The premise of the article is that Abrams and Kemp represent the extremes of their parties and only a niche number of voters on the left and the right. However, then the article goes on to state the fact that Abrams handily won her primary, while Kemp narrowly won a run-off. Further, Abrams "extreme" views are compared to Kemp's, equating wanting LGBTQ equality and health care for all Georgians with Kemp's desire to round up "illegals." It's not so extreme in GA or the entire country to want what Abrams wants, but it is to want what Kemp wants. Further, the article states factually that major business interests fear Kemp's isolating policies could hurt corporate relocation and hiring prospects.
So, who is the "extreme" candidate with policies that don't appeal to "the center" (aka the majority of the electorate)?
21
I reject the premise of this article and especially the false assertion of moral equivalence contained in the opening paragraph. To assert that Abrams's demand for removal of Confederate icon imagery from Stone Mountain is as extreme as Kemp's promise to be an anti-immigration vigilante is simply ridiculous. Stacey Abrams has the potential to build a broad coalition in Georgia, appealing to voters in the moderate middle as well as to progressives. Kemp is selling himself as a clone of Trump. This false narrative of there being "no middle ground" in the Georgia gubernatorial contest is very destructive and disappointing.
22
Will those voting for Andrew Cuomo instead of Cynthia Nixon be labeled misogynist, as Hillary defined those who voted for Trump over her? Who gets to decide when a voter is being misogynist or racist based on their vote? If I am a register Republican in Georgia and I vote Republican does that make me a racist? If Ms Abrams were Republican I would vote for her. I voted of Karen Handel in the governor's primary race 8 years ago, she lost. I voted for Herman Cain and Andrew Young when they ran for the Senate, they lost. Race is not the problem, the candidates policies and plans are what is to be considered. Ms Abrams seems to be a very nice lady, but she is far from my conservative politics and I have no white quilt that I need to purge myself from and vote for her because she is black.
2
It's better than it used to be:
"It has been observed that heavily democratic metro area votes are last to be reported so that they can see how many votes are need to ensure the Democrat candidate wins."
Robert Caro's multi-volume biography of LBJ covers in detail his first election to the Senate. LBJ was put ahead by late-reported results from a small Texas county near the Mexican border. The county's votes weren't suspicious -- except for three things:
1. All of the late-in-the-day votes (100% of them) were for LBJ.
2. All of the late voters voted in alphabetical order.
3. 2. All of the late voters were dead.
Apart from those concerns, though, there was nothing odd about those votes. After a legal battle, the result was certified, LBJ was elected, and the rest is history.
So, if it's any consolation, it used to be worse.
2
Many Hillary Clinton supporters predicted she'd do very well in GA, maybe even win. Her campaign reportedly devoted significant $$ to GA. But she was crushed in GA.
Not much has changed, it appears. Now we hear there's a:
"captivating governor’s race between Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams..."
Pardon me for being skeptical. I have no doubt that Stacey Abrams is a bright, highly qualified woman, but let's get real: She doesn't have a prayer of winning. She knows it; Kemp knows it: the NYT knows it; everybody knows it. Of course she'll try hard -- why not? And of course the DP will spend gobs of money on her.
After Election Day, though, the DP will also spend gobs of money "explaining" why Abrams lost by such a large margin.She knows it; Kemp knows it: the NYT knows it; everybody knows it. Maybe, just maybe, that DP money would be better spent in races where the Democratic candidate has a prayer of winning.
There's quite a bit of campaign money available to Democratic candidates this year, but there's not so much that the DP can afford to throw money down a rathole. Every dollar spent on Abrams is a dollar less to spend on a race where that dollar might actually matter.
3
Not only is the article an embarrassment, as others have pointed out, but it's clearly written by someone who doesn't know the state and hasn't spent enough time here.
The false dichotomy presented is, as others have also pointed out, false. Abrams isn't nearly as loony left as it portrays her. But worse, talk to anyone from Athens who knows Kemp, and they'll attest the whole "more politically incorrect than Trump" behavior is 100% an act. Most people around these parts aren't even sure Brian-n-them ever drove a pickup or held a gun in his hand till this past campaign season.
The difference in our election isn't "socialism v. trumpism." It's who's authentic and who's lying through their teeth, pretending to be someone they're not, just to get elected.
10
This article is an embarrassment for the Times. False equivalence run amok, especially under the outrageous print edition headline: "Political Middle Is All but Ignored In Georgia Race." Essentially, the argument is that Stacey Abrams can't be a centrist by definition, because she is a black female Democrat who will not abide institutional racism. Her policy record and campaign platform is classically centrist, and a direct appeal to the political middle. As opposed to her opponent, who is a hard-right extremist bordering on white supremacist terrorism. Good grief. I say it's past time for Kevin Sack and whoever edited this article to retire.
17
NYT, this article neglected to cover policy, platform, or jobs. Health care and taxes are mentioned only once. Please consider doing a little more research so that you can communicate where the candidates stand on the issues.
13
@cnugent Thank you! The Times really let readers down with this article, focusing entirely on the identity-politics horse race to the exclusion of any conscientious coverage of the candidates' proposed policies. Seriously puts the competence of the Atlanta desk in doubt.
8
Please vote for the white male, experience has shown white males are better at managing than any other group.
Oh wait - it’s racist and sexist to demand people vote for a candidate based on race and gender ... if that candidate is a white male.
It’s magically not racist or sexist if the candidate is a black female - then it’s being “progressive.”
4
White populist? Are also called racist? Or white supremacist? What term will suit them better? As it was shown by history... many white southerners are hardcore supremacist.
2
The Times's nostalgia for and misplaced admiration of 'the middle' leads again to "balance" between totally different positions: one, a liberal Democrat; the other an insane Reactionary. They do NOT reflect the same polarization: it is only the Republican Party that has gone mad. Abrams's positions are consistent with the Dem Party of LBJ. Nor are they a test of demographics: time to stop this race/gender palaver. Abrams is for working people of all races and genders!
13
Just a little research shows that New York state has had 55 white men as governor and I African-American man served a partial term. California has had 39 white men serve as governor. Neither state has elected a white women or an African-American women as governor, or a women of any type. NewYork and California hail themselves as the bastion of progressivism and women's rights yet they will only elect white men as governor. New York you have an opportunity to make real progress, elect Cynthia Nixon as the Democrat candidate for New York governor. Show America that you are truly diverse and not just pretending to be progressive.
3
Let’s see ... blatantly encouraging voting for someone because of their race or gender.
... the very definition of racism and sexism.
