Meet Johnny Isakson. If the polls and the pols are accurate he's the next U.S. Senator from Georgia. Why? Well, both Democratic and Republican operatives say that Georgia's is the most likely Senate seat to switch from D to R this cycle, and Isakson currently has a huge lead over his two opponents, businessman Herman Cain and Congressman Mac Collins. If he wins tomorrow by enough to avoid a run-off, the consensus is that he'll easily beat the winner of the Democratic primary (the likely winner being Congresswoman Denise Majette).
There are a number of interesting House primaries on the ballot tomorrow. We could, for instance, see the first African-American Republican in the US House since the retirement of J.C. Watts if Dylan Glenn wins his race in the heavily Republican 8th district (Glenn ran, and lost, twice in another district). The free-for-all in Majette's heavily Democratic 4th district will likely result in a run-off. The run-off is expected to include controversial former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. She could face Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard who would be the second "out" lesbian in Congress if she were to win in November. And several Democrats are battling in the 12th to take on Max Burns, widely viewed as one of the weakest Republican incumbents in the country (he won the seat against an extremely flawed Democratic candidate in '02). The Democratic candidates there include John Barrow, one of the best-funded challengers in the country, and former State Senator Doug Haines who is running as more of a progressive than Barrow.
Posted by armand at July 19, 2004 10:42 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics