Posted on 07/18/2006 9:09:23 PM PDT by LdSentinal
ATLANTA - Democratic firebrand Rep. Cynthia McKinney was in high spirits Tuesday night, dancing and playing a tambourine as election results showed her with a tight lead over a former DeKalb County Commissioner with roots in the heart of her core constitency.
With 80 percent of the precincts reporting, McKinney was leading with 47 percent of the vote to lawyer Hank Johnson's 45 percent. One of the candidates will need to get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff on Aug. 8.
Tuesday's primary was the first time that McKinney faced voters since her scuffle with a Capitol Hill police officer in March.
At her campaign party, McKinney continued to flaunt her record of outspokenness on the Iraq war. She entered the auditorium with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and also was joined by Patricia Roberts, whose son, Jamaal Addison, was the first Georgia soldier killed in the war.
Some voters said she was an embarrassment and not representative of her suburban Atlanta district.
"I wanted to vote against Cynthia McKinney because I don't think she's a worthy representative. I just think she's a radical," said David Schmieder, a 61-year-old professor at Georgia Tech. "I would have voted anyway, but I would normally have voted in the Republican primary."
The Republican crossover vote was key in McKinney's defeat four years ago, when little-known political newcomer Denise Majette, who promised not to embarrass her constituents as Majette claimed McKinney had done for a decade. However, that was not expected to be as much of a factor in Tuesday's primary because of some high-profile statewide races on the GOP ballot.
What is at stake is McKinney's core constituency, which Johnson has targeted to oust the incumbent. South DeKalb County is home to Johnson's law firm and some of the country's most affluent blacks.
McKinney was largely criticized for questioning the Bush administration's advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks, claiming the president allowed them to happen so his friends could profit from the bloodshed.
McKinney returned to Washington in 2005 after Majette vacated the seat to her Senate campaign, which was unsuccessful. On Tuesday, she sought the nomination for a seventh term in Congress after the scuffle with the officer who stopped her when he didn't recognize her as she entered a House office building.
A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict the congresswoman, but she was forced to apologize on the floor of the House.
Some political observers said the scuffle helped reinforce her image in her mostly black suburban Atlanta district as someone unafraid to stand up against authority.
The first black woman elected to Congress from Georgia, McKinney also was challenged by John Coyne, an architect, who was drawing about 10 percent of the vote, enough to possibly force a runoff between McKinney and Johnson.
The Democratic nominee would all but be assured a win in November in the heavily Democratic district.
Many in her largely black district view her as a fighter and champion of the underdog - a reputation seemingly bolstered by the recent scuffle on Capitol Hill that thrust her into the national spotlight after a relatively quiet return to Congress.
"I voted for her because of her strong background and her strong voice. If you look at her strong background, you won't judge her for what's happened recently," said Shadana Abernathy, a 29-year-old single mother who planned to take her two young boys swimming after voting at a school in south Decatur.
In other contested congressional primaries, Republican one-term Rep. Tom Price of Roswell easily won and Democrat two-term Rep. David Scott of Atlanta faced a little-known challenger.
Former six-term Rep. Mac Collins won the Republican nomination in a redrawn district represented by two-term Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon.
Collins, who left Congress in 2004 during his unsuccessful bid for the Senate and whose hometown of Jackson has since been moved into Marshall's district, defeated little-known James Neal Harris of Gray in Tuesday's primary.
| Coyne 5,023 |
Johnson 26,583 |
McKinney 28,123 |
||||||
| 8.4% | 44.5% | 47.1% | ||||||
| County | PR | TP | ||||||
| DEKALB | 134 | 135 | 4,009 | 24,042 | 26,093 | |||
| GWINNETT | 18 | 24 | 334 | 746 | 656 | |||
| ROCKDALE | 13 | 16 | 680 | 1,795 | 1,374 | |||
"Firebrand", eh? That was the favorite way to describe Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq a couple of years ago. Coincidentally, my search for "Iraq AND firebrand" gave me George Galloway of England as the next most common instance.
I guess "firebrand politician" means you're a nut hell-bent on destroying America.
A runoff huh? Is there time for a lot of Republicans to re-register as Democrats?
On McKinney winning so far...GIGO...
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Ewww, mental image of McKinney dancing and playing the tamborine.
Must erase, must erase.
...I'd ask if this was a joke, but being a liberal Democrat I know that sadly it isn't.
If this whore lost her seat in the congress what would she do for employment? I know I wouldn't hire her for the fry line at McDonalds, and as for any real work? She is one person not worth the air she breaths.
McKinney will squeak her way back to Congress - the racists in her GA Congressional district will make sure of it.
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