1
@Common Sense
Specious argument. No- he he is saying that she is the better candidate so vote for her despite any inclination to dismiss her because of her race or gender. You have used the classic ultra right strategy of the Straw Man argument- so commonly used. I am not saying you are necessarily right wing or ultra right- but nevertheless with respect it is a specious straw man argument.
@Bob Guthrie What I am saying is, The NYT and the majority of it's readers and commenters on this article assign an Abrams loss in November to white racism. Looking at the gubernatorial elections both in New York and California it would appear that both states are full of racist and misogynist since they have never elect a minority or a women as governor. Alabama and South Carolina, part of the old South, have both elected women governors, but why not New York and California. I am sure two of the most populous states in the nation could find at least one qualified women or minority to run the state, that is of course unless the state electorate is deemed racist or misogynistic.
Many refer to the upcoming election in Georgia, where Mr. Kemp has identified himself as Trump's twin, as a defining moment for this state.
But the problem is not confined to this state. The entire nation had a defining moment in the 2016 presidential election. Go back and look at the 2016 election results map posted on the NYT website a few days ago; it shows Trumpland as sea of red from coast to coast, and not just the South.
I no longer recognize the country in which I live.
7
If you are voting in Georgia, I highly recommend that you read this article about known and exploitable vulnerabilities in Georgia's election systems that Kemp ignored and continues to ignore as Georgia's Secretary of State.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trump-election-hacking-and-the-...
Any coverage of this election should reference the weakness of Georgia's voting system. Recounts are impossible. The vote cannot be verified.
10
@ADM I suppose that means Ms Abrams 70% vote in the Democratic Primary was fixed and Ms Evans should have won. In my experience in the metro Atlanta area, the only vote fixing has occurred in Atlanta mayoral races. Twice in recent history there was a 700 vote count shortage of a white candidate over a black candidate, even after an increase in the white population. The mayor in charge of the vote count was a black Democrat. Democrats are always considered honest without reproach, LOL. It has been observed that heavily democratic metro area votes are last to be reported so that they can see how many votes are need to ensure the Democrat candidate wins.
3
As a resident of metro Atlanta, I think the only chance that Stacey Abrams has is if every person who is willing to vote Democrat and this will include every person of color in the state. The back taxes she owes will be a liability that will be fully exploited by the Republican party. Many of my neighbors who are college educated, but also older and white, consider Fox news the only legit new source and "MSM" (main stream media) is full of lies about Trump and the Republican party. while this is not indicative of everyone and the county I lived in narrowly voted for Hilary Clinton. I was very young when Lester Maddox was elected but remember that it was rural Georgia that put him in office. Atlanta is much larger now and south Georgia no longer carries as much weight in the polls, but I imagine that most rural Georgians will support Kemp. Personally I think it will be a backwards move for the state.
4
Stacey Abrams has shown remarkable skill in getting agreement from the majority Republicans to accomplish tasks. She has extraordinary political skills and she should not be portrayed as an ideologue.She does have principle which makes her stand out in her domain.
9
The authors, in their quest to find labels for all, refer to US senator Johnny Isakson as being center right. In such a position one might expect the individual to sometimes vote with the opposition party thus fulfilling the center aspect. But that is not the case, at least for the major pieces of legislation. Isakson lies in lock step with the Republican party assuring trump of his backing no matter. And that, in a nut shell, is the problem with labels and the state of politics today. The country is politically divided, there is no middle ground. Only the election of people who we perceive to have the knowledge, intelligence, and moral fortitude to transcend politics and buck their party establishment will lead us out of the morass. In Georgia, Abrams would be my choice for such an individual. Kemp would be a choice for regression and entrenchment in division. He, as is his ideological leader, is nothing but a hate monger.
6
Brian Kemp is a moderate - whose tongue-in-cheek campaign commercials don't show that fact. He had to beat a big field of candidates, most with good resumes.
Stacy Abrams had to beat only one candidate - Stacy Evans, a moderate Democrat. Evans had a good resume and according to many analyses, may have been the Democrats' best chance for winning the Governor's Mansion in 2018: "https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/05/who-does-the-democr...
3
@Azalea Lover If Kemp got the endorsement of Trump, and accepted it, he's no moderate.
4
While Kemp may be an embarrassment, he is running on a winning platform in Georgia—demonize any and everyone that isn’t white and throw out some of Trump’s empty slogans.
Abrams’ chances of winning are close to zero. Policies don’t matter, the majority of this state will vote against her simply because of race.
1
Republican columnists, including Stephens and Douthat, will be scolding Democrats that to have a better chance their candidate should politically endorse the policies of Jeb! Bush. And the candidate and the candidate's top supporters should all be white and male, and should wear SUITS.
3
Just want to add my voice to the crowd already complaining about the false equivalencies in this article and hoping NYT will do some soul searching before commenting further on GA politics. Lots of good comments before me already describe the article's weirdly skewed perspective and, crucially, missing research on policies and records.
Abrams is a moderate Dem in every respect but her race and gender. Kemp is the only "radical" in this picture.
8
Where are the men in this picture?
Those men vote. Remember Hillary?
Gotta get the men on board.
2
I am guessing that most of those commenting do not live in Georgia. Most I suspect live in New York State. Most of you are calling Georgians racist. One thing you should consider is that Stacey Abrams is the first African-American women to run for governor and win her party’s nomination. That means Georgia must be less racist than New York, California, and 47 other states who have never nominated an African-American woman for governor. Even if Ms Abrams losses the election Georgia is still ahead of 49 states in diversity of gubernatorial candidates.
9
Think of all the jobs Abrams will create with her top-priority project of cleansing Stone Mountain! And don't Kemp make you proud to be an Amurrican with all his gun talk and pickup-truck-enabled border control? What are the three or four rational Georgia voters supposed to do? Yes, Georgia is looking a lot like a microcosm of the new Divided States of America. Are we worth saving?
2
A tax attorney, Abrams has numerous other business and creative ventures. She properly boasts on her website, "Under the pen name Selena Montgomery, Stacey is the award-winning author of 8 romantic suspense novels, which have sold > 100K copies. As co-founder of NOW Account – a financial services firm that helps small businesses grow – Stacey has helped create and retain jobs in Georgia. And through her various business ventures, Stacey has helped employ even more Georgians, including hundreds of young people starting out."
Ms. Abrams will be 45 later this year, still owes $96,000 in student loan debt. She knows the student loan debt will be cancelled when it is 25 years old - cancelled for her but moved to taxpayers, many who will never have the income she has. https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/abrams-addresses-major-debt-ahead-of-gu...
