Posted on 01/11/2004 1:35:57 PM PST by JohnnyZ
Part-time DeKalb County magistrate Gary Leshaw announced Thursday that he is running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Zell Miller.
The 51-year-old Leshaw, who has spent 27 years doing public-interest law, is the second Democrat to formally announce for the race. State Sen. Mary Squires (D-Norcross) announced last year, but is not well known outside her district and does not have the backing of the state party.
"We're going to run a grassroots campaign and discuss the issues important to Georgians," Leshaw said in a telephone interview. "I may not be a household name now, but I hope to be very well known by the time of the general election."
Leshaw said he has raised about $25,000 and has talked with state and national party officials about his bid. He said he plans to emphasize jobs, the economy, education and health care during his campaign, but was unsure how much party backing he will receive.
"There are people in the party encouraging me to do it," he said. "But I don't know if they'll take a position in the primary or not."
Democrats have been stymied in their attempts to field a well-known candidate to run for Miller's seat. The job was made even more difficult by the publication of Miller's best-selling book, "A National Party No More," in which he assails national Democrats for moving too far to the left. Miller has also endorsed President Bush's re-election bid.
Whoever survives the Democratic Primary will face formidable opposition from the GOP in the general election. Two incumbent Republican congressman, Mac Collins of Jackson and Cobb County's Johnny Isakson, are seeking the GOP nomination along with pizza mogul Herman Cain and Atlanta Businessman Al Bartell.
Self-appointed ethics watchdog George Anderson of Rome is seeking the Libertarian Party nomination, along with Atlanta lawyer Allen Buckley.
Leshaw said that neither Georgia nor the United States would be best served by the election of a second Republican U.S. senator from the state -- Republican Saxby Chambliss defeated the incumbent Democratic, Sen. Max Cleland, last year.
"The fact is, this Republican administration and this Republican Congress have not lived up to the promises they made Americans," Leshaw said. "If we are to thrive, we must put an end to their excesses. But my candidacy is about much more than that. It is about coming together as a state, as a nation, to build a better tomorrow. It is about creating a vision to sustain the long-term needs and dreams of this nation."
Leshaw contends that attempts by the Republican leadership to cast current economic, social and political conditions in a positive light discounts the real discomfort many Americans face.
"After years of denouncing the excesses of 'tax-and-spend liberals,' Republicans quickly, and with no apparent remorse, ran up an unfathomable $374 billion deficit. At the same time jobs have been slipping away from the heartlands of this country," Leshaw said.
Formerly an attorney for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Leshaw is now in private practice and serves as a magistrate judge in DeKalb.
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