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Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009

WR mayor race down to the wire

WARNER ROBINS — If numbers from the Nov. 3 election stay true, Warner Robins could make history Tuesday by electing its first minority leader.

Chuck Shaheen led Chuck Chalk by several hundred votes in the first election, and both have gone about working to give themselves an advantage the second time around. Chalk said he has continued to distance himself from the “Chalk, who?” mentality that greeted him in August when he announced his intentions to run for mayor. Shaheen said he’s gone to the people he’ll help make decisions for to hear what they want addressed.

Experts have said many factors play into the outcome for Tuesday’s race. A big part is whether Chalk’s support from supporters of former Mayor Donald Walker, who died in September, continues to help his chances. The decision by City Councilman Clifford Holmes Jr., the third-place finisher in a tight Nov. 3 election, to back Shaheen could also prove crucial.

‘The balanced candidate’

Crowds gathered in front of Giant Foods on Davis Drive last week like they were getting autographs from a rock star. Instead, they were taking pictures and asking questions of Shaheen, whose grandfather emigrated from Lebanon in the early 1900s. Some talked about knowing him for years. Some mentioned seeing him around the city at various sporting events or other community functions. One woman called him cute.

He’s OK with that. As long as they’re voting for him for the right reasons.

“The name recognition is the name recognition, but I think I’m the balanced candidate,” Shaheen said. “I understand the history of Warner Robins and the future and where we can go.”

While he stood talking to residents, a campaign worker slipped through the crowd with a Hispanic man who offered his thanks to Shaheen. Shaheen shook the man’s hand before giving a hug to the man’s young son, sending them on their way.

The campaign worker passed Shaheen a receipt, along with his personal credit card.

“That’s all they wanted?” Shaheen asked the worker. The worker shrugged his shoulders.

The man had told Shaheen he was out of work and his family had been having a hard time. He had come to the store to buy food with a few dollars he’d scraped together.

“You’d want that boy to have a Thanksgiving, right?” Shaheen said, when asked why he’d paid out of his pocket for the family’s groceries.

“I want people to know they’ve got a friend at City Hall,” he said. “They need to know that.”

Chris Grant, a political science professor at Mercer University in Macon, said receiving nearly 40 percent of the total vote in the general election all but guaranteed Shaheen the election. The announcement Friday from Holmes, who received about 29 percent of the votes, should add to his already strong showing in a runoff that historically sees significantly fewer voters than the general election.

But, Grant says, it could depend on whose voters make it back out to the polls.

If it ain’t broke

Chalk has continued walking door-to-door talking about his platform and using time at forums to persuade people he’s the one they should choose to lead the city. He said the last four weeks have also been spent talking to business leaders and trying to sway voters of third-place general election finisher Clifford Holmes.

“Time was certainly on our side because we could only get more exposure,” Chalk said. “I think we’ve certainly picked up and moved forward ... as we get ready for Dec. 1.”

At issue with voters could be whether his surprise endorsement from former Walker supporters — including Walker’s widow, Patricia, and daughter, Stephanie — came at a cost.

Joe Uscinski, an assistant professor in the political science department at the University of Miami, said the endorsement gave Chalk legitimacy. He also said small things, such as campaign signs in the same place where Walker signs once sat when he was running several months ago and a once noticeable mention of Patricia Walker on a digital billboard, speak volumes to a potential theme.

“Clearly what the candidate is trying to do is tie his name to the deceased mayor’s name,” Uscinski said. “And he’s perhaps trying to capitalize on the fact that there was a tragedy. Whatever sympathy the family’s receiving ... is being transferred to this candidate.”

Not true, said Chalk, who says the support has only been monetary.

“Anyone you would call a Walker supporter has said nothing, insinuated nothing and said ‘We want nothing from you other than (for you) to win. We have opinions, if you want to use them, great,’ ’’ he said. “But there’s been nothing even insinuated that they’d come knocking on my door Jan. 4 if I’m mayor.”

To contact writer Marlon A. Walker, call 256-9685.