A tax attorney, she owes $54,000 in back taxes. (Same source)
With a high income for X years, she has $70,000 in credit card debt. (Same source)
Ms. Abrams states she helped her parents after a hurricane damaged their home but her website indicates parents who are likely to be self-sufficient: "Stacey’s parents attended Emory University to pursue graduate studies in Divinity and become United Methodist ministers." Source: https://staceyabrams.com/meet-stacey/
Combining law practice income, selling more than 100K novels, and the financial services firm, she is a 1%er who can't manage her own money.
4
Additional info on NOW Account: "For six years, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams held a minority stake in a financial services company that contracted with the state through two related non-profit corporations while she served in the General Assembly.
"Abrams received a salary of $80,000 in her first year as a senior vice president of the company, NOWaccount, and $60,000 a year through 2015."
Abrams was House Minority Leader during this period, and reports state she received help from Gov. Deal, a Republican, with the NOWaccount start-up. She was working as a tax attorney, likely still writing novels and involved in other ventures, and was paid $80,000 for the first year then $60K for subsequent years. Pretty good for part-time/PRN work.
Abrams is still listed as SVP of the company.
https://politics.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/state-con...
The only thing that bothers me about this is people in government who get involved in quasi-public businesses that receive tax dollars. I feel that way about federal/local/state businesses......it has nothing to do with government position or party.
5
Reporting from Georgia.
Georgia under republican management for several decades has made it a magnet for minorities and immigrants from all over the world, legal and illegal. There is no reason to believe that will change under kemp, although he is a little more strident on the campaign trail than past republicans governors. However our republican governors tend to moderate when in office, with Deal being the best example. Deal is leaving office universally liked by most Georgians.
On the other hand, most of the intracountry immigration has come from people fleeing blue states. So perversely one would expect minority in-migration to decrease or reverse itself under an Abrams administration, assuming she can get any of her policies implemented over a Republican legislature, which is clearly a dubious proposition.
But if kemp governs like he campaigns, expect a democratic victory in four years.
2
Let's just be blunt...this election will let us know how many racist populists there still are in Georgia.
15
@vincentgaglione
Stereotyping? Let's just be blunt - people used to stereotype about Italians (like you) and Irish (like me).
I'm not a fan of stereotyping.
But I would like for you to estimate how many racist populists there still are in New York, a state that gave Clinton 59.01% of the vote and Trump 36.52%. Same estimate for NY City, that gave Clinton 79% and Trump 19%; 2% to the two also-rans.
Do you really believe that someone who votes for a candidate other than your choice is either racist or populist or both? Really?
4
That attitude is why Abrams will lose. She has already dismissed seeking out Republican leaning voters or running as a centrist. Demonizing Republicans and Independents as racist and deplorable ensures that the Democrats will be out of power in Georgia for the foreseeable future.
5
I hope Ms. Adams realizes that the middle is hers for the taking if she takes a few small, uplifting, unthreatening steps toward those folks.
Get em, don't write them off and don't alienate them.
Don't talk about Civil War statues or Stone Mountain.
And, if you do talk about individual community conversation and control over their fate.
I saw a wonderfully balanced view from an African-American professor on 60 Minutes.
He recommended keeping certain statues if no consensus could be reached in the community but adding context with informational plaques and signage that explains who these people were.
And that would not be a flattering picture… for all to see.
It's a way to tear down the reputation and cause for which the "statuted" figures fought.
That's real, lasting damage to their memory.
As it should be.
I think the statues should go.
It's a process.
Better to win the election and then address the issue with a broad conversation.
12
@Paul King
A far better brain than your or mine had this to say about Civil War statues/monuments: Former Ambassador to the U. N., former Atlanta mayor, and civil rights icon has this opinion:
"Civil rights icon and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young said Wednesday he doesn’t back the fight to tear down Confederate memorials around the country and that he fears it could have unintended consequences.
“I think it’s too costly to refight the Civil War,” Young said Wednesday at a press conference in which he and fellow civil rights icon C.T. Vivian endorsed Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell to succeed Kasim Reed as the city’s next mayor. “We have paid too great a price in trying to bring people together.”
https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/andrew-young-opposes-fight...
3
No. Talk about racist history of Stone Mountain. If that turns people off too bad. If that means she loses at least it confirms we are ruled by racists. And nothing they do, say or enact has any legitimacy. We're DONE accommodating bigotry hatred and tyranny. You know, so as not to "bother people". Learned that hard lesson "supporting" Hillary over Bernie. My bad.
The voter Abrams needs to reach is the male Delta pilot living in Peachtree City. Culturally, he's a Kemp guy and probably voted for Trump.
But the problem for him is that his future -- that $300 a flight hour future flying widebody jets across the ocean -- relies on a Georgia anchored in the global economy. That Georgia is moderately progressive and the kind of place that can attract global talent. It's why global companies like Delta and Coca-Cola stay in Atlanta and why Georgia has tended to be more moderate than other Southern states.
Trumpism -- and its acolytes like Kemp -- are deadly forces for this moderate and prosperous Georgia, which has an economy reliant on free trade and immigration laws that allow global talent recruitment.
Georgia needn't become California or New York, nor should it. But it can't become hidebound and regressive, either. Down that path lies a dark future and one that ignores all the things that have made the state a success. That's the future a Governor Kemp promises. Kemp is bad for business and bad for Georgia.
9
I wish her all the best. But it is Georgia. Still a generation away
1
Polarizing, divisive article. Makes the entire election about race. Abrams is a Democrat who represents the left base well, I am not interested in supporting those issues no matter the candidate demographics.
5
@GR If you're in favor of private citizens kidnapping people that they think are undocumented, then vote for the other guy. If not, maybe think about staying home.
You mean providing temporary shelter at taxpayers’ expense for the children of illegal aliens who criminally entered America ...
Happy to vote for candidates who enforce our immigration laws.
I’m not at all happy with candidates who call me racist. Especially those who use their own skin tone as their primary personal attribute - it sure ain’t her ability to manage money.
We also have better things to do than continue the whining about who can be the biggest “victims” of “evil” white males, and spending more taxpayers’ money encouraging illegal aliens to depress working folks’ wages.
Unfortunately, demagogues usually win in Southern states. Georgia is no exception. Kemp fits the demographic.
I hope Amazon is paying attention and takes political climate into consideration when they make their choice for a second headquarters.
