There are "two Georgias" - one is the metro Atlanta area where one third of the entire population resides and rules the rest of the state. Otherwise, there is just us: non-Atlantans.
2
Gee, this in another fawning - even treacly - racially divisive NYT article FINALLY tippy toes up to what Abrams' opponent, Stacey Evans, stated all along. Seasoned journalists and political types agreed with Evans for more than a year: The Democratic Party needs the centrist Dems, it needs the centrist Republicans, it needs the blue dog Democrats who crossed over to vote GOP beginning in 1980 - or stopped voting after 2000. The black and brown vote is not going to win elections. It is insulting to those groups to presume they are a unified bloc vote based on skin color and liberal Democratic government policies that come with a check.
For a welcome change, the Democratic Party needs to use 20/20 vision and a strong offensive much more than its maturity-challenged tendency to count on backlash effects and defensive "come from behind" efforts that usually fail to produce the desired end goal.
On the plus side, it's good the fringe left has begun to sleep off its punch drunk race card high from Tuesday's Georgia Democratic primary. The real world is a much better place in which to live and work than the Democratic fringe left fantasy land of forehead slapping naiveté and perpetual disappointment. Chalk up May 22 as another opportunity missed to make inroads in the Georgia GOP.
6
And....Trump filed bankruptcy six times. So what's your point? Apparently, that was ok.
1
So much for Michelle Obama's "when they go low, we go high" expectation for Democrats to be ethically and legally different from Republicans.
2
I have a sister in rural Georgia and she called me yesterday because she wanted to talk about how excited she was that Abrams won, but she didn't know anyone down there she could celebrate with. I can't help but think there must be other rural white people like her who just keep their liberals views and leanings closeted. I have a friend from the same area who says he has lost friends because he speaks out against Trump. He's a brave soul, and he knows -- all that's necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to say nothing.
13
You think that the NYT could find some other qualities besides she's a woman and she's black? This is the increasingly growing third-world aspect of our nation today - identity politics.
13
I don't know how the election will turn out, but Mrs. Abrams is right that the Democrats need to nominate people who get their voters (young people, minorities, progressives) excited and motivate them to vote. Mushy moderates and closet conservatives don't do that.
Anecdotal though it may be, I have seen, heard, and felt this all my adult life. How often have you heard it, especially from young people? "I just don't see much difference between the two parties" or "[insert Democrat here] just seems like a Republican in disguise." Common sense tells you that progressives will not be motivated to vote for someone who tries to be like a moderate Republican and who won't make much difference in the causes they care about.
The Democratic Party seems to think, and some of its members have often said, that such voters have nowhere else to go. Sure they do...they can go to the movies...they can go out for drinks...or go to bed...or just stay home.
2
I find it amazing that commenters all honed in on Tracey Adams debt!
I have lived here in Georgia for two years w AmeriCorps. I watched every debate that I could while dealing with patients having heart attacks or mom’s having their fifth baby WITHOUT any prenatal checks. These true “undocumented immigrants” were the housekeepers, cooks, maintenance help, electricians, groundskeepers, AND maids of wealthy casino owners.
-Immigrants, who flew in with $1500 fees so that they could work in the shadows shielded from ICE!
Then switched out with jets or airbuses to fly others back across border to work in same resorts!
30 foot or 300 foot—who cares w a border wall!
Stacey Adams debated and went on NPR radio to speak how we MUST welcome both with American babies and paths to fulfill America citizens!
This lady CAN win work w immigrants AND the 30% who live below the 30% poverty line AND can work for the middle class too!
She’s intelligent and has the energy to bring in the Medicaid expansion money refused by lame duck Gov Nathan Deal!
3
*Stacey Abrams*
For pete's sake. at least read the article.
1
Ms. Abrams has $170,000 of credit card and student loan debt, and another $50,000 in unaid back taxes. This poor personal finance management does not inspire faith in her ability to manage an entire state and its multi-billion dollar budget.
11
I can't speak to the back taxes, but it's entirely reasonable that Ms. Abrams could have accumulated her other debt in the process of obtaining her education. The interest rate on student loans is confiscatory in today's economic environment; it accumulates quickly.
