I don’t usually get much response when I write about House and Senate races but I like to do it anyway. Democrats were disappointed a few weeks ago when their candidate failed to qualify for a run-off to replace the deceased Charlie Norwood in Georgia’s 10 district. Unfortunately, Athens attorney Paul Broun, a conservative Republican, came in second place (21%) behind conservative Republican Jim Whitehead (44%). I didn’t take the news too hard though because, despite housing the University of Georgia, the 10th district is decidedly Republican (Bush took 66% of the vote in 2004). I figured Whitehead was going to win anyway. But, shockingly, he didn’t.
Athens physician Paul Broun was on the verge of declaring himself the surprise winner Wednesday in a razor-thin east Georgia contest for the 10th District congressional seat held by the late Charlie Norwood of Augusta.
“I have not declared victory yet, but I believe we’ve won,” Broun said in a telephone interview.
With 98 percent of voting precincts reporting after the Tuesday vote, Broun held a scant 373-vote lead over Jim Whitehead, a former state senator from the Augusta area. More than 46,500 votes were cast, for a turnout of less than 14 percent.
With both candidates running as conservative Republicans, the run-off election became a contest for influence between the district’s largest communities, Athens and Augusta.
A victory for Broun, 61, would represent a blow to the prestige of Augusta, which for 28 of the past 30 years has been able to boast a resident congressman.
This is yet another defeat for the NRCC (check out their music…too funny).
This is what counts as a victory for the long-suffering liberal residents of Athens, Georgia. How odd is that?
