Posted on 04/23/2012 7:57:57 AM PDT by Prov1322
Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is preparing to run for her old 4th Congressional district seat on the Green Party ticket.
Andy Manis, AP Cynthia McKinney, a former congresswoman, ran for president as the Green Party candidate in 2008.
McKinney was defeated by 4th district incumbent Hank Johnson in 2006 after serving six terms in Congress and has kept a low profile since returning to Atlanta from the San Francisco area where she moved in 2007.
Since February she has made a few public appearances in her old district but stayed low key with her plans. She filed paperwork April 2 with the Federal Elections Commission declaring her intention to run.
Tracked down at her mothers home Thursday by a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McKinney declined to comment and ordered the reporter off the property.
Last week she was recruiting volunteers to collect the 18,860 signatures of registered voters shell need by August 6 to get on the newly redrawn 4th district ballot, according the Georgia Secretary of States office.
A lightning-rod political figure, McKinney, 55, was defeated in 2006 by Johnson after a much-publicized run-in with a U.S. Capitol police officer and her accusations that the Bush administration may have known beforehand about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2008 she won the Green Party nomination and ran for president. McKinney and running mate Rosa Clemente were on the ballot in 31 states, but not Georgia.
The party had hoped with McKinney's name recognition to get at least 5% of the vote so the party would automatically be on the 2012 ballot in all 50 states. She got less than 1 percent of the vote.
In the summer of 2009, McKinney made international news for her involvement in the Free Gaza Movement, during which she was detained after a ship she was aboard carrying humanitarian supplies was stopped by the Israeli Navy for allegedly running a blockade.
Back in Atlanta, McKinneys associates in the Green Party which she joined in 2007 after quitting the Democratic Party have closed ranks in support.
Her former Green Party campaign manager, Hugh Esco, said Wednesday he could not confirm McKinney plans to run, as first reported by the Atlanta Progressive News. I would call that report a wild rumor, said Esco.
Frank Redding, a friend of McKinneys late father, former state legislator Billy McKinney, who has known Cynthia since childhood, said Thursday hes not surprised to hear shes back in her old district and making the rounds for a political rebirth.
Shes been around and been more visible and I believe shes going to make a run, though Ive not had a personal conversation with her, said Redding. But anywhere she runs in South Dekalb County shes going to be viable.
The new District 4 contains about two-thirds of DeKalb County including the cities of Stone Mountain and Scottdale, and portions of Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale counties.
Other former supporters question whether McKinney has the resources or enough remaining clout and presence in the district she left six years ago to get the signatures needed to get on the ballot.
Thats going to be the real challenge for her, said John Evans, who handled McKinneys last congressional campaign, in 2006.
Jan Selman, a Decatur political consultant and former McKinney supporter who backed Hank Johnson in 2006, said she still supports Johnson, and doubts most voters will "get off the rail" and vote Green Party, no matter the candidate.
She said she would never underestimate McKinney. "She's a very determined person," said Selman. But we need someone in the 4th district with tenure. Hanks been in there three terms. I cant see that changing right now.
This woman is a cuckoo nut.
She’s angry and not very bright.
Wonderful combination of traits.
Can’t this dippy-doo get a job somewhere? Doesn’t someone need her laundry folded? Doesn’t someone need his house haunted?
All I want to know is what she does with that thing on her head when she goes to bed.
Get a real job.
SnakeDoc
“Mental Deficient Runs Again! DNC Moron Alert”
Elections are all about popularity first and experience last.
I hope that Hank Johnson is the dumbest guy in Congress. I'd hate to think that there are some who are even dumber.
So this district had this loon and then Hank “Guam” Johnson. Just wow.....pathetic.
As are most of the voters in her old district. Considering the moronic racist Hank Johnson (Guam tipping over) replaced her and is an improvement, I actually think she has a reasonable chance of getting the seat back. She's a white hating, industry hating, government loving, socialist who feels that every black is entitled to be supported by whites. This attitude is very prevalent in her former district which was specially gerrymandered to ensure that the representative from there would always be black.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg
His congressional questioning of Admiral Willard about his concern that Guam would "...tip over and capsize..." with the addition of more US Marines.
Can you say -- Maxine Waters?
I give you Shiela Jackson Lee (D - of course, texas) who thinks that the Apollo mission put men on Mars.
Actually, he wasn’t just worried about Guam tipping over, he was worried about it capsizing.
I think those are both valid concerns... if your IQ is less than that of a freshly butchered chicken.
She’s running against the idiot who was afraid that too many Marines on Guam might cause it to tip over in the ocean.
What kind of people live in the CD?
“Tracked down at her mothers home Thursday by a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McKinney declined to comment and ordered the reporter off the property.”
Believe me...the AJC will be "tore-up" (as they say here) on which of these Looney Tunes to back, support and carry to the election.
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