3
*snort* Find a recent college grad who doesn’t have student/credit card debt, and I’ll show you Trump’s tax returns. If that argument is the best the GOP has against millennial candidates, prepare to lose a lot of upcoming elections.
11
Unlike, say, a real estate developer with four bankruptcies and innumerable lawsuits for unpaid bills.
13
I don't think her liberal aspirations and victim of debt story is going to play well in the state at large.
6
The Georgia Democratic Party is loathe to admit it, but a win will come with another Jason Carter or Michelle Nunn.
The story of the national Dems since 2000 is of wandering in the desert, perplexed by the very map and compass in hand. The party has been bolstered into wrong turn after wrong turn by the one-off engineered Obama oasis of 2008, a primary and then election the DNC predicated on racism. Increasing numbers of centrist voters of both parties woke up to the economic and political realities that hope and change was an entertainment ploy that no longer held water in 2010, 2012, 2014 and which teed up 2016. The fringe left socialist entitlement Sanders cabal and the perpetual unmoored fringe left race industry still do not understand economics - not racism - is why Trump is in the WH. 'Ya wanna change the face of America by doubling the U.S. population in just 50 years, mostly via the no skilled, no educated? Well, who knew the costs to that bloat would reverberate through every corner of our government, economy and society? Quality of life and socialism do not go hand in hand. ::eyeroll::
3
I hope she wins and I would vote for her if I lived in Georgia.
However, I am always suspicious of candidates who say vote for me because I will inspire people who are too lazy to vote in the first place to actually vote.
This has never happened in the history of politics. Remember Bernie Sanders?
Fortunately, I supported Hillary, who people will never admit that she won the nomination overwhelmingly.
1
$200,000 in debt. She owes $54,000 to the IRS.
And she expects the voters of GA to let her run their economy? I thought Democrats wanted everyone to pay their fair share.
This will be fun to watch.
7
She’s been upfront and honest about her issues with debt. She is in debt repayment to the IRS. She’s been so upfront and honest that she provided a commentary to fortune.com about it.
http://fortune.com/2018/04/24/stacey-abrams-debt-georgia-governor/
4
I am sorry to say that Stacey Abrams has accomplished very little so far. In Georgia, registered Democrats are 65% black, 25% white and 10% other. She received 75% of the democratic vote, meaning she carried the black vote and received only 10% of her votes from whites and others. The state of Georgia is only 32% black and maybe 10% of whites will vote for her, she does not have a chance.
7
Democrats: keep the celebrations over primaries to a very brief minimum. You haven't won anything yet.
Rest assured the GOP is preparing to attack by every means fair and foul, so you'd better be ready.
3
Republicans: bring it on.
3
I live here.....I vote here.....I wasn't born and raised here. I've live all over these United States....and have known, worked with, made friends with a diverse melting pot of people......All of those people remain with me.....in my mind. I voted for Stacey Abrams....she is the BEST person for the job of lifting Georgia out of the 1950s where it has languished for years....I'm not the only liberal transplant to this region....who have arrived to find that the Racist Republican Party has a strangle-hold on this state....it will take work....and effort....and this win by Mcs. Abrams might be just the impetus that other "closet liberals" living and hiding in the rural areas of Georgia need to finally "come out" and FIGHT back!!! Resistance to the right wing efforts of the present administration is all we have left....I think Ms. Abrams is the best candidate to end the cycle of "old white men" running this state for their own financial benefit!
2
Yes, there are "two Georgias": one is a US state and the other is a country in western Asia. I think it's misleading to paint this type of picture of a state that has a lot more nuance and complexity than this article admits.
Yes, demographics are changing all over the state, in urban, suburban, and rural areas. And race remains a prevalent topic and point of division, even in the city of Atlanta, which this article assumes is so uniformly "one of these two Georgias": let's not forget the 2017 Atlanta mayoral race where the main question on the table was "can Atlanta elect a white mayor?". This election will be a tremendous uphill battle for Stacey Abrams, but not just because of her race or gender. She's running on a far-left platform much more in line with national progressives (think Bernie/Warren) than her own state which is still largely conservative or centrist (even among non-white voters). As an independent in Atlanta I'll be very interested to see how this election plays out, but mostly I'm hoping that it helps to unify Georgia rather than divide it further.
