Free Republic

Opposed to ObamaCare? Maybe you're just a secret segregationist . . . As absurd as it sounds, that's the possibility that Chris Matthews posed this evening. His guest was Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a Democrat who has declined Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's request to sue the federal government over ObamaCare. Matthews reached back to 1964 to suggest that Perdue might also have opposed the Civil Rights law. View video here.

Here is his Thurbert Baker's campaign site.Here are the people running against him.Here is why he refused the Georgia Governors request to sue the Federal Government over the Health Care fiasco.Attorney General Baker Responds to Governor Perdue's Request To Initiate Healthcare Reform LitigationPRESS ADVISORY Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Attorney General Baker Responds to Governor Perdue's Request To Initiate Healthcare Reform Litigation Attorney General Thurbert Baker responded today to Governor Sonny Perdue’s request that he file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Health Care Reform legislation passed by the United States House of Representatives this week. Baker ultimately concluded that...

Attorney General Thurbert Baker told Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday he will not file a federal lawsuit to block federal health care reform legislation signed into law this week. Baker, a Democrat seeking his party’s nomination for governor, told the Republican Perdue that he was “unaware of any constitutional infirmities and do not think it would be prudent, legally or fiscally, to pursue such litigation. I must therefore respectfully decline your request.” Perdue had asked Baker to join more than a dozen other attorneys general from around the country — all of whom are Republicans — to sue to block...

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...

Decision could come today on redrawn lines Georgia officials are looking for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling soon, perhaps today, that could determine control of the state Senate. The redistricting case also has implications for all states that must get their political lines federally approved under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Supreme Court completes its term around the end of this month, with opinions coming out on Mondays. State officials say that the decision could come as early as today. Redistricting experts have said this decision could send a message to Congress when it considers whether to renew...

ATLANTA - State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond would consider running for the U.S. Senate if Attorney General Thurbert Baker balks at the chance. Baker, a Decatur native, told reporters from Morris Communications Corp.'s Georgia newspapers this week that he is considering a run for the office. ''This is not anything that I have made a decision about,'' he said. Thurmond, who's from Athens, said he's on hold. ''Right now, Thurbert Baker is the outstanding, top option for the Democrats,'' Thurmond said. ''What I've said to Thurbert is, if he decides not to, I'll consider it. Because right now, I support...

No one ever thought it would be a cakewalk. From that day in January when Johnny Isakson announced he would run for the U.S. Senate, Tom Perdue started hammering the north metro congressman. Perdue said Isakson favored abortion. Said he was too moderate - make that liberal. Said he was too close to the Democrats. Said he was a liar and a hypocrite. That was OK at the time. Tom Perdue is a political consultant, not a candidate. ''Brilliant and ruthless,'' The New York Times recently called him. Some observers doubted that consultant Perdue (no relation to Gov. Sonny Perdue)...

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...

Georgia Democratic Senate Candidate Emerging By Lauren W. Whittington and Mark Preston Roll Call Staff May 8, 2003 Four months after Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) announced he would not seek re-election, Democrats are pinning their hopes on state Attorney General Thurbert Baker as the top choice to defend the seat.

<p>"Senate Democrats think they've found the ideal candidate to test just how badly the racially tinged Trent Lott affair hurt Republicans," Paul Bedard writes in the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News & World Report. "It's Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a law-and-order African-American who is considering a run for the seat opened by the retirement of Sen. Zell Miller," Mr. Bedard said. " 'We're high on him,' says a top Senate aide. The popular Baker just met with Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and others who offered to help in any bid."</p>