Posted on 03/01/2004 6:24:16 PM PST by optimistically_conservative
As Georgia Democrats head to the polls to choose a presidential nominee on Super Tuesday, the red clay on the soles of their shoes may be about the only thing that distinguishes them from Democrats elsewhere on national issues.
Like voters in other Democratic primaries, they are dissatisfied with, if not downright angry at, President Bush; worried about jobs, health care and education; and upset about the war in Iraq, according to a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution/WSB-TV poll conducted by Zogby International.
Jean Morgan, 68, a retired nurse from Cartersville, hasn't decided whether to vote for front-runner Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts or his chief rival, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, but she's sure of one thing: She'll choose the one she thinks is stronger against Bush.
"We need to pick the one that can run him out of the White House," she said.
Two-thirds of those interviewed in the survey of 395 likely voters, conducted Monday and Tuesday, said they were unhappy with Bush. Almost a quarter of likely voters described themselves as "angry."
That reflects the sentiment in other states that have voted. Exit polls after the Wisconsin primary two weeks ago showed that eight in 10 voters were either angry at, or dissatisfied with, Bush.
One thing that may set Georgia Democrats apart is that many in the poll said they felt they had been ignored by their party. They agree with the state's Democratic senator, Zell Miller, who says in his best-selling book, "A National Party No More," that the Democrats are out of touch with the South.
"Maybe if the Democrats had taken more interest in the South four years back, Bush wouldn't have taken the election from [Al] Gore in Florida," said Joseph Dixon, 50, a Democrat from Sylvania.
Deep South's only
Georgia is one of 10 states, including delegate-rich New York, Ohio and California, holding primaries Tuesday. But it is the only one in the Deep South and the only one with an open primary, meaning Republicans and independents can vote on the Democratic candidates — a bipartisan turnout that could be increased by the referendum on the state flag that is also on the ballot.
In their opinion of the president, Georgia Democrats surveyed were as far from Republicans as Rabun Gap in the North Georgia mountains is from Tybee Light off the South Georgia coast.
Democrats said they desperately wanted to defeat Bush in November, while Republicans polled generally expressed satisfaction with his job performance.
Differences are especially apparent in attitudes about the war in Iraq: Some 81 percent of Democrats disapproved of the administration's handling of the situation, and 81 percent of Republicans who planned to vote in Tuesday's Democratic primary approved.
Any rally-round-the-president sentiment Democrats may have felt after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center towers in 2001 appears to have dissipated. And bitterness over the 2000 election — in which Bush lost the popular vote but won in the Electoral College after a controversial Supreme Court decision — has bubbled up again.
"I'm damn mad as hell," said retired journalist Robert Woodham, 64, of Columbus. "He stole the presidency. . . . I haven't been pleased with anything Bush has done — especially the second Bush oil war."
Bush "wasn't presidential material, and he ain't supposed to be president," said Walter Mathis of Rome, a 62-year-old retired electrical worker and union member. "He's got the whole world stirred up, all these people out of work, and all these people's kids going to bed hungry."
Beth Ingram, an independent voter and co-owner of Randall's Truck and SUV Accessories in Ball Ground — where the 1956 Georgia flag, with its Confederate battle emblem, flies out front along with the U.S. flag — said she was not angry with Bush, but she also wasn't satisfied.
"I'm frustrated with government in general," said Ingram, who gave her age as "pre-50." "I feel the common, everyday working person's opinion doesn't matter."
Some approve of Bush
But Renate Botterbusch of Sandy Springs, a Republican housewife who said she was "over 50," thinks the president is doing a fine job. A naturalized citizen born in Germany, she said she voted for Bush "reluctantly" in 2000 but became a true believer after Sept. 11, 2001.
"Every single move he has made since then, I have supported," she said. "I support the war in Iraq. I think Bush did the right thing going in there. Whether they had weapons of mass destruction or not, I don't care."
Among Georgians who say their most important criterion for choosing a Democratic nominee is his ability to beat Bush, Kerry led Edwards 74 percent to 20 percent.
Cynthia Hall, 44, a housewife from Savannah, said she thought Kerry would run better against Bush than Edwards because "he's an older man, he's more settled. I think he can get the job done."
But Hall said she would not object to Edwards if he won the nomination. About 70 percent of those polled said they would be "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with either candidate.
Jobs and the economy were most important to four in 10 likely voters, followed by health care, national security and education. But Georgians came to different conclusions about who would be best at putting Americans to work.
Charlotte Peacock, 46, a federal employee in Warner Robins, said she would vote for Edwards on Tuesday "because I believe he will do his best to bring jobs back to America."
Gil Turman, 63, of south DeKalb County said he was voting for Kerry for the same reason.
Larry Mathis, 37, a textile worker in Talbotton, has been temporarily jobless and had his hours cut occasionally in recent years.
Friends were among the 1,400 people put out of work when nearby Thomaston Mills closed in 2001 — an example of a national trend that has seen the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs in the last four years.