9
She is not far left. She is an honest, practical, smart woman who wants to make life better for all her constituents.
6
Door-to-door canvassing will be much easier in a race like this. Her workers won’t have to bother knocking when there’s a confederate flag on a porch.
3
Never been to Ohio, Pennsylvania or upstate NY, have 'ya?
3
I’ve seen those hideous flags in CA!
In any case, it’s a time-saver for canvassers.
1
Why do you contrast a “diverse” city against a “conservative” countryside?
Do you have a similar observation in India? China? Most of Africa?
Or do you really mean to say “white” and “black” there? Use the big boy words.
16
Actually, there are a tremendous number of latinos and blacks who live and work outside of majority black Atlanta. And even Atlanta is simply a giant corporate cash register of industry and jobs, which is why it has become the new black mecca: $$, not liberal ideology.
2
The NYT just does not want to address the elephant in the room. Abrams is a lefty in a conservative state. Contrast that with what happened in a neighboring state, South Carolina. It also is conservative and has been growing rapidly due to people moving in from the northeast and Midwest. In 2010, it elected a woman of Asian heritage, Haley, as governor, and in 2014, it re-elected her handily. In 2012, she appointed a black, Scott, as Senator due to a retirement. He easily won the special election later that year, and was also re-elected easily to a full term in 2016. Both are popular with whites and minorities. The huge difference between them and Abrams; they are both conservatives in a conservative state, so they share many opinions of their constituents.
14
So true, thanks for making this point. The Democrats keep talking about how the future of their party's success in the South could be black candidates like Stacey Abrams. The reality is that the Republicans could be saying the exact same thing and winning landslide victories because of it (like Tim Scott in South Carolina). Maybe if that happened we could bust the identity-politics myth that white voters in the South have to be Republicans and black voters have to be Democrats and instead start focusing on actual ideology and political positions?
2
She is not the Governor, yet!
4
Yes, but her loss will be a 'moral' victory
1
Stacy is going to win because of how fervently conservatives are saying she can’t. It’s the Donald Trump effect on the reverse side of the aisle.
7
I wish her all the best. Is the election based on the popular vote or on some kind of county based electoral college? I’m puzzled by the complaint from the Republican that ballot papers have to be printed in multiple languages. Is that true? If you have citizenship to vote presumably you must have a working knowledge of English? Living in London I live amongst multiple languages but official documents all come in English alone. In my previous borough in the East End some stuff was published in Bengali as well but it wasn’t onerous and in any case there were many more languages spoken than that. Rural voters can be won over by supporting their need for jobs, housing, education and reducing isolation not by pandering to their fears of being overrun. They’re losing population in any case!
4
Michael, there are language access laws in this country that have to do with the Civil Rights Act that bars discrimination from federal programs based on race, color, or national origin; hence, the government is obligated to provide accommodation to non-English speakers. Many states have their own equal access laws for individuals with limited English proficiency, as they call it. Interpreters are provided as well in most cases. Now you know!
3
"...working knowledge of English?"
That hasn't existed in the U.S. since the 1980s and was disappearing rapidly even earlier.
Many states have laws that require now multi-language ballots and EVERYTHING else related to the local, county, state and federal government.
1
A really dumb move by Democrats! This is supposed to win over the Deep South? Impress underemployed white men?
2
Do you want her to fly a Confederate flag from the back of a pickup? Maybe that will help.
5
Truly a dumb move. The Democrats are just compelled to keep making dumb moves. I don't know what drives them to do so.
9
So, what should she do?
I wish Ms. Abrams well, but the numbers are a formidable obstacle. Running in a primary where highly motivated Democrats voted heavily for her, the Republicans still generated 10% more votes in total in their primary than did the Democrats.
6
Stacey just assured that a Republican Governor will be elected in the fall.
9
Sure, we’ve seen how well “moderates” performed there recently (Carter, Nunn)....
2
Um, Stacey Abrams was an advisor to the failed Michelle Nunn campaign, which suffered along with Jason Carter's from the Obama effect, not moderate centrism.