GOP hopeful of gains in 2010
Everhart re-elected at state convention.Party chairwoman, others aim to work hard, sweep statewide races.
SAVANNAH —- For Georgia Republicans, 2010 began in February 2009.
“I didn’t wait to get re-elected to get started,” state party Chairwoman Sue Everhart said Saturday as the 2009 state convention wound down. She was elected by acclamation to another two-year term as the party’s leader.
The urgency 21 months before the November 2010 election springs from what could be an almost once-in-a-generation campaign cycle.
Every statewide partisan office will be on the ballot, as well as one U.S. Senate seat, all 13 congressional seats and every state House and Senate seat. But only three statewide offices —- U.S. Senate, state schools superintendent and lieutenant governor —- have incumbents who have said they plan to seek re-election. In every other case, the officeholder is looking at another race or hasn’t committed.
That creates opportunities, and it creates challenges.
The opportunity: a sweep of statewide offices, total Republican control of state government.
The challenge(s): preventing a troubled national Republican brand from creeping into a state operation that has shown little sign of slipping; preventing multiple primary fights from devolving into brutal fights that weaken the general election ballot; and overcoming a Democratic Party that has shown signs of life.
At this past weekend’s state convention, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said it’s time for all good conservatives to come to the aid of their party.
“We’ve had our heads held down far too long,” Steele said. “We’ve been quiet for far too long. Now it’s the time to speak up.”
State Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) is aware of the national issues: the loss of the White House, fewer seats in the U.S. House and the looming possibility of a 60-seat Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. But, with the opposite nearly the case in Georgia, Mullis is confident.
“It’s more of a national problem,” he said. “In Georgia, we do need to get back to our grass roots, our base, but I don’t think it’s a problem.”
Do that, he said, and a sweep of state offices is a distinct possibility. “We’ve got a shot,” he said. “Especially in open races. It’s almost inevitable.”
Georgia’s Democrats believe otherwise.
“While the Republicans try to see who can skid to the extreme right faster, we’re going to continue to talk to the people of Georgia, and more importantly, we’re going to listen to the people of Georgia,” Democratic Party spokesman Martin Mathen said.
Brian Noyes, a Cobb County Republican delegate and former state party director, said he hopes Everhart and the leadership understand the threat.
Part of the problem, he said, was evident in the lack of younger voters at the convention. When Steele asked college, teen or young Republicans to stand, only about 50 of the several hundred delegates rose.
“Part of that is our party is not as attractive as it was,” he said. “[President Barack] Obama is exciting. [The Democratic Party] is an exciting place to go.”
Still, for Everhart, the goal is to win as many races as possible.
And that’s why in February she hired a political consultant, veteran GOP strategist Heath Garrett, to help write an election plan and draw up a budget.
Since then, Everhart said, she brought in all of the announced statewide candidates and had them sit around a table and create a coordinated path to victory.
“We know we’ve got our work cut out for us,” she said. “The Democrat[ic] Party will have Obama people down here. Obama will come. There’s a lot at stake here.”