Collins Announces Bid for Senate (Georgia)

11Alive.com ^ | 5/16/03

[LdSentinal]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's no "probably" about it anymore: U.S. Rep. Mac Collins is running for Senate.

Collins, who had already said he would file the papers for a likely run, declared himself a candidateThursday. He'll make it official with a public announcement back in Georgia soon.

"I have decided I will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate," Collins, a Jackson Republican, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm a good conservative alternative to other candidates."

Collins is referring to fellow Republican Rep. Johnny Isakson, who announced he would run for the post in January -- just days after Democratic incumbent Zell Miller said he was retiring. Isakson fared well in a losing gubernatorial bid to Miller in 1990, but he lost the 1996 Republican primary for Senate after Guy Millner pegged him as not conservative enough.

It was unclear whether a third Republican congressman -- Jack Kingston -- would enter the race. Collins said that in his conversations with him, Kingston had given "no indication" that he wanted to run.

But Kingston left the door open Thursday.

"For right now, I'm going to watch to see how the candidacies develop," Kingston said. "The most important thing is for us to make sure a Republican wins in November, and I am committed to that."

Collins and Isakson predict the primary will not divide the closely knit delegation of eight Republicans in the U.S. House. Should one of them win, he would join Saxby Chambliss, a Republican who ascended from the House to the Senate last year.

Collins is in his sixth congressional term and holds a coveted seat on the Ways and Means Committee, which steers tax policy in the House. Prior to serving in Congress he served two terms in the Georgia Senate.

No Democratic candidate has announced a bid for Senate, but Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin are considering it.

[KQQL]

Looks like WH called him up......to off set the Likeley lose by GOP in IL.

P,S ...I doubt Kingston runs now....

[madprof98]

I hope the White House called. For months we've heard that the WH (Rove) personally selected RINO Johnny Isakson for the slot. Collins gives Republicans a chance to retain a seat that is already in conservative hands. In the unlikely event of an Isakson victory, the seat would have gone to the Jeffords wing of the GOP.