Georgians Are a Practical People: Make Them a Promise and You'd Better Keep It

ATLANTA, GA-I can't say I'm surprised that Georgia's gubernatorial race looks bleak for Dems come November. Georgia was a red state throughout the 2008 presidential campaign--and before then--with the exception, of course, of the governorship under the direction of Roy Barnes, years ago. However, even Barnes--who was one of the most popular democrat governors Georgia has ever known, is looking like the number two man come November, as he attempts to return to the highest office in the state.

Race results during the runoff election told the tale as far as I was concerned. But at first glance it looked like Barnes was going to be able to reclaim that cushy political job and throw some Georgian support Obama's way. But current stats don't support that, with the Atlanta Journal and Constitution citing a recent SurveyUSA poll showing Deal with potentially 49 percent of voters, but Barnes in second place, with only 38 percent.

Taking a quick look back at the July gubernatorial primary election results, courtesy of the AJC; one can see the republicans are going to reclaim that office again in November. With voters giving the Dems a total of only 393,897 votes overall for the seven democrats vying for the Georgia governorship in July's runoff. Barnes received the largest percentage, netting him a total of 258,443 votes.

That might be 64 percent of the total votes cast on behalf of all the democrat candidates running for governor in the state-which seems like a win against republican race winner Nathan Deal's 51 percent-but that's a misconception.

Total votes cast for republicans amounted to a staggering 578,671 in comparison to Dems' 383,897 total. And Republican Deal received the lion's share of that 578,671 number, pulling in 290,580. That's almost 50,000 more than his leading democratic competitor, Barnes.

In addition, it isn't likely that the votes cast for Deal's republican competitor, Karen Handel, will now throw the election to Democrat Barnes by switching party ties due to her loss in the primary. That means Deal is most likely to be able to count on those 288,091 votes too, which exceed Barnes' potential democrat vote take by a whopping 184,000.

If I were tasked with calling this gubernatorial election based solely on my gut, I'd have called it for the republicans from the getgo anyway, based on how "red" this state has become over the years. Throw into the ring that Purdue, a republican, is still sitting in the powerful governor's seat as I write this-and two of the most influential men in Georgia politics (Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss) are republicans serving us in the Senate and House-and it would take a miracle to turn this state "blue" overnight.

Now factor in the failure of the democrat party to increase jobs, reduce unemployment and start any serious construction projects or even aid the unemployed with immediate extension relief. So, in spite of controlling the House, having several republicans give them needed votes in the Senate to pass "other" desired legislation, and control of the White House, Dems were still unable to drastically improve conditions after a year-and-a-half in office. That doesn't bode well that they could in the future either, with even less support now.

Georgian's are a practical group of people. They really do adhere to the "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Obama made a lot of promises that haven't been kept; Georgian's remember that, and the Democrat Party will suffer for it.

Sources:Governor Election Results, Atlanta Journal and Constitution.com
SurveyUSA poll gives Nathan Deal a double-digit lead, AJC.com