The man with the Big Voice says he'll run against Isakson (Al Bartell-R)

For the moment, we'll have to satisfy ourselves with another Republican name in the U.S. Senate race. Al Bartell, a motivational speaker and consultant, did better than expected last year when he sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Earlier, Bartell said he would campaign on the flag issue, but we don't know what new direction he'll point himself in, now that the flag vote has been neutered.

Look for state Rep. Roger Hines to jump into the 6th Congressional District race that same day, in nearby Kennesaw. No word yet on what Sen. Chuck Clay intends, in that same race.

"Bartell needs to run for a House seat, not the Senate. Unfortunately, his entry is likely to dilute support for Kingston if and when (c'mon, Jack, get in the race already !) he does."

I agree, we need Kingston in the race. Not only is he the only candidate who can galvanize conservative support in the primaries and defeat Isakson, but he would be close to invincible in the general election, which cannot be said for Isakson, who could very well lose because of lack of support in South Georgia. I already sent Kingston an e-mail urging him to run, as I'm sure many others have done. I hope he enters the race soon, since he's going to need to raise quite a bit of money to compete with Isakson's TV buys in Atlanta.

Is Bartell from suburban Atlanta (as his announcement in Marietta implies)? If so, not only could he run in Isakson's district (where a primary win is tantamount to election), he could perhaps run against David Scott in the 41% black (and 58% Gore-voting) suburban 13th district. A victory in the 13th district would be the political equivalent of Villanova beating Georgetown in 1985. A win by Bartell in Isakson's district wouldn't change the balance of power, but electing a black conservative Republican in Georgia would certainly help our cause in the long run (and might even affect the race in the 2nd district, where black moderate-to-conservative Democrat Sanford Bishop would have to either switch to the GOP or else face a reinvigorated general-election challenge from black conservative Republican Dylan Glenn).

I don't have a hometown listed for Bartell, but I would assume he's from the Atlanta 'burbs. He might've done better against Rep. Scott running last year, but unless the lines in the 13th are redrawn more favorably towards us and Scott screws up badly (goes on a McKinneyite "It's the Jooooos ! rant), I doubt he'll be beaten.

Sanford Bishop is the most Conservative 'Rat in the GA House delegation and has rejected all entreaties for him to switch (Gingrich had talked to him privately on a number of occasions back in the mid '90s). Perhaps Dubya could find an Ambassadorship for him (like he did for Tony Hall, which netted us his Dayton, OH seat) and Glenn could run in a special.

As for Bishop, he'd be more valuable to us as a party-switiching Congressman than as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Commission on Peanut Farming, but if he accepted an ambassadorship, we'd have a good chance of picking up his seat, and Congressman Glenn would make a fine addition to our House delegation. But remember that convinving Tony Hall to become U.S. Ambassador to the UN Commission on Hunger was the carrot, and the Ohio redistricting plan that replaced much of suburban Dayton with heavily Republican Cincinnati exurbs in his district was the stick. Had his district stayed marginal instead of becoming much more Republican, he probably would have stayed in the House. So if the Georgia legislature doesn't redistrict again (and I don't see why the RATs who control the House would ever agree to do that), Bishop may decide to stay in his marginal district that was shored up for him a bit last time around.

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