7
In the final analysis, if you are honest you know government ,"for the people" isn't about slogans and propaganda. It's really about a world view, "thinking globally and acting locally" as Gandhi said. What you believe must be put into practice and it has to work. You can't ignore the law or the laws of economics. Making things better from the bottom up can't happen with the snap of the fingers or because it sounds good or is obviously "the right thing to do." The biggest problem I see for the "so-called left" is that they consistently bite off more than they can chew. Instead, focus on core issues: increase access to higher education and medical care, reduce poverty levels, create 21st century jobs and opportunities, place limits on police power over people's lives and so on. This world has many profound problems. The governor of Georgia can't fix them all and shouldn't pretend she/he can. Put those Ivy league educations to good use for once. Not just being able to brag "I was the first elected" whatever.
4
Forget the south, which has hardly changed since the 1850's.
Lincoln had it dead wrong when he refused to let the south go. The entire world would have been better off.
8
@David Henry Our country may have been better off, but the African-Americans who would still probably be enslaved in the Confederacy wouldn't.
2
Consider what the Confederacy would be now had they actually won: an impoverished, backward, police state always fearful of revolt, more isolated and reviled than North Korea. They should sandblast the faces off Stone Mountain and replace them with their true heroes: Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman.
1
@Shelly
Slavery would have died a natural death, so I disagree.
I’m from Indiana... land of Pence. I’m not going to comment on Georgia. We have enough problems with our own politics right here.
4
@The Nattering Nabob Would that residents of other states - New York and California come to mind - have the same thoughts.
As it used to be said, clean around your own doorstep before you say anything about someone else.
3
Despite Georgia's semi-progressive status its relative. Never forget, the state is in the deep south where right wing republican populists and evangelical nuts have, for over 3 decades, fuelled anxiety and fear with a full diet of racism, xenophobia and homophobia--fingers crossed for Ms Abrams victory. If so, it may be a turning point in southern politics.
7
The Republican candidate says that his Democratic Opponent seeks to turn Georgia into California.
I think most of us would prefer California to Georgia.
I must concede that I am not looking at official statitics as I write this, but I think I'd wager good money that life expectancy, median and mean income, and educational attainment are all higher in California.
6
Wait until the ghost of George Wallace haunts Kemp a la his chain saws, shot guns and alleged conflicts of interest as Secretary of State...
4
Something for all voters to keep in mind is this - The many lies and distortions from the White House and the Republicans
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a22442974/trump-putin-mic...
4
Georgia is a long way from being Virginia or North Carolina or Florida. Outside the Atlanta metro, you might as well be in Alabama or Oklahoma, politically and economically. Politically, native Georgians and transplants from adjacent Deep South states numerically outnumber those from outside the Deep South and have Georgia in a head-lock. No matter how much lipstick Atlanta wants the outside world to think is on Georgia, it's got a long way to go before the spit starts to shine.
14
True but with reservations. Savannah is also a majority minority city. The late great civil rights leader W. W. Law thought that Savannah's port background made it more open to outside influences and greater tolerance across its history (back to colonial days).
There is also a reverse black migration back to the South, including Georgia and quite a bit of diversity across the state.
1
You hit the nail on the head, Mack. Democrats unfortunately don’t stand a stand to win the election. If CA and NY are Democratic strongholds, TX and GA are the Republican counterpoints. This may be a wave year, but taking Georgia requires a flood.
Maybe. But Trump " didn't have a chance" either.
I am a former Georgian, Democrat, human rights activist, who would much like to see black female governor. But Stacey Abrams making an issue of blasting sculptures off Stone Mountain is a no-no for me. If she proposed adding to Stone Mountain a carving of black Julian Bond, for example, and a black female historic figure, fine and dandy. Positivism, not negativism, please.
14
@Anne RussellPlease remind us what is positive about keeping icons to traitors who fought to enslave other people and to tear apart this country. Remember- they lost.for losing.
21
I see nothing positive in ugly reliefs of traitors which serve as a memorial to the founding of the modern KKK. I say this as the descendant of Confederate soldiers.
1
@Anne Russell Stone Mountain has to go. Georgia lost. Stone Mountain is a symbol of treason.
3
Is Brian Kemp, as current Georgia Secretary of State, responsible for the election results? That sounds like a clear conflict of interest.
17
@Dee
Yes, it bothers a lot of people here. Kemp specializes in voter suppression. This is well documented.
19
@Dee George W. Bush "won" Florida in 2000 because its secretary of state was his campaign manager, and invented gimmicks like "butterfly ballots" to flummox voters. This mattered not a whit to the drones on the Supreme Court.
3
@Dee You forget that every voting site has a tally of votes, and submits the totals of votes for every candidate to the office of the Sec State.
You also forget that every voting site totals can be printed in the local newspapers - as is done in my county. Even a small voting site reports their individual totals.
After having lived in Georgia since Roy Barnes was ousted by the current USDA chief Sonny Purdue, its very clear how the race took shape. In Nov GA, like the rest of the Deep South, is kicking and screaming in the 21st century. The glistening skyscrapers of Atlanta cannot hide the significant racial divide that still exists even in the metro area.
Merle Black of Emory U claims that 80% of all white in GA are GOPERS and they faithfully vote the party line, GA has strict voter ID laws, and a paperless trail run by the famous Diebold system. A democrat hasn't won a statewide race in more than a decade. Abrams chance are slim to none there. The meat that Kemp has shown the whites will be just enough to tip the scales
For those of you outside the Deep South, GA can message all it wants about being the new south. It may be new to them, but most white outsiders, like myself, could write many a book about the facts. And, the facts are these. The white Anglo-Saxon Protestant straight male has always run the bus and will continue to do so there, even in Atlanta's thriving economy. There is no room for the kind of dissent Ms Abrams is trolling. Astonishingly even the large gay community in Atlanta is sharply divided along racial lines. The whites there can't accept her.
The veneer the bubbas have messaged concerning all-is-well-in-GA, will be stripped away in November. It will be interesting to see how Amazon and the movie industry deal with Gov Kemp next January.
9
@Frustrated Elite and Stupid
A boycott is in order once the religious liberty bill becomes law.
Oh, my. What will the rural Bubba-gentrified, Trump-loving, peach natives do? Guess. Here’s to hoping that the profound work and honesty of President Carter throws some serious shade on the baser instinct of the rural, nationalist Georgians.
5
The election in Georgia this November will be very telling for where our future in this country lies for the winner and the loser of the race for Governor of Georgia.
3
Wanna learn the history of Georgia's so-called moderate centre? Then read up on Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835-1930), the first female US Senator.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/rebecca-...
