A progressive political newcomer still raises eybrows.

Atlanta's WSB-TV has reported that a new Insider Advantage poll shows former state representative and Lt. Governor candidate Jim Martin gaining significant strength with an 11 point lead over his nearest competitor, DeKalb County Executive Vernon Jones, in the five person race to challenge Republican horse's ass Saxby Chambliss.

Martin now leads Jones 31-20, with the other three challengers in singls digits. Still, approximately one third of GA Voters remain undecided. The entire story is here.

These numbers indicate a likely runoff between Martin and Jones. Jones, with a history of alleged sexual misconduct in office, recently earned a barrage of negative publicity for publishing a campaign photo of himself and Barack Obama. The photo was a photo-shopped fake that implied Obama supported Jones. Obama has made no endorsements in the GA-Sen primary race.

More on the flip...

The National Education Association has endorsed Rand Knight in the Georgia Democratic primary.The press release is below the fold.

Here's video of the Georgia Senate primary debate that was held yesterday.And yes it was held on FOX (we can't afford to boycott the bastards here in Georgia).If you want to know what I think about the race, look here.

Rand Knight is grabbing headlines,suprising his opponents, and turning Georgia's Democratic Senate primary into a three way race.

There is only one candidate in the race to replace Saxby Chambliss that stands for true Progressive Populism.

There is only one candidate that that has taken a strong stand in the fight for economic justice and fair trade.

There is only one candidate that has the environmental background needed to solve our current climate crisis.

That candidate is Rand Knight, and he is running to replace Saxby Chambliss.

This race is getting interesting, in spite of polls showing over 40 per cent voters are yet undecided about choice to keep or replace Saxby Chambliss, Georgia's senior senator. This red, red place has been so dis-served by its senators that the people are beginning to stir, especially as the economic conditions rapidly worsen even as our population burgeons.

Hear Rand Knight, Democratic Candidate for Senate, speak sharply:

Hi everyone,

Georgians, like most in the nation, have focused most of our attention on the presidential race but another very important race closer to home is taking place.   Several Democratic candidates are running to challenge Saxby Chambliss for the Georgia U.S. Senate seat.

It's heartworming to Georgia's reality-based community to see the field of challengers for Saxby Chambliss' senate seat standing up in the center of the political spectrum. In contrast to the tried-and-true crowd with Jim Martin heading the pack, Rand Knight is a firecracker speaker who can compose a paragraph in his head and let it out in a stream of passionate logic that gets your attention, as he did mine at a recent meetup. When you look at his powerful appeal to our rural agricultural interests creating fuel from ag waste, and his support by union workers in the cities you start to see a new combination of strength that echoes the recent Montana elections of farmer Jon Tester to the Senate and rancher Brian Schweitzer to Governor, both with slim political history and plant-based backgounds.

Can Georgia become BLUE as well as GREEN? It seems possible if Georgia goes for Democrats in November and elects Rand Knight as a U.S. Senator from Georgia. The primary for this senate nomination will be held in Georgia in July, and it seems important to focus on Democratic races below the presidential level if we really want change to occur in our government.
Rand Knight (D-Georgia) holds excellent positions on the need for change in policies regarding energy supplies, water supplies, the war in Iraq, health care, education, the economy, and local job creation. As he explains it, these issues are actually complementary.  His proposal for a broad-band solution is what he calls the "Green Deal."  More below the jump...

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.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss will be up for reelection this year.  Will he finally get his comeuppance for more than a decade of intolerance, corruption and gutter politics?  If you will be in the Atlanta area on April 2, you have the opportunity to hear four Democratic primary candidates debate each other for the chance to replace a Senator whose tactics have been described by members of his own party as "beyond offensive" and "reprehensible."  See below the fold for information on the candidates as well as debate details.

Yessir, we know how to do ourselves proud down here in the Peach State, the state that gave you Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the honorable gentleman who followed Karl Rove's leading and compared the very honorable Vietnam hero, Max Cleland, to Osama, and then went on to a (questionable) win, and has unfailingly rubber-stamped all Dubya's fondest wishes.

SurveyUSA continues to roll out its state numbers. After releasing its Missouri poll yesterday (which showed Edwards far ahead of Clinton and Obama), here are numbers from Iowa! Four years after going for Bush, Iowa seems ready to come back to Democrats.

In interpreting these numbers, it is important to remember that all these candidates have been extensively running ads in Iowa to prepare for the early January caucuses. This probably explains why Romney does better in Iowa than in any other state polled by SUSA.

Full analysis here.

Well-known Georgia populist firebrand and former state legistlator Wycliffe "Wyc" Orr is seriously considering a run against the incompetent and disgraceful Bush rubber stamp, Saxby Chambliss.

Orr, a north Georgia trial lawyer and military veteran, is well-respected throughout the state and is acknowledged as one of the best stump speakers among all Georgia politicians. A group of activist Georgia Democrats, concerned about the various weaknesses of the current 3 declared candidates, is strongly urging Wyc to run and has launched a "Draft Wyc" organization to support his candidacy.

Get an idea of Wyc's stump strength in the video on the flip...

I just found out, via a list-serv to which I subscribe, that Rand Knight, an actual ecologist is running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia.  We have precious few scientists involved in political life and fewer ecologists.  Note that I am not talking about political stance (which would be environmentalist), but rather about technical training.  You can see more about Rand and his campaign here.

The frustration level -- often expressed on this site -- that many people feel about the current administration's disregard for reasoned policies about the environment (and associated human well-being) is nowhere greater than among professional ecologists who have dedicated their lives to understanding the Earth, or at least some part of it.  It is indeed great news that an ecologist is running for U.S. Senate.

More below the fold.

Rand Knight is running for the Senate in Georgia, and he is a Democrat:

I am running for U.S. Senate because I am sick and tired of our great country being misrepresented to the rest of the world, and misled into poor decisions that are costing irreplaceable lives, an indebted future, an unhealthy food supply, and failure in our healthcare and educational systems.

Our current Republican Senatorial leadership has completely forgotten that our number one job is to take care of business at home. When we have poverty in every city, homelessness on the streets, failing urban infrastructures, air and water so polluted that you cannot go outside or swim in many places, and almost $9 trillion in National debt, we must do better to solve our nation’s problems.(emphasis mine)

Follow me below the fold for a look at a couple of key issue statements.