There was only one qualifier - longtime Superior Court Clerk Carolyn Sullivan. She is the only Democrat currently holding elected office in Houston County, which was Democrat-controlled when she first took office in 1982.
"Everybody was a Democrat," she said. "I don't think Houston County even had a Republican Party then. We all just went down and registered as Democrats."
In those days, she recalled, all of the candidates gathered in a designated office to qualify to run in the Democratic primary. But for the first time this year, since she was the only candidate, she qualified at the board of elections. The Houston County Republican Party did its own qualifying at the office of state Rep. Larry O'Neal in Warner Robins.
Numerous local officeholders have switched parties in the past decade or so, including long-time sheriff Cullen Talton, first elected in 1972. Georgia's Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue was a state senator from Houston County when he switched parties.
Aaron Hufstetler, the chairman of the Houston County Republican Party, said the presidency of Bill Clinton sparked much of party-switching locally.
"I think the Democratic Party left what were the Democrats in Houston County," Hufstetler said. "I heard Sonny say when he switched that he still thinks like he did when he was growing up."
Sullivan said she has been asked to switch. Her refusal is not because is a devoted Democrat, she said. She voted for Perdue, for George Bush and she will probably vote for John McCain. In fact, in every election she has voted for Republicans and Democrats. She hasn't attended a meeting of the local Democratic Party in more than 20 years.
"I try to vote for the person, not the political party," she said. "I think that's what most people do. Of course, I know nationally you can't separate the person from the party too much."
It's not a light decision to remain a Democrat in a county that is so heavily Republican. She admits that if someone qualifed to run against her as a Republican, she could lose a lot of votes due to people voting a straight-party ticket.
So why does she stay a Democrat?
"My daddy always had a saying, 'You need to dance with the one that brung you,' " she said. "The Democratic Party has been good to me and good to Georgia. I don't feel like just casting them aside because the national politics has brought the Democratic Party down somewhat."
If she really had it her way, she wouldn't be running in either party. Sullivan doesn't see much reason why a clerk of courts should be in a political party, and she would rather that it be a nonpartisan office. Her job is basically to handle the records of the Superior Court, which includes criminal, civil and real estate matters.
"We don't have political power," she said. "We don't have the power to do anything to or for anybody except help them, which we are required to do by law."
Working in the Clerk of Courts office is the only job she has ever had. She started in the office right out of the high school, then ran for the top post after the previous clerk died.
Only once can she recall that party politics swooped down on her office. When a vacancy came open on the Georgia Superior Court Clerks Authority, she wanted the appointment. But Perdue, she said, did not appoint her because she was a Democrat. She was perturbed about it, but she doesn't hold a grudge. She still has a picture of herself with the governor at his office in the Capitol.
"It was really a hard thing for me to swallow, but I understand that's the way politics is," she said. "I wasn't going to change parties just to be on the board."
To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 923-6199, extension 235.