Felton died in 1930, but behind closed doors, behind the mask of gentility, in the privacy of the not so genteel parlours of Georgia, Felton's views and the values she embodied still run deep in the oldest generation of white Georgians:
'Felton was also known for her conservative racial views. In an 1897 speech she said that the biggest problem facing women on the farm was the danger of black rapists. "If it takes lynching to protect women's dearest possession from drunken, ravening beasts," she said, "then I say lynch a thousand a week." She condemned anyone who dared to question the South's racial policies; when Andrew Sledd, a professor at Emory College, did just that in an article published in 1902 in the Atlantic Monthly, she was instrumental in forcing his resignation from the school.'
5
So that’s where Trump got his rhetoric from. It all makes sense now.
@Colenso So you expect women in Georgia and the 49 other states to still think and fear and speak the same as one woman did 121 years ago?
Is this what you expect of Georgia - the state that elected Jimmy Carter governor and thus put him on the path to be elected President?
Is this what you expect of Georgia - the state that elected Sam Nunn to the Senate, the state that would have given its electoral votes to Sam Nunn if he had chosen to run for President?
Is this what you expect of Georgia - the state whose rural counties in the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit elected to the Superior Court bench Judge Meng Lim, who came to Georgia as a child when his Chinese parents fled Cambodia?
https://www.gabar.org/newsandpublications/pressrelease/Meng_Lim.cfm
Is this what you expect of Georgia - whose rural counties have cardiologists named Patel, electrophysiologists named Styperek, internists named Singh?
Be blind and expect the worst........and you'll be wrong.
Is there time enough for me to move to Georgia, register and vote in the election?
8
@Doug The voter registration deadline is October 9th.
1
@Doug the cutoff for registration is probably several months before the election.
@Steve Bolger
Doug wasn't smart enough to check the voter registration deadline; neither were you.
Susanna in South Carolina had the better thought - though I expect Doug was speaking tongue-in-cheek.
Atlanta obviously hasn't been able to override the rest of the state in the past. Even if there were 100% turnout of its eligible voters this time, the numbers may still just be insufficient.
Will the rest of the state turn out enough conscientious citizens to stand up and voice their outrage against the GOP's malfeasance?
3
Left/right balance. Left/right symmetry. It just has to be there for journalists, in defiance of all reality.
Here is a reasonable-sounding Democrat, very much in line with centrist and social democratic parties in all other developed countries.
On the other hand, there's an unreconstructed racist who might get 15% of the vote in other countries, and be shunned by political parties who once had things in common with the US Republican party. He says things that even Marine LePen or Nigel Farage would not dare utter.
Yet they are mirror equivalents of the other is in this article.
22
@davidraph
The authors go to great lengths to paint Abrams as an extremist. God forbid we get rid of the KKK memorial and provide healthcare to the poor - how extreme! (sarcasm intended)
17
I have to say that I was thinking the same thing, as I read this article. Messrs Sack and Blinder should be ashamed. One has to wonder what leading questions they asked interviewees, some of them prominent, in order to elicit quotations that allowed them to suggest this obscene equivalence between a serious candidate with, yes, political ideas that would little but pedestrian in other rich countries and a naked race-baiter. Thank heavens that my wife has taken out a subscription to The Washington Post for us.
1
In this era of radical leftism endorsed (passively or otherwise) by influential figures in the Democratic Party - such as in effect becoming a borderless country - the rest of the country does not have the luxury of insisting on straight arrow candidates.
Trump's off the cuff remarks frequently are at odds with fact - but he is giving us Constitutional judicial nominees and insisting on enforcing our borders. He's unleashed the economy, and is forcing our trading partners to make hard decisions on fair trade. He is destroying Isis, standing up for Israel, and rebuilding the military insofar as Congress lets him. I really don't care who he slept with, and I know I must fact check most of what he says - but I'll take that over a straight arrow candidate who sees nothing wrong with Bernie or Elizabeth running the country.
Maybe look at the Georgia Republican candidate in that light. He won't wreck Georgia's economy by straightjacketing business, or hamstring Georgia's farmers with absurd regulations, or fail to support federal efforts to find and deport illegal immigrant criminals.
5
@HurryHarry
Making stuff up does not make it true.
And anyone who believes the president “runs the country” gives not a fig for the constitution. But it is one of many sure signs of a Trump supporter.
Fascists like the conceit Their Man Runs The Country.
18
I have found that most Trump supporters do not understand either the constitution, or the structure of our government. Clearly, they failed their basic middle school government classes.
@In deed
I was referring to Bernie or Elizabeth running the country. Here's the excerpt:
"but I'll take that over a straight arrow candidate who sees nothing wrong with Bernie or Elizabeth running the country."
If you think that makes them fascists, you're entitled to your opinion.
Neither candidate seems to understand that voters are tired of extremism. Mr Kemp did himself a great disservice by not being more moderate. Radical conservatism may work in the primaries....but may be a hindrance in the genral campaign. Likewise, Ms Abrahms does not help herself with her aggressive stances. If she wants to get middle-class white, suburban votes she must fight being viewed as the "Angry Black Woman". Both should avoid taking money from outside the state. That being said....this race will be interesting and I believe that white females will determine the outcome.
5
Unfortunately we do not really know whether Georgia voted for Trump or whether Kemp won his primary or by what margins, because Georgia does not use paper ballots. There is no way to verify whether the voters' wishes were accurately recorded or tabulated.
Instead, Georgia uses private vote counting and election software companies with plenty of motive and opportunity to mess with the vote counts, invisibly.
The state legislature has voted to switch to paper...long after the next election.
9
Brian Kemp is the new Gov. Lester Maddox, for those old enough to remember the Georgia "good old days." His shotgun "rounding up criminal illegals" is Maddox's ax handle keeping black customers out of his Atlanta restaurant. Only the skin colors have changed. It remains to be seen if there are enough old Maddox voters still among us to out-vote the Georgians who have moved past race and embraced the 21st century.
16
Another very interesting southern race which seems under the radar is in the thirteenth congressional district in North Carolina! The competition is between Kathy Manning whose led a life of serving others. She happens to be Jewish! Running against the Republican incumbent, Ted Budd, who points out on his congressional website, that he is a strong Christian family man, who home schools his three daughters! Obviously, a real Patriot! Barring, something like another Hanukkah miracle, Ms. Manning is going to get trounced!
2
Meh!
Maybe it is quite early but the supposedly Democratic voters can send their excuses in advance for not voting.
Most politicos would call this for the conservative white male.
