Carol Porter for Georgia

After spending a pretty good chunk of time this morning reviewing my pictures from the Commerce Rally here in my hometown, the Carol Porter webisodes, the posts she's made over the last month and every single interview I could find, I feel pretty much compelled to dedicate a post to this dynamic woman running for Lieutenant Governor. She's one of a kind.

When I heard Ms. Carol speak here in Commerce (and I have addressed her as "Ms. Carol" since meeting her, so I will do the same in this post), it was the first time I'd had the privilege to hear from her. Some of the other candidates I had seen before and listened to give speeches, but I had not yet come across Ms. Carol's campaign. And I can say this with full force: out of all the candidates in attendance for any office, she impressed me the most. Head and shoulders above everyone else. And for a while, I couldn't quite figure out why...but I think I've got it now. It's because she has shown that you (as a candidate), can hone in on a single issue(ethics/abuse of power/corruption/whatevery you want to call it) and take it directly to the people. And that's what she's doing. The problem, in my opinion, with running for office a lot of times is that people are oblivious to two things in particular:

1. What the duties of that office are---and Ms. Carol is defining this in a way that is most helpful: by telling voters how the incumbent is abusing/executing activities that someone with respect for the office would be appalled by.

2. Why the incumbent needs replacing---and once again, Ms. Carol has described in great detail, and with an impressive grasp of policy and procedure, how Casey Cagle has used the office as his own personal, immature, unethical play-toy.

Carol Porter has taken of message of ethics,abuse of power, and corruption and really stripped it down to the bare essentials, so that voters can understand what is going on. Casey Cagle is using his office to benefit Casey Cagle, the things Casey Cagle likes, and the people who, in return, like Casey Cagle. And that's no Lieutenant Governor. That's a bully on a playground. "Ethics" is a term that gets tossed around every election year. But never before have I seen a candidate with so much ammunition on an incumbent, and such a keen ability to relate to the voters who need to know about it. As you can tell by the picture, I had the opportunity to stop and talk with Ms. Carol here at our rally. She's cordial, respectful, remarkably knowledgeable and has a quality lost on most politicians running for such a high office: attentiveness. In my mere minutes of talking to her, it was as if SHE was hanging on every word that I was saying, and that's normally the other way around with those seeking office. They expect you to listen to them, to hear their ideas, to be enthralled with them; but that was not the case. She may be seeking office, but she came across first as a person, a human being, with true compassion and emotion; as a mother surrounded by her sons helping with her campaign and as a citizen seeking office to help everyone who she could possibly affect. In a word: inspiring.

If you haven't given Ms. Carol Porter a second look by now, it would be an excellent time to. Those of us who follow this race carefully know that she does have a primary opponent who will be listed first on the ballot. But this opponent, one Ms. McCracken, hasn't shown up hardly anywhere, isn't publicly visible via signs, a website, or anything else, won't respond to questions about her positions on the issues and obviously isn't comfortable enough to immerse herself in the ideas and situations of the people and families of Georgia; and quite frankly, for her unwillingness to participate in this election in one of the most precarious times in history, Ms. McCracken doesn't deserve to get 1 vote in this primary. Tricia McCracken would vote for Carol Porter if she had the people's best interest at heart. Either way, here's to hoping that Carol Porter makes it to November; that she garners the opportunity to rip Mr. Cagle to shreds in a face-to-face debate sometime, and really take him to task on his abuse of the citizens of this state. Carol Cuts Corruption. Give her the chance and I have full confidence that she will. And yes Ms. Carol, you may be second on our ballots, but you are unequivocally FIRST in our hearts.