Mathis, a Democrat, said he hadn't chosen a candidate but would go for the one he thinks will do best at building up the job market.
Bill Jones, 64, a Republican who owns a convenience store in Blue Ridge, said he'd also base his vote on jobs and the economy. He'll stick with Bush. "He's trying to cut taxes and create jobs," Jones said. Despite Democrats' anger and disaffection toward Bush, many were disillusioned with their own party. Forty-five percent of Georgians likely to vote in the Democratic primary — including 35 percent of those who identified themselves as Democrats — said they agreed with Miller's assertion that the Democratic Party has abandoned Southern Democrats.
In his book, Miller wrote: "The biggest problem with the party leadership is that they know nothing about the modern South. They still see it as a land of magnolias and mint juleps, with the pointy-headed KKK lurking in the background, waiting to burn a cross or lynch blacks and Jews."
Democrats feel distant
Phil Drummond of Warm Springs said he felt as if the Democratic Party had moved away from him.
Drummond, 59, owns Country Classics, a downtown shop in the Middle Georgia town made famous by President Franklin Roosevelt, who had his "Little White House" resort there. He sells both Democratic and Republican neckties. In his younger days he would have worn the donkey. Since 1980 he has preferred the elephant.
"The Democratic Party isn't focused on what it ought to be about," he said.
The dynamics of party politics in Georgia are complex, said Joe Crespino, an associate history professor at Emory University who specializes in the 20th-century South.
In recent decades the pattern has been Republican dominance among white Southerners, while black Southerners remain among the steadiest of Democrats.
"On the one hand we have a region that in the last 50 years has kind of come into the mainstream of the nation economically," Crespino said. "We had the rise of a white middle-class South that would identify with the conservative social and economic policies of the Republican Party. At the same time, the South was going through tremendous social upheaval in connection with [desegregation]. That's given rise to a polarized political scene."
Many Southerners, black and white, share a belief that they are not being taken as seriously as they would like by the national Democratic Party. A third of black prospective primary voters and more than half of whites agree with Miller — but they may have different reasons for their feelings.
Drummond, who is white, thinks the party has become too liberal on social issues such as abortion. "It's left people who stand for families and traditional Christian values behind," he said. "Those are values I hold dear."
Sylvania resident Dixon, who is black, thinks the Democrats ignore the South. "A lot of people seem to just let the South take care of itself."
Like Goldilocks
How the Democrats fare in November may be determined by how seriously they take such concerns, said Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political scientist.
The combination of a Democratic Party that is perceived as becoming more liberal and a Republican Party seen as becoming more conservative has created a dilemma for moderate voters, he said.
He compared centrist voters to Goldilocks, looking for the right porridge. "This one's too hot, this one's too cold," he said.
Some Georgia voters are disturbed by both the anger against Bush and the apparent widening divide they see between the parties.
Next door to Drummond's store in Warm Springs, Simone Bernard, 59, operates her own shop, the Boutique. She's a Democrat who plans to vote for Kerry on Tuesday, but she's no Bush basher.
"I think George Bush is an honest person," she said. "I think he's done the best he can."
She'd be happy, she said, if the country abolished political parties altogether.
"Shouldn't we vote for who we feel does the best for our country, rather than being a Democrat or a Republican?" she asked.
Staff writers Maurice Tamman and Corey Dade contributed to this article.
At the same time, the improving economy, Iraqi stabilization, the capture of AQ bigwigs, etc. will have everyone wondering what the ABB fuss is about.
I noticed that too. The AJC gave up the pretense of being a legitimate newspaper along time ago.
Georgia
Elections for Statewide offices and Congress
Primary: Tuesday 20 July 2004
Primary Runoff (if necessary): Tuesday 10 August 2004
General Election: Tuesday 2 November 2004
General Election Runoff (if ncessary): Tuesday 23 November 2004
The truth is that there is a large minority in this country who would never ever ever vote for a Republican, and that number is getting a little bit bigger each year.
We can still win this year, but unless something changes, it will never get easier.
NPR is absolutely loving this. They get to air debates over who hates George Bush more, and why. Life. Is. Good.
The media seems to have completely lost touch with more or less half the country (more if you want my opinion). They could care less. Why? Because they're doing this for themselves. It's nothing but self-gratification at this point. They need it, they deserve it, they've been waiting for it since the awful events in Florida in 2000, and by golly, they're going to have it! Anybody who doesn't like it can take a hike (to quote their favorite guy).
(steely)
Sure. Why, just last week they stood proudly together in support of one of their favorite causes, same-sex marriage, and turned down an amendment to our state constitution against it. They have also held firm in defense of abortion and other causes dear to the hearts of their faithless followers.
Sure, and a big chuck think like Miller.
Forty-five percent of Georgians likely to vote in the Democratic primary — including 35 percent of those who identified themselves as Democrats — said they agreed with Miller's assertion that the Democratic Party has abandoned Southern Democrats.
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