But Stacy has charisma. Kemp is about as dull and boring as a white post —- or shotgun target with a brown face superimposed on it.
The choice is clear. Go with the good woman. Reject the trump-huckster. Pseudo-trumps abound these days like little hitlers but his cultists like the real thing not some trumped up faker.
Go vote for the good woman!
14
"Kemp rejects the conclusion by the US intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 election" according to wikipedia. Combine that with his data breech scandal and worry about the election itself.
If its true he has his head in the sand about the Russian attack, he is even more delusional than Trump himself who at least has finally kind of sort of tentatively admitted it. In the add where he allegedly "held a gun in the direction of a young man playing someone interested in dating one of Kemp’s daughters" this family man used his child as a prop in a political add. How nauseating. Playing to a base base. Georgia is not on his mind; his base is on his mind.
8
@Bob Guthrie
Pray for us
1
@Jerry
I do. Americans are great people and you deserve much better than Donald Kemp and Brian Trump.
The issue of "sandblasting the carving off Stone Mountain" is a non-starter as Abrams well knows. It's her equivalent of building a wall and having Mexico pay for it. The AJC paper had a good analysis of what it would take right after Abrams raised the subject during the primary.
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/how-the-confederates-might-actually-come-...
I personally think Kemp is more likely to move to the center after the election than Abrams. Any religious liberty bill would be disastrous for business. And given that the legislature is not going to be majority Democrat this year, any program from Abrams that strays too far left will be a non-starter.
4
@kwb
Don't count on Kemp moving to the center on religious liberty legislation. And neither should the Atlanta business community.
@kwb You are absolutely correct on all counts.
The majority of visitors to Stone Mountain Park comprise families, and unofficial estimates reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that the majority of the families are Black. Families come for the fun, for the beauty of the parkland, for enjoyment of a sunny day with their families.
So spend millions of dollars on studies/blasting/filling in the hole that's left, or spend that money on needy families, abandoned babies.
Former ambassador Andrew Young says "Civil rights icon and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young said Wednesday he doesn’t back the fight to tear down Confederate memorials around the country and that he fears it could have unintended consequences.
“I think it’s too costly to refight the Civil War,” Young said Wednesday at a press conference in which he and fellow civil rights icon C.T. Vivian endorsed Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell to succeed Kasim Reed as the city’s next mayor. “We have paid too great a price in trying to bring people together.”
odd, the author did not mention that deep south South Carolina elected a brown south Asian women governor and a black black man its US Senator. even deeper South Louisiana elected a very dark South Asian Male its governor. Doesn't seem Georgia is making all that much history here. Oh, that's right, those minorities are Republicans- doesn't count.
12
@mkm
Oh please. Such elections are supposed to make a difference?
You probably think that because the U.S. finally elected a Black president, racism doesn't exist anymore.
Give me a break.
12
@mkm
Asia and Africa are 2 different continents; and governor and senator are 2 different offices (one state, the other federal). And thereby lies the difference. I did not see it as a necessarily political observation.
5
I would never vote for an ideological fanatic who wants to destroy historical monuments. That is what ISIS and the Taliban do.
14
@KBronson
I will never support an unAmerican anti America ideological fanatic who brags on and defends monuments to one hundred and fifty plus years of domestic terrorism with most monuments last century propaganda erected long after the war against the traitors as part of the domestic terrorism to glorify the domestic Terrorism.
Then it became the southern strategy. One of the architects admitted and apologized not that long ago. But what do the fans who cover for domestic terrorism care about truth?
17
@In deed
Unlike slaves and their descendants, statues can't feel, breathe or be hurt with memories. Statues can't get PTSD, be lynched or raped. Statues can't be jailed, shot or unjustly executed disproportionally to non statues. The right loves false equivalences. ISIS and the Taliban are not relevant. Ancient historic Buddha statues and historical amphitheatres are totally different- i.e. unless you are into specious arguments.
@KBronson
Please stay and vote in your own state. It is not historical. It is a monument to the KKK and is only a few decades old. Get your facts straight. Thank you!
7
I wish that there was a coherent, simple message that beats out immigrants, California, and simple imagery like trucks and guns. Alas all we can hope for is more education and the passing of time, the conservative base is quite old.
1
It appears to me that both candidates have the same message: "Us versus Them". A poor message and platform for GA and the US.
16
Embracing politicians solely or principally on the basis of culture and identity is what has brought us to the increasingly polarized and tribalized societies we live in.
Ability, skills and merit should still be the primary and underlying criteria. And not just in politics.
15
I am not sure the existing figures should be sandblasted off Stone Mountain. Perhaps instead we should add a couple.
We should add a black Georgian who fought for the Union, either an Unknown Soldier figure (since blacks did not command in the Union army) or a known black Georgian who fought well in the Union Army and later achieved something notable during Reconstruction.
We should also add a white Georgian who fought for the Union, perhaps a West Point graduate who kept his oath, or perhaps an Unknown Soldier figure from an area in Georgia where Union sentiment was strong and some young men snuck off to fight for the Union.
This would make a visit to Stone Mountain a teaching and reflection moment, particularly for Georgia's and the South's white folk, who would be encouraged to honor all the Georgians who fought in our country's bloodiest conflict, and perhaps take away some different perspectives on their heritage.
34
@sdavidc9 Smart idea; you have to begin with something!
"Ms. Abrams, Mr. Kemp said, was 'backed by billionaires and socialists who want to make Georgia into California.'”
The same California that has the world's fifth largest economy? The same California that has added 2 million jobs and grown its GDP by $700 billion since W's Great Recession? That California?
Just askin'...
44
The California that has sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, that one.
9
@Margo
Yep, Margo, THAT California...which doesn't seem to have suffered one bit on the whole because of it... but continues to draw talent world wide because of its continued openness to transplants and immigrants.. strangely not unlike all of America's largest and most successful cities and states. The same cities Georgia's small town kids move to if they're going to have a successful future.See a pattern there somewhere?
3
@Margo Bet ya your ancestors are not native Americans and came to America for the same reason todays migrants are coming. No doubt Trump supporters are willing to pick fruit and vegetables for a living, jobs migrants do.
2
This story is a textbook example of the author having a hypothesis first and then selectively gathering data to support that (erroneous) hypothesis. In the process, this story commits the mistake of false equivalence. Moderately progressive candidates on the left are not equal in extremism to anti-immigration, voter purging, white supremacists on the right.
