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| | Issue #19.51 :: 07/16/2008 - 07/22/2008 | Can Bob Barr help Obama win Georgia?
Even though it is still a little early yet, and Georgia has not cast its electoral votes for a Democrat since 1992, Senator Obama thinks that things might be different in 2008.
| BY BRANDON HATHAWAY
| Chances are, you will probably hear, "My name is Barack Obama, and I approve this message" a lot more often than you would expect between now and November. Even though it is still a little early yet, and Georgia has not cast its electoral votes for a Democrat since 1992, Senator Obama thinks that things might be different in 2008.
Well, his campaign is saying that it will be different, whether they actually believe it or are just commanding their anticipated Scrooge McDuck style money advantage to force Senator McCain to commit resources to states like Georgia, which would otherwise be squarely in the Republican camp.
There are two major reasons for that. One of them is the increasing population of black voters in the state and the other is former Congressman Bob Barr, who is running for president as a Libertarian candidate.
There are currently about 1.1 million black registered voters, and there is probably room to add another third of a million, considering the kind of excitement the Obama campaign is garnering. Out of 4.2 million total Georgia voters, that's not going to change the landscape by itself, but with the presence of Barr, these margins could get surprisingly tight.
According to a Zogby Interactive poll from June, McCain leads Georgia 44 percent to Obama's 38 percent, with 7 percent undecided. Bob Barr weighs in at 8 percent. These numbers are interesting, because Barr is running at 6 percent nationally.
"Of course [Barr] is going to be campaigning heavily, and activities are being planned," Audrey Mullen, spokesman for the Bob Barr campaign, said.
Make no mistake, though, we are more likely to see zombies shamble out of the Savannah River and eat tapas at the Bee's Knees that we are to see Barr win the State of Georgia. There's probably not even that much risk of Obama winning here, either, though.
There are, however, other factors at play, aside from the 2008 Presidential election. There are the money issues, as mentioned earlier, where if Obama can force McCain to spend in a safe state, then it might be a winning defeat, particularly as it appears that Obama has that kind of money to spend to distract McCain from other states, like Virginia, where Obama could actually turn a purple state blue. The biggest advantage, though, is that the topic of this story is not laughably absurd.
Lowell Greenbaum, the Chairman of the Richmond County Democratic Party, said of Democratic candidates ignoring Southern states, "I think it hurts them, and it hurts us."
Greenbaum is right. The way it works, though, is to spend money where the money will actually help, and most of the time, those southern states just could not realistically be won by the Democratic candidate. If Obama can successfully campaign here and keep it close, then the buildup of the party will build the foundation in the party for future elections. And the campaign is not backing off of these statements, either.
"In the coming weeks, we will be building our movement for change in Georgia because we believe that Georgia voters deserve to hear what is at stake in this election," Melanie Roussell, Obama spokeswoman said.
Obviously, the McCain campaign is not going to sit idly by as Libertarians and Democrats pilfer his state. Earlier this week, the Republican leadership in the state held a rally in Atlanta, and the Senator did not even need to be there. Having the governor and both Senators in his party, though, makes for an awful lot of built-in support.
Ultimately, "barring" some drastic change in the landscape (which is certainly not out of the question, since we are pretty early in the game so far), the political outcome here in our fine state will probably not be terribly different that the last few times. However, the path to get there will make Georgia look like more like a battleground state, and have implications for the future, all due to the candidacy of Congressman Barr, a third party candidate from the Peach State.
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