Posted on 09/03/2002 8:14:10 PM PDT by mhking
[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 9/4/02 ]
ELECTION 2002 PRIMARY
McKinney backers talk
of a fall voting boycott
By BILL TORPY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Georgia Democratic candidates have counted on black voters in south DeKalb County to come out big in recent years.
They helped make the difference in 1996, when U.S. Sen. Max Cleland squeaked by Republican Guy Millner by a margin of just 30,000 votes of the 2.25 million cast statewide. Cleland won DeKalb by 70,000 votes.
But this year, as Cleland seeks re-election, many south DeKalb voters are grumbling. They're upset that U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney lost to Denise Majette in the Democratic primary partly because of Republican crossover votes. And some say they're upset that Democratic leaders failed to support the controversial congresswoman.
It's unknown how much of that anger will last until November -- and whether it will hurt candidates such as Cleland as he runs against Republican U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss.
"There's a lot of anger. I hear a lot are going to sit out," said Dwight Thomas, a lawyer who helped the McKinney campaign. "And what I really hate about the situation is the one who may get hurt in this one is Max Cleland."
Imogene Archer of ClarkÂston hears the same talk.
"Some people are saying they're not going to vote," said Archer, a computer programmer who voted for McKinney and is mad at the Democratic leadership. "They didn't help her and they knew she was in trouble."
Denita Hampton, a Lithonia office manager who voted for McKinney, said she thinks Democrats, including Cleland, should have helped McKinney. But she predicted most south DeKalb voters will get over their disappointment.
"I don't want to vote Republican," she said. "I'm mad, but boycotting will hurt us."
Lawyer Gary Horlacher, Gov. Roy Barnes' spokesman in 1999 and an adviser to the Majette campaign, called south DeKalb "an important as hell [voting] bloc" to the Democrats that shouldn't be taken for granted.
"You need time for temperatures to drop. There has to be an outreach," he said, adding that Democratic candidates had often used McKinney, who remains popular in south DeKalb, as a "conduit" to voters there. "Now a candidate has to do a more direct approach."
Alfonso Mallory, a south DeKalb activist who backed McKinney, cited the county's black voting strength. As of August, there were 197,000 registered black voters in DeKalb and 169,000 white.
"Majette cannot mobilize the black support in south DeKalb like Cynthia McKinney," he said. "There's a vacuum, a serious vacuum in the leadership in south DeKalb."
But several political leaders said the vaunted McKinney "machine" was an apparition. There were no precinct captains or an established hierarchy, said DeKalb NAACP leader John Evans -- just McKinney's "machine of personality."
DeKalb Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones agreed, adding that McKinney's absence won't matter in November.
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Stop me - I can't help myself from laughing so hard. All Cynthia McKinney needed for a "machine" was her arm-twisting, hate-mongering father!
Just like the Clinton's, sooner or later, they will do the wrong thing legally.
THEN WE POUNCE!
Wow! My magazine is empty and my foot's COMPLETELY GONE!!
Cynthia is ripe and ready! This is exactly how it all starts with some. She has the personal hate and contacts to do the same. I'd watch her like a hawk!
McKinney's backers aren't even remotely clever. If they want Cynthia to have the best chance at re-election in 2004, then they should all be campaigning for the poor, pitiful Republican currently running against Majette. That Republican, after all, will be far easier to beat in that District (than will an incumbent Majette).Is the far-Left really so bankrupt that it has only one "strategy", that of playing the LOUD victim??
Such is McKinney's camp...
CNS NEWS.com: "MUSLIMS THANK MCKINNEY FOR EFFORTS ON THEIR BEHALF" by Susan Jones (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, has written a letter to Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), thanking her "for all your efforts on behalf of our nation." The letter also said, "We will support you in any future efforts, whether in the political arena or in the private sector, to promote the cause of justice and inclusion."") (082302)
"There's a lot of anger. I hear a lot are going to sit out," said Dwight Thomas, a lawyer who helped the McKinney campaign. "And what I really hate about the situation is the one who may get hurt in this one is Max Cleland."
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Good plan Dimwits! Help us Ax Max!!!
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