s accomplishments as a nonprofit executive.
“In order to be as successful as she has been statewide, you have to be able to collaborate and compromise and bring people together and accomplish very complicated things,” said Foote.
And Foote says that’s the kind of politicking she’d like to start seeing in Washington. = GPB News, 6/12/14
Plus there's this:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
In Georgia politics, the only real question hanging between now and November, like an excruciatingly slow curveball, is this: Do Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter have a chance of leading Democrats out of their 12-year drought?
A numerical answer to this question exists. Or at least, it will. But you won’t find it in any poll. We will let the new Dad explain himself further below, but Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed would simply point you to this figure: 5,048,825.
There were that many registered voters eligible to vote in last month’s primary. The extent to which that number grows between now and the first week of October will largely tell us whether a Democratic revival is real – or if Nunn and Carter are just making down-payments on the future.
“At the end of the day, no matter what the polls say, the election is going to be determined by the registration effort in the state of Georgia,” Reed said Thursday.
The mayor wasn’t speaking out of school. Last weekend, Carter took his campaign for governor to Savannah to meet with local Democrats. The gathering took a strategic turn. Carter and his staff were apparently unaware that Marcus Howard, a reporter for the Savannah Morning News, didn’t mind working Saturdays.
“Barack Obama got 1.7 million votes in Georgia (in 2010). I need 1.3 [million], probably, in order to win,” said Carter, explaining that the votes will have to come not just from Democrats, but independents and disillusioned Republicans.
“It’s going to be a big-tent vision, and so we’re going to be speaking a lot of persuasion language,” he said.
But to boost the Democratic base, Carter said he – and his Senate counterpart, Michelle Nunn – would be employing high-tech voter registration and turnout methods developed during the two Obama campaigns for the White House.
Karl Douglass, political director for the Carter campaign, spoke of a ”super data-base manager” hired by the gubernatorial campaign, and of fieldwork that could begin late this month.
The 2010 race for governor was a low-point for Democrats in Georgia. Former Gov. Roy Barnes, seeking a comeback, finished with 1.1 million votes – more than 250,000 behind the victor, Republican Nathan Deal.
”We’ve got to get voter turnout higher than it was last mid-term, but we think we can get it higher, naturally,” Douglas said. “The question is whether we can get it high enough. We’re going to engineer that in a lot of ways.”
“We believe there are upwards of 600,000 unregistered Democratic voters available in this state. We only need 200,000 of them to win,” the Carter political director said.
But to bring 200,000 new voters to the polls, you might have to register as many as 500,000. A very high bar, in a contest that won’t feature Obama or any other African-American at the top of the ticket.
The largest voter registration effort, headquartered on the first floor of the midtown Atlanta building that also houses Michelle Nunn’s Senate campaign, will be jointly bankrolled by the two statewide campaigns and national Democratic sources.
But there are others, including one sponsored by state House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, through a non-profit corporation that has registered 20,000 new voters since March. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/7/14
And this is very encouraging because high voter turnout amongst black and female voters is key to Nunn's victory:
http://www.usatoday.com/...
The best chances for Democrats to pick up a GOP-held Senate seat are in Kentucky and Georgia, two conservative states where President Obama isn't popular.
For Alison Lundergan Grimes and Michelle Nunn, success in November may be determined by their ability to turn out and win two groups that were crucial to Obama's victories: women for Grimes in Kentucky and blacks for Nunn in Georgia.
"The South has been the most Republican part of the country in presidential elections," said Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. "If Democrats can begin to make some headway, it will ease the burden to do well in other parts of the country."
Democrats point to the Peach State's changing demographics as being in their favor. Whites accounted for more than 70% of the vote in the 2004 elections, but that share dropped to a little more than 61% in 2012.
Mitt Romney won in Georgia in 2012, but Democrats like to note that Obama still won 45% of the vote without really trying. The 7-point margin in Georgia was the second narrowest in the states Obama lost to Romney, behind the swing state of North Carolina.
Bullock said African Americans have made up roughly 30% of the vote in recent statewide elections. He estimates Nunn, a former volunteer organization executive and daughter of former senator Sam Nunn, would have to keep the black vote "in the high 20s" to have a fighting chance. - USA Today, 5/21/14
We don't know yet who Nunn will face off against but we still have a serious chance here. Let the GOP duke it out for as long as they can. In the mean time, lets make sure Nunn is ready to go. Click here to donate and get involved with her campaign:
http://www.michellenunn.com/