Party switching, once risky, eyed as key to survival by some

Associated Press ^ | Posted on Tue, Nov. 09, 2004 | DICK PETTYS

[sarasotarepublican]

ATLANTA - Party switching used to be a risky business in Georgia. Now some politicians see it as a key to survival.

"If you're in the minority and from rural Georgia, you're not going to have very much of a say in the legislative process," said Rep. Chuck Sims of Douglas, one of the most recent in a fairly long - and perhaps growing - list of Democrats who suddenly have turned Republican.

Sims took the plunge Monday along with Rep. Hinson Mosley of Jesup, who held onto his House seat by only about 220 votes after a fierce challenge from a Republican in last week's election.

"This seat doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the people of my district," Sims said. "We have issues that are paramount to the people that live there and in order to have a voice, you have to be in the majority."

For 130 years in Georgia that meant being a Democrat. But now that means being a Republican.

Republicans gained a majority in the House in last week's elections, guaranteeing them control of both chambers along with the governor's office when a new Legislature meets in January.

For Democrats, the loss was the final act in a transition that over two elections has utterly stripped them from power in the statehouse.

Party switching had a lot to do with it. In 2002, after becoming the first Republican elected governor since Reconstruction, Sonny Perdue quickly persuaded four Democratic senators to switch parties and, thus, give the GOP control of the Senate for the first time.

[sarasotarepublican]

How are we going to keep the rats OUT!!

[AuH2ORepublican]

What's the current Republican-Democrat count in the GA house and senate (after the elections and these latest switches)?

[My2Cents]

Peachy!

[jneesy]

they can come on in IF they toe the party line . i wish the folks over here in alabama would wake up

[AntiGuv]

I think it's 96-84 in the House and 33-22 in the Senate.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

This story is pretty much what happened here in Florida less than 10 years ago!

[woofer]

How are we going to keep the rats OUT!!

If I were in a leadership position for the Republican party, I'd insist that these bounders post a fairly substatial performance bond. At least enough to finance a campaign against them in the next election.

[AntiGuv]

Opps! Make that 34-22 in the Senate.

[NonValueAdded]

I'm happy to see the switch but somewhat troubled about the timing. I wonder how the local Republicans feel after investing all their time and energy supporting their candidate in a losing battle only to see the opponent come over to their side. That effort could have been put to better use elsewhere. Also, will they be getting a RINO instead of a true Republican?

[Hello Kitty]

first, you don't want to take actions that discourage people from coming over. I wouldn't be averse to seeing them rewarded; certainly they should not be penalized.

second, if they're RINOs, the good people of their communities will sniff that out and run someone strong and hardcore against them in the primary.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

These guys aren't necessarily the "Rats". In the south, there still truly is a such thing as a conservative Democrat. They typically are rural legislators who grew up in areas that were, at the time >85% Democrat, but had strong conservative values.

Lately, those areas have realized that they support the conservative candidate, who typically is the Republican. Those already elected realize that their party has left them and that they can be welcomed and win re-election as a member of the Republican Party.

That has definitely been the case here in Kentucky. Since 1999, we have had two conservative State Senators switch to the GOP and one conservative State Representative. Speculation is that once the House gets closer parity (57 Dems, 43 GOP currently), a few more conservative Dems will switch. And we welcome them with open arms!

[Clintonfatigued]

Well, if these 'Rats are conservative (like Zell Miller), it's not a problem.

[sittnick]

You know, if I still lived in Connecticut, I would gladly trade one of our lifelong Republicans for a Georgia convert. I think the freepers in RI NY PA ME and VT would feel the same way.

[The Great Yazoo]

Thanks for this post! Although I've lived in Naples for years, I grew up in the south Georgia area represented by the two legislators referenced in the AP story. It is a piney woods, coastal plains flatlands, very, very rural.

This area of south Georgia has been historically isolated due to its location in the middle of nowhere and quite poor roads systems. The roads are much better now than before as factories moved into the area in the 50s and 60s to take advantage of lower wage levels (unfortunately, many of those factories found even lower wages could be paid elsewhere, and so moved on). When I last visited in 2002, my high school classmates complained that the factories were closing down and the economy was in a depression. This is particularly devastating because the local government education system was forthrightly designed to create a pool of good factory workers.

This is the Bible Belt, and folks there are quite conservative, socially, politically, and economically. In this sense, they should have been Republicans years ago, but for historical reasons (when I lived there, many still held grudges against Republicans for the Civil War and, worse yet, Reconstruction) tended to be Yellow Dog Democrats.

This area went solidly Democrat Thomas Jefferson through John F. Kennedy, then Goldwater, Wallace, Nixon (1972), Carter (1976 & 1980), Reagan (1984). In 1988 (long after I was gone but I was still paying attention) some of the counties started to split going less solidly Bush 41 and Clinton (more 1992 than 1996). I believe Gore carried the county in which I grew up, but Bush carried it in 2004.

Through my 18th year (1972) there simply was no Republican Party in this area. Folks there may have voted for Nixon, but from county commissioner to tax collector, ordinary to school board member, local elected officials (and, more importantly, all candidates running) were Democrats. There were no choices.

My quick web research shows that in counties in the area, there may still only be one or two Republican local officeholders each. Local offices continue to be dominated by Democrats.

The new Republicans mentioned in the AP story can probably be counted on as solid GOP votes. Hopefully, they represent a trend opening up the area politically and otherwise.

Please pardon my insomniac ruminations regurgitating far, far more about this sliver of south Georgia than you would have ever wished to know.

[sarasotarepublican]

Thank you for your post. It was very informative reading.

[WildTurkey]

How are we going to keep the rats OUT!!

Zell Miller is one of those Georgia RATs!

[NeoCaveman]

How are we going to keep the rats OUT!!

If we had kept them out in the past we would have never had Ronald Reagan or Senator Phil Graham.

[longtermmemmory]

actually I see it as the Zell Miller Democrats realizing what the modern democrat party has become.

This phenomenon is not going to be limited to GA.