47
I concur with other comments that this article is shallow and based on stereotypes. The political dynamics of Georgia are very complex. People fail to understand that the second most spoken language in Georgia after English is Korean. There are many "minority" communities in Georgia that are well educated, politically savvy, and influential in local and international business. In the last two gubernatorial elections, middle of the road Democratic faired poorly. A Yale-educated attorney who held prominent state office like Ms. Abrams is hardly a left-wing progressive though she holds some progressive views. I don't know what the outcome of this election will be, but painting a complex state like Georgia in two colors fails to present an accurate picture of the reality of my home state.
46
@Lou
Agreed. Abrams is not an extremist and Kemp is actually boring and milquetoast. Kemp's move to the far right was disturbing. This article is not well-researched.
7
This election may well be a “defining moment” for Georgia, but, if so, this rather shallow article, relying on stereotypes, fails to illuminate very much.
14
As much as I would like Ms. Stacey Adams to win the gubernatorial position in Georgia, I doubt she will be able to do so. The South is still alive and healthy with racism and prejudice to let a fine Black woman become the next governor!
6
@Majortrout---when was the last time you lived in Georgia? Or, for that matter, anywhere south of Tennessee/West Virginia?
I cannot fathom the idea that racism is alive and well in the south, and I have lived here (LA, MS) all my life....
I know there are pockets of racism in some areas, but I have never seen it where I have actually lived.
5
@Majortrout
Adams? Stacey Abrams will probably win this race. Clearly, you have no idea what Georgia is like. Stop watching old 1970s TV shows about "the south" and fly into Atlanta for some culture.
2
@ultimateliberal
Although currently an Ohioan, I attended school in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida as a child, and lived in Augusta, GA as an adult. I did, in fact, teach there in a private school. There are more than “pockets of racism” in the south. Racism is
pervasive and not just amongst poor, uneducated whites. Abrams will never win here. She wouldn’t win in Ohio, either, where racism pervades many a white suburb. Couldn’t believe it until I personally experienced it. So sad.
When was it? 2000 that Ryan and Texeira forecast that Georgia, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee would be solidly blue by 2008?
Keep forecasting it, one day you will be right.
3
Without gerrymandering they would have been.
19
The political center has been hijacked by corporate mass media. No matter what happens corporate media keeps pushing policies that favour corporate shareholders, against the needs of a majority of voters.
It worked for a really long time. But now people are wise and looking for alternatives to the "establishment."
Independent voters now outnumber either party. Just because they are independent, doesn't mean they are centrists, despite what media keeps telling us.
The Democratic Party moved to the right, even as itss base was moving to the left. The Democrats are attacking their own base to compete with Republicans for correlate dollars. That is why it has lost 2/3 of all elections for decades. Now the working class left is reclaiming the Democratic Party.
The Republican Party has long been a tool of corporate donors, so it cultivates a base of those that fear others and fear change, and caters to their worst instincts. Trump is a master at manipulating the ant-government, anti-tolerance, pro-war Republican base.
The center has fallen. It is time to pick a side.
Fear, greed, violence, and hate?
or
Courage, sharing, peace, and love?
No one is perfect, and the world is a hard place, but you have to push for one side or the other. You have to have values and nurture them in the world.
13
@McGloin Fascinated by this perspective that the left does not incite fear and violence. Virtually every encounter involving both the far right and far left has the left shouting down others, refusing to allow those of the right to speak, blocking people from conducting their daily activities, and in a number of cases physically attacking people. You can hide all you want behind themes of courage, fighting for what is right, etc. but the end result is nothing more than the picture the left paints of the right. The only difference is what is used to defend the position. That is not the way Martin Luther King or Robert Kennedy believed change should happen.
9
I also find this analysis off-kilter. It makes no sense to assume one “type” will appeal to certain types of voters.
Most voters vote because they think the politico will best represent their views. This is why purposeful gerrymandering is so insidious.
When She is Governor, perhaps She can influence voters in Georgia to establish an independent voting commission to draw lines fairly. The system works very well in all states in which it has been established.
2
Well in Charlottesville it was the right than ran down an innocent woman, shouted nazi slogans, and carried torches(1938 Germany).
8
Go Stacey Abrams!
24
I am disappointed by this story, focusing on their messages being so far left and right, the people in the center being lost, Etc. Ms Abrams message would have been considered standard Democratic fare only a short time ago. I am also disappointed that there is no mention of Mr Kemp, while Secretary of State, purging the voter rolls of almost 600,000 voters, primarily in heavily Democratic areas. This is the most important story facing our nation today, this and gerrymandering. I am so disappointed that it gets so little coverage.
56
Well, it's up to the people of Georgia. If Kemp wins in November, I'll conclude that Georgia outside of Atlanta (and Athens, home of good-natured pot smokers and leftist university professors, the kind of "Athens of America" that I'm guessing right-wingers hate) is largely inhabited by two types of people: Angry whites cursing General Sherman and acting like it's still March of 1865, and angry warmongering whites living adjacent to (and dependent upon) military bases and who would love to see the U.S. military drop hydrogen bombs on Pyongyang and Tehran.
6
Columbus (home to Ft. Benning) and Savannah are reliably blue.
@AR Go ahead and guess - and your guessing is wrong. But congratulations for letting us know you wear blinders thus must guess rather than take off the blinders and look at facts.
Two rural Georgia counties elected Meng Lim, an attorney, as their Superior Court judge. His competition was white males and females. (Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit, Polk and Haralson counties) Judge Lim's family fled Cambodia when he was 9. He grew up in the small town of Bremen, in Haralson county.
There are many similar successes........for those without blinders. The successes are black, Asian, female.....and yes, Republican. Many people in Georgia and other states think Democrats are too far left.
"Stacey Abrams all but called ..."
But she didn't. So why is the Times writing about what didn't happen? She did call for a lot of things -- universal health care, equal justice, equal opportunity.
But the Times decided to ficus on what she didn't call for, and the fact that she is not a white man. (Horror of horrors!)
Meanwhile, Mr. Kemp is loudly and proudly racist. But that's no worse, the article suggests, than what Ms Abrams might have said.
But she didn't say it, as the article admits.
This is a defining contest for the Georgian "middle": Will it pick another white male, this one openly racist, or a lack female who didn't -- despite the article's innuendo -- say anything racist?
20
I've long thought that Stone Mountain was an abomination. What would the allies have done if Germans, after the war, carved the likenesses of Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels on a mountain. The CSA was an enemy combatant of the USA.
17
@Jonathan Swift HERE! HERE!! The confederacy was made up of racist traitors, why should they be celebrated in 2018?
