I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
As a former Georgia resident, I'd like to encourage everyone to support any efforts to take Georgia back from the punk f?cks who smeared Max Cleland as an al-Qaeda sympathizer. Free the Georgia 9,000,000!
Yeah, but I really have mixed feelings about these Democrats agressively seeking out of state campaign contributions. On the one hand, of course I want the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the House and Senate to be high, but Zell Miller is a perfect example where having that 'D' next to your name doesn't mean squat. So what the hell do I know about the 12th district to play any role in helping them decide who should represent them?
Also, I haven't heard any candidate for Congress say this, but this escalation in campaign fundraising has GOT to stop. No one is saying, "yeah...I need your money...but this is the last time. Once I'm in there the system will be permanently changed so that the way I'm currently raising all this dough will no longer be allowed. We need to make sure that the voice of people who can't afford to donate to camapigns is not shouted over by those with money." With out of control fundraising, the only one that wins are the big corporate media conglomerates.
It is pretty obvious, that unless a candidate is ENTIRELY all hype and no substance, that amount raised is a VERY strong indication of how they do in the polls, issues be damned.
Do NOT support Barrow! He supported Athens' anti-renter ordinance, which forbids unrelated people from renting a single-family home. This screwed gay-lesbian couples, students, and anyone that needs to rent a room to make ends meet. This BS was pandering to upper class home owners that don't want any "weirdos" buying homes in their neighborhoods.
We need Democrats with progressive principles. Support Haines, he is a better candidate.
Atrios understandably won't take sides, but I can. I just started working on Barrow's campaign. He's the real deal. He has Max Cleland's endorsement, who has enormous political capital here in Georgia after what Bush and Co did to him. Barrow has the endorsement of some labor and trade unions too.
This seat should be Democratic win with the right candidate. Barrow is the right candidate. University of Georgia undergrad and Harvard Law. Solid, solid candidate. It will be a contested primary so money will necessarily be used during that phase, so even more will be needed to have the right candidate fight the Gooper attack dogs. It will be a long process.
These house races in a lot of ways are national campaigns now. These house seats are that imporant. There will be a few sharply contested races across the country, this will be one of them. Goopers are already pooring money into Max Burns, who already has amost a $1 million war chest. Please join the fight. As Atrios like to say, please try to throw them a few nickles if you can.
Miguels, nice to see people already gettin' dirty. The city ordinace disallows more than two unrelated people to share a house within certain areas. I have no idea how this could hurt gay and lesbian COUPLES. It does make things a little harder on all the Georgia students, keeping them from rentin houses in a lot of the residential communities. I was living in Athens at the time it got pushed through. It was a contentious issue. But, there is a lot of rental housing in Athens. If anyone actually cares, here's an article talking about this very local issue, the local independent Flagpole. If you care to sort this minor issue out for yourself. http://tinyurl.com/2alfs
Barrow = Establishment = Business as Usual.
Check out Haines if you want someone who is progressive and the ONLY ONE who can kick some Republican Ass in the General Election.
www.hainesforcongress.com
Barrow voted for this, and I like Haines better, but if you want to run a bad apple out of the Democratic Party in Athens, look to Lucy Rowland, the woman who authored this single-family ordnance, which only affects selected intown "nice" neighborhoods. If the ordnance is upheld, my roommates and I might have to fill out this form the next time we rent a house. Even if you like her poetry, consider telling her how undemocratic and unDemocratic this policy is.
sorry, lrowland AT arches.uga.edu
ps. fuck Haloscan
Wow. Kop so you are basically saying that if you are a student in Athens, you might as well leave your civil rights and privacy issues at the county line. Also, if the goverment does not recognize gay and lesbian couples as being related then they are prohibited from sharing a house with at least one other person. John Barrow should get along real well with John Ashcroft. My measly twenty bucks is going to Haines to make sure that does not happen.
burbs of athens here. know of each for quite a while.
haines, all the way.
"take back the 12th!"
haines reminds me of gore [cut that out!], i mean in a good way, a good way.
btw: didn't know until i hit his site that rem supports barrow in this race.
I think R.E.M. has also supported Haines in the past (playing a fundraising show at the 40 Watt a few years back), so that muddies the water a bit for those for whom the R.E.M. endorsement is the determining factor in which of these two fine candidates to support. (As a disclaimer, though, despite my moniker, i have no special knowledge of Stipe&Co.'s political dealings apart from what I read in the local paper. It is kind of cool, though, to listen to "All Things Considered" on the local NPR station and hearing, "This program brought to you by R.E.M." Who says you can't hear them on the radio anymore?)
As a GA 12 resident, I'm getting a kick out seeing the minutiae of Athens politics (the rental ordinance?!) getting such prominent play across the blogosphere here and on DailyKos, and watching the heated little Haines vs Barrow debates blossom. It's sort of like a micro-version of all those old Dean vs Clark squabbles on dKos. Let's hope things work out better in the real world for Haines/Barrow than they did for their big league counterparts.
haines is a nice guy, but one who lost his seat as an incumbent to a gop political novice.
barrow has raised much more dough and hasn't lost any elections in a while.
**important, though - scotus could still toss out the districts, and under that scenario athens might fall into a heavily republican district, and haines might be all we have left.
One thing no one has mentioned about the Single Family Ordinance in ACC (Athens Clarke County to all ya'll) is that the government will basically have a record of who you lived with while you rented in Athens. You know, just in case you *happen* to live with people who turn out to be 'undesirable' later on. If that wasn't bad enough, renters will be subjected to a 'fee' that will basically go to pay the Marshall's office to Evict renters who are not obeying the policy. Yeah, that's right, YOU have to PAY for giving up your rights to privacy. This creates two distinct classes in Athens and punishes renters for not having the resources to live with fewer people. Barrow is actually against this personally, but after seeing the response he was getting in his district, decided to support it.
Doug Haines also supports a (symbolic) local Anti-Patriot Act resolution (similar to New York's or Atlanta's) outright, unlike John Barrow who has chosen not to take a stand on the issue yet, still playing politics in an election year, I guess.
Thing is, as much as I'd prefer Doug, I'm perfectly willing to settle for Barrow to get Burns out on his ass.
~D~
Oops, that second-to-last paragraph should have read: "Doug Haines also seems
Oops, that second-to-last paragraph should have read: "Doug Haines also *seems* supports a (symbolic) local Anti-Patriot Act resolution (similar to New York's or Atlanta's) outright,"
And WendellGee, I also am tickled pink that my little district race made it to Eschaton.
Thanks Atrios,
~D~
Barrow has actually lost an election for State Representative, and he lost that in his own backyard. Also, Barrow has been turned down for Judge not ONCE, not TWICE, but THREE TIMES. And now he is trying to buy the title of Congressman.
Doug's old senate seat contained a county that was very republican, and that county is not in the GA12. Athens, which is in the GA 12th, has been won consistenly by Doug three times by a large margin.
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