RICHARDSON: Voters more informed today? No way
If someone had said Georgia could have not one, but two runoff elections, I would have thought that person was looney-tunes. How could that be? I could see it in the Senate race with two people without elected experience, but the governor’s race?
State Sen. Jason Carter has only four years of legislative experience going up against the incumbent governor who has served on state and federal levels since 1981. He’s been a Democrat and Republican. Carter has the advantage of having a former president as his grandfather, but some would say that’s not an advantage.
If polls are to be believed, the race is tighter than a frozen Coca-Cola bottle cap. My good friend Matt Towery, who served as a Republican in the state House and ran for lieutenant governor in 1990 at the ripe old age of 30, said at a recent executive forum at Mercer University that Georgia was in the midst of a transition. He didn’t say whether that transition -- from Republican to Democratic rule -- would hit this election cycle or not, but that it was coming. Could that be the reason Carter has been hanging so close?
Deal also has educators upset. He’s getting most of the blame for the $8.4 billion in education cuts, even though it was his predecessor, Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is responsible for most of them. Believe me, they are really upset and seem motivated to go to the polls. Carter is an unknown entity, but he’s not Deal, and that may be enough for some to try and kick Deal to the curb.
The race for Senate between Michelle Nunn and David Perdue gets my “Nastiest Race of the Cycle” award. Nunn has been relentless. She’s hammered what should have been one of Perdue’s strengths -- his business record. From keying on everything from closing plants to outsourcing jobs, Nunn has turned that positive into a negative. Perdue was taken off his game when an ad charged Nunn’s Points of Life Foundation with funded terrorism.
Do candidates really approve of this message? Perdue is a good enough businessman to know the ad wasn’t going to fly. When a Republican, Neil Bush, son of H.W. and chairman of the Points of Light, attacks another Republican, they have to be pretty steamed.
Bush said, “To attack an organization founded by my father, whose integrity is unimpeachable, to smear our organization for political gain, is in my opinion shameful.” The timing could not have been worse. The ad hit a day after H.W. endorsed Perdue. So much for that. Perdue’s campaign has been off balance since.
Do I want to see a historic runoff in one or more races? No. I’m so tired of the back-to-back-to back ads I could scream. They all run together in a tireless monologue. But this is our political process, and there’s nothing new about it -- other than the delivery system.
There has been scathing political commentary since the founding of our republic. Even with all the social media outlets, dare I say that the voters of the 19th century were better informed than voters of today?
Think of the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. Either Abraham Lincoln or Stephen Douglas would have the opening hourlong soliloquy, followed by an hour and a half from the opponent, capped off with 30 minutes of rebuttal. The seven debates drew approximately 70,000 people. Remember, there were no seats or bleachers at many of the sites, and there was no sound system. And here is the weirdest thing of all. These people couldn’t vote for either man. The popular vote for senators didn’t come along until the 17th Amendment 55 years later.
Nowadays, it’s hard to keep our attention on an hourlong debate that we can easily see and hear from the comfort of our easy chairs. While there are a few faithful, like the ones who filled Reaves Arena in Perry to listen to Deal, Carter, Perdue and Nunn, most folks were outside enjoying the turkey legs and rides at the Georgia National Fair.
So who will win on Nov. 4? I have my thoughts. It’s going to be a very bad night for some and a good night for others. We shall wait to hear the people speak.
Charles E. Richardson is The Telegraph’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at 478-744-4342 or via email at crichardson@macon.com. Tweet @crichard1020.
This story was originally published October 26, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "RICHARDSON: Voters more informed today? No way ."