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Michelle Nunn decides not to run for Senate By RHONDA COOK The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia Democrats remained without a major candidate for the 2004 U.S. Senate election, after the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn announced Friday she will not run. Michelle Nunn said family reasons will keep her out of the race to succeed Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), who is retiring. Nunn, 36, said in an interview that Friday's decision does not preclude an eventual run for elected office. "It's been a part of my family's heritage, and I feel more strongly about it after thinking about [running],"...

Georgia's U.S. Senate campaign, which shifts into high gear starting this week, will play a pivotal role in Republicans' attempt to expand their majority in the nation's most powerful legislative chamber. The GOP thinks it can pick up seats in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and possibly Florida, increasing its one-vote advantage in the Senate and helping to advance President Bush's agenda. Democrats concede they face tough battles in the Republican-trending South -- especially Georgia -- but dismiss the idea they will lose four seats to the GOP. "We feel we'll be on equal footing in all of these races,"...

Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D) is urging Rep. Jim Marshall to run next year for Senate. The race is one of only two open contests, along with Illinois, in the country. Barnes told the freshman congressman he "should seriously consider" running for the seat being vacated by Democrat Zell Miller. Despite Marshall's relatively brief stint in Congress, Barnes said the congressman, who won his House seat with narrow 51 percent of the vote, would be a credible Senate candidate. "I think he's a good candidate," Barnes told The Hill. "He has a good military record, he’s from a great...

In times past, an open U.S. Senate seat would have touched off a stampede among ambitious Georgia Democrats eager to offer for the job. Even against an incumbent, there sometimes was a crowd. The 1972 race, for example, featured 15 Democratic candidates, counting an appointed incumbent who hadnt held office long. But in the new Georgia, with a Republican in the executive mansion and the GOP controlling eight of 13 congressional seats, Democrats seem to be having a hard time finding candidates for the Senate seat that will come open next year. Sen. Zell Millers post is the only one...

In recent years, pollsters have said that Medicare prescription drug coverage is not a wedge issue anymore because both Republicans and Democrats support expanding the program. But the issue could play a role in the Georgia Senate race to replace retiring Zell Miller (D). Rep. Mac Collins, a conservative Ways and Means Committee member who entered the race in May, was one of only eight Republicans who voted against the 2002 House GOP prescription drug bill. He was also the sole Ways and Means Republican that year to vote against an earlier version of the plan, crafted by committee Chairman...

The state lawmaker who tearfully marched into Gov. Sonny Perdue's office and called him a "racist" wants to be a U.S. senator. State Sen. Mary Squires (D-Norcross), a 45-year-old paralegal, will probably make an official announcement within two weeks, said Michael Berlon, the Gwinnett County Democratic Party chairman who is temporarily doubling as Squires' campaign spokesman. "Over the years I've noticed that average people rarely put their hat in the ring for anything," said Squires, who said she is confident she can meet the fund-raising challenge of a multi-million-dollar race. "I'm a regular old working mom who just wants to...