Former President Clinton has endorsed Thurbert Baker in the Democratic Primary for Governor, one week ahead of election day. And after I spent the better part of yesterday's blog ripping into Mr. Baker about not having the answers that the state needs. I am a great admirer of President Clinton, but I stand by my statements about Mr. Baker. I read this first on the Georgia Politics Unfiltered blog:I must say that when I put head to pillow last night, I didn't expect to wake up this morning and find out that President Clinton had chosen to insert himself into the Georgia Governor's race. Now, Unfiltered makes an excellent point: Thurbert Baker stuck by Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries when other lawmakers, other prominent African-American lawmakers, were jumping ship over to the Obama campaign. However, Bill Clinton doesn't just slap his name on anything. I mean, no matter how you feel about him personally, he is still Bill Clinton. He's "Bubba." And yes, he is the last Democrat to carry this state in a presidential election (though he only did it once in 1992, not 1996).
And that, to me, is where the story is found. In 1992, Bill Clinton carried Georgia in the general election by winning in counties in North Georgia, like Franklin, Lumpkin, Pickens and Chattooga counties; by winning in Middle Georgia, like Monroe, Jones, Newton and Morgan counties; and by winning in South Georgia, in places like Worth, Bleckley, Laurens, Brantley, Bacon and Jeff Davis counties. Those, of course we not all of the places he won, but I listed them to demonstrate his widespread appeal. There is another common denominator among the listed counties: Bill Clinton won them in 1992, and they flipped on him in 1996...when he lost this state. It takes someone like Bill Clinton, who is experienced in winning and in losing, to know how to relate to a broad base of people. The state of Georgia encompasses a wide variety of people, places, business, wants and needs; and I guess President Clinton thinks Thurbert Baker can best represent that. That's cool. I respectfully disagree. Only one man in this race knows what it's like to win counties, and then subsequently make a mistake and have those counties flip on you next time around: Roy Barnes. I appreciate President Clinton's loyalty to Mr. Baker, but I'm sticking by the man most akin to the former president...and that just so happens to be the former governor.
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