Posted on 08/28/2002 7:39:34 AM PDT by mhking
I have no intention of turning this into a single-issue blog. But . . .
Some careful observers found an odd note over the weekend on Cynthia McKinney's campaign site. It read:
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is going through all the letters and e-mails asking her to continue the struggle, to run again, to run for the US Senate. Shortly, there will be an announcement on this button -- more to come.That cryptic message sparked plenty of talk come yesterday, as you might expect, about the smackdown Zell Miller would put on her -- with relish -- if she tried. But if you read the note again, you might notice something.
She didn't say anything about skipping the Senate race in 2002.
Georgia Democrats were counting on Cynthia -- why, I don't know -- to boost black turnout come the general election in November, when Sen. Max Cleland (D) leads the ballot. Well, now she's toast, and when she needed help this summer, most state Democrats were too busy raising money or making tee times to bother.
So Cynthia's an angry woman. [Not that she wasn't plenty angry already.] And she has two assets to her name: time on her hands, and an ego to feed.
With a write-in campaign, she could make use of both -- and torpedo Democrats' chances of holding the Senate in the process.
The GOP already has Cleland in its sights as one of the senators it wants to take down. The Bush administration handpicked a candidate, Rep. Saxby Chambliss, and festooned him with cash and endorsements before the primary campaign even started. [Bushes, brushing off the will of the voters -- gosh, never heard that one before.] Cleland's approval ratings beat 60 percent, but pundits expect the Republicans to wallpaper the state with radio and TV ads to get their man into office.
Suppose Cynthia, heartened by those calls and e-mails she mentioned, decides to take to V103 one September morning and jump into the race. Who does she hurt? Well, Republicans deserted their own primary last week for the chance to toss McKinney out on her ear. Don't expect a sudden groundswell of love there.
Cleland, on the other hand, thought he needed all those McKinney voters come November to help him out. What if some of those McKinney voters -- 20 percent, maybe -- show up to vote for her?
Then those votes come directly out of Cleland's hide, that's what. In a close race -- and putting Cleland's popularity and heroic personal history aside, most everyone expects a close race -- those votes will count.
McKinney won about 50,000 votes last week. A one-fifth swing to McKinney in the general election would cost Cleland 10,000 votes -- and that only covers votes in McKinney's former district. We haven't even gotten to the 4 million other residents of the Atlanta media market.
In 1996, Cleland won by only 30,000 votes.
Making matters worse, Georgia's Democrat-controlled state government eliminated runoffs for statewide general election candidates after Sen. Wyche Fowler (D) lost his seat in late 1992. If Cleland falls even a whisker behind Chambliss, it won't matter whether Chambliss hasn't edged his share of the vote above 50 percent. He'll win anyway.
Considering that McKinney promised in her concession speech that "[she] will not help the Republicans," the irony here is so thick you could chew it. Running a kamikaze campaign against Cleland would help Republicans get the one thing they most dearly want: control of the Congress. Yet McKinney is so blunderingly self-absorbed that she just might plow ahead anyway.
For the sake of the party, she'd best not do that. Cynthia, from one Democrat to another: sit down and shut up.
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Considering that McKinney promised in her concession speech that "[she] will not help the Republicans," the irony here is so thick you could chew it.
Doesn’t anybody know the correct definition of “irony” any more?
It does not mean “everything that is interesting or odd.”
Curse you, Alanis Morrisette!
Now, now. You can't criticize professional writers for their lack of ability with the English language. We must make allowances for journalists. We can't expect them to put together a proper sentence!
Let's all email her and urge, no demand, that she run as a write-in candidate. And butter it up in the process.
WRITE-IN MCKINNEY, WRITE-IN MCKINNEY
Dismiss with extreme prejudice.
I didn't know that the Cleland vote was that close! It makes me feel less pessimistic about Chambliss' chances in November. I had pretty much written that seat off for now.
I never thought I'd hear myself say these words, but Jihad Cynthia trying to do something now wouldn't....be....so....bad....
You don't know just how hard it was to write that... But I have to think of the greater good - i.e., getting a majority back in the Senate...
Sorry, wrong answer. Here's the truth:
After Coverdell's election in 1992 the Democrat-controlled legislature reduced the threshold for triggering a runoff. The top candidate can now win in the general election with 45 percent of the vote rather than 50 percent.
I keep picturing Tom Murphy's ancient, decrepit form running through the house chamber at the end of each session and I cringe.
I hope Chambliss can do something; I pray Chambliss can do something. Anything.
Run, Cyndy, Run!!
On the other hand, this writer is generally full of it. To call Cleland "heroic" when he had an accident with a hand grenade nowhere near the action, is either stupid or a deliberate lie. (Cleland has, to my knowledge, never misrepresented his military service, but he keeps quiet and lets other people do it for him.) Certainly he has shown great courage in adapting to life with a severe physical handicap, but on the other hand he was largely incapacitated by sleep apnea for years (sleeping through meetings etc.), is not particularly bright, and votes lockstep liberal with the national Democratic party. Not all in all a good senator for Georgia. Persistence in the face of adversity, alone, does not make up for all his other shortcomings.
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