Oh and by the way...

There is an election on, in case you hadn't noticed. You can go else where with national election news, so I'd like to tell you a little bit about the races I'm covering. Here in the Georgia Mountains the election of greatest interest is the 50th State Senate District, Nancy Schaefer (R) vs. Carol Jackson (D). Schaefer is the incumbent, although Jackson is a three time Senator who was gerrymandered out of the 50th in the last redistricting. So the two women have never gone head to head so far as I know. The first move in what would be a bitter battle was from the Schaefer campaign which challenged Jackson's residency. Although Jackson won, it was still probably a good strategic move, Jackson had to spend treasure on lawyers in a race where she was already outraised by Schaefer by almost double. Things in that race calmed down for awhile, but then started to get ugly in a hurry. Schaefer attempted to paint Jackson into the liberal corner, with connections to gay rights lobbies etc. (some gay rights groups did endorse Jackson, although that was primarily a move against Schaefer than anything) Meanwhile Jackson attacked Schaefer on a wide front. It seems to me that Jackson tacked heavily to the right as we moved closer to election day. In the last few days Jackson has hammered Schaefer with ads, ranging from accusations of nepotism to accusing Schaefer of supporting "godless" Scientology. (that charge comes from Schafer's connection to an anti-psychiatry group, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights I think its called, its backed by Scientology.) I suspect that the Scientology bit will backfire, although I have no data to support that, Although it did force Schaefer to use her advertising in the last few days to focus on defending herself instead of GOTV.

Of next importance is the 8th district State Representative seat, in which local Rabun County man Frank Wheeler is attempting to unseat Democrat incumbent Charles Jenkins. Jenkins is the Democrat incumbent, and according to what i've been told he won his last re-election by just taking Union and Towns counties, his stronghold. This race is interesting because of the level of support Wheeler has gotten from State and National GOP figures. US Congressman Charlie Norwood donated $2,000 dollars to Wheeler, and a Norwood connected PAC also contributed $2,000. (Source: Common Cause) This lead to an interesting situation where the challenger was financially stronger than the incumbent. In addition Wheeler has gotten strong backing from the state party. a GOP press person over-nighted me a press packet including a list of bills Jenkins voted on, the day before Jenkins appeared on my weekly talk-show. Interestingly, when I asked him about it, Wheeler seemed geniuely surprised about it. All this indicates to me that the 8th district is one the GOP really wants, or at least thinks they have a strong shot at. Jenkins tried to turn that against Wheeler, saying Norwood's support was based on 3rd Infantry Division Interstate Study, which may come through Northeast Georgia. Wheeler is publicly against I-3. My belief is that Norwood (who is in a relatively secure seat, although we'll get to that in a moment) is looking to help the state GOP since they control the gerrymandering of his own district. (he was recently put into the newly created 10th district, which now includes democratic Athens-Clarke County). Wheeler has told me that he needs a high voter turn out in Rabun County to counter Jenkins strength in Towns county. He must then split Union and win the part of White county. Our radio station has clearly been a part of that GOTV plan in Rabun, Wheeler spent 45 hundred dollars with us, more than any other candidate. So thats definetely a race to watch.

Since I mentioned it, I may as well discuss the 10th congressional district race, Charlie Norwood (R) against Terry Holley (D). Norwood is a 4 term congressman, who started the race with a $1.2 million dollar war-chest. He's facing Holley, the 10th district Democratic Party Chairman. One thing i've noticed is that when a party runs their chairman, at any level, local state or national, they are usually having some trouble finding a candidate but they want to have a bully pulpit in the district. I interviewed Holley, and he seems like a good guy, but the lack of financial support he seems to have gotten indicates the (D) party didn't have a whole lot of confidence in its ability to knock out Norwood. Still, given national discontent with GOP controlled congress we could see a closer election than Norwood has had in the past. Although he must be fairly comfortable, since Norwood pulled his advertising from our station earlier (causing our station manager to have to refund some of their money, which didn't make her happy!) Even so Norwood spent around 35 hundred dollars, mostly on anti-immigration ads (although there were a few Fairtax ads which made me happy.) Holley never advertised with us.

Last, but certainly not least, is Max Watts (D) and Bob Fink (R). Watts knocked out Incumbent Eston Melton in the primary for Rabun County Commission Post 4. The issue of most interest has been the Unified Development Code, a 300+ page total re-zoning of the county. The Builders and Realtors' associations have been opposed to it, at least in its present form and they are possibly the two largest industries in the county. Both candidates have urged additional review of the document, although its likely that it will be passed in December before either one would take office. So neither candidate has distinguished himself on that issue. Fink has pushed heavily for cutting government spending and waste (pretty standard republican fare) and on the Rabun County Wrap up program I do every friday Fink floated a trial ballon for a possible county-city consolidation. I don't see that happening in a place where people identify heavily with their very very local, unincorporated communities, not to mention their municipalities. However with little else to distinguish themselves with, I think Watts will probably pull it out, since in county elections Rabun tends to favor Democrats.

Well either way it'll all be determined tomorrow. My radio station will be live when polls close at 7pm. So I'll be a busy boy tonight and tomorrow.