7
Yes. My mother told me the only time she heard my grandparents fight was when grandmother made a $25 donation to help pay for the carving, and grandfather, a U.S. Army captain, loudly explained that donating to honor “those traitors” could harm his career.
11
The NYT shows its strong bias by the words it uses,"Both campaigns say they are committed to maximizing turnout by their most rabid supporters". I doubt either campaign used those words.
13
In visits to Atlanta over the last several decades, it is reasonable to believe the concept of a "new south" where the races and various economic classes embrace the rights of each other and the willingness to work jointly for the general welfare. Then you have a governors race that pits a Yale educated black women who supports a progressive agenda against a cartoonish figure who promises to "round up" illegals with a shotgun in the back of his pick up truck and it appears to be to close call. If Georgia truly aspires to position itself as the "new south" it needs to do what Alabama did to Roy Moore.
24
If Kemp takes over and drags his Trumpism into the State House, then by all means, let every dollar Nathan Deal attracted head for a state that wants to be part of the 21st century, and let Kemp take credit for finishing what Sherman started.
10
Wow, far-left NYTimes? Seriously?
Abrams doesn’t even run on Medicare for all, just expanding Medicaid.
That is the most centrist healthcare position in the entire country.
Meanwhile far-right Republicans like Kemp, literally run on putting kids in cages, gutting Medicaid & Medicare, rolling back civil rights of gay people, and putting guns in the hands of toddlers.
And the brainiacs at the NYTimes have allowed Republicans to control the narrative by parroting their talking points, thereby shifting the Overton Window even more to the right.
NYTimes, either start editing your political articles for accuracy about what are ACTUAL far-left and far-right positions. Or don’t put up false equivalence clap trap at all. Your continuation of printing such articles I’ll take as evidence that the corporate board wants to control the political narrative, and fascism is just fine as long as corporate profits are up.
31
I have faith in Georgians. In the end, they will be both practical and decent. They will not agree to the Kemp Trump white nationalism. They will not agree to the chaotic and self-destructive economic policies inspired by their white nationalism.
Yes, most of the statues were erected in order to intimidate black Americans. Yes, the Kemp Trump immigration policies, including ripping children from their desperate parents, are indecent and racist.
All the same, I want Ms. Abrams and her passion and her smarts to go for the sweet spot first. Protect folks' medical care. Protect Social Security and Medicare. Fix public education and make college affordable again. Resist the Trump corrosion of our better angels.
In short, make America smart again.
I've traveled to GA somewhat regularly over the years. You can see the changes. The wealthy Atlanta suburbs are looking a bit rundown now. Starbucks is full of Asian-Americans now. If Georgia Tech wants to remain a leading American technical university, it needs more funding now.
The results of Mueller's investigation, no matter how damning, might mean nothing to the bad-faith-and-immoral-opportunist Congressional Republicans. But come November Georgians will show considerably more sense.
6
@
Not sure what part of GA you traveled to over the years, but the wealthy suburbs of the Atlanta I live in are anything but run down. In fact there's very little real estate in the 5 county area that is "run down". The whole area is alive with new developments and neighborhoods that are quite diverse. And Georgia Tech is expanding rapidly as a partner to the many technology based businesses that have come to the Midtown area. And I don't know if Amazon will choose Atlanta for HQ2 or not but its in the top 5.
You are right that you can see the changes in Atlanta the past 10 years, all for the better.
8
@Russell
Thanks for your reply, Russell. As for the suburbs that I was referring to: Buckhead and vicinity. I saw the development at Georgia Tech. As nice as some of that was, much more (with more funding) is happening elsewhere. For example, the U of Washington is presently finishing the second of two new world class Computer Science buildings. The CS facilities at other engineering schools, even famous engineering schools like Purdue and the like, are simply inadequate by comparison. Best of luck for the Amazon HQ.
Russell wrote:
"Not sure what part of GA you traveled to over the years, ..."
1
Please stop with the "first (race/sex/. . .) ever elected to (position)!!"
Give me their positions. Tell me their experience. Let me know evidence about their character. Then I decide.
We are supposed to be headed toward a color blind, non-discriminitory world, yet the Democrats keep taking racial and sexist victory laps.
15
@Mtnman1963 Stacey Abrams didn't write this article, and facts are facts, she would be the first black female governor. From your comments I take it you're a privileged white male, who seems threatened by change and people of color. SMH.
8
@Mtnman1963
I don’t understand your complaint. There is no impediment to your finding out the candidates positions on policy; their experience and accomplishments; and examples of their character. An hour or so on the Internet would provide more information than you may want. Disseminating that information is not the point of this article. The article is about political polarization. It is just a fact that the US has never had a female, black governor of any state before. Why does calling attention to that fact offend you? Did you find it polarizing or offensive that Nikki Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina, and the first female Indian American governor of any state? Certainly many Republicans took victory laps over that. Does that offend you? Should either woman hide their historic status because someone might be offended by it? Really, I do not understand.
9
"Rabid." "Fringe." The bothsidesism here is remarkable.
20
So a Yale law school graduate is the “fringes”?
The Times. As complacent as it is shallow and thoughtless.
30
From what I’ve read about the two Georgia candidates for governor, the Times has wildly overstated Ms. Abrams’ liberal “leftist” positions. She was a centrist in the GA Legislature, bipartisan and someone willing to compromise on pending legislation — but not core principles.
Not much of that impressive record came through in this article. Kemp, apparently, is a real cartoon character of very little competence but a great amount of vituperative dismissal of the 21st Century.
Why not portray Stacy Abrams as she is, not a punching bag for yet another in a long line of Georgia crackers?
41
The false equivalency here is appalling. Abrams is a pragmatic, inspiring progressive with a Yale law degree and broad appeal. Kemp is a Neanderthal race-baiter and science denier who panders to the worst white nationalist impulses of Athena Old South. How are they both “from the fringe?”
27
Where do you get all your info?
3
@M
Probably from the facts, Margo, which you seem to have no place for. Need I remind you that most undocumented workers were drawn if not brought here by expanding industries (construction, poultry processing in particular) which were only too happy to exploit cheap labor and offer no benefits. And just as they made convenient fodder for profit then, so do they now for Mr. Kemp. A successful progressive Georgia depends on continued change and drawing talent of all stripes for its growth, not living under a cultural rock If you want to cling to the past, Alabama is a quick two hours west, and if that's still too liberal, Mississipi's only two hours farther
When a conservative says they are politicallly incorrect, they are really saying “I’m a racist”
9
A battle for "literally the soul of our state." = "We can't let that colored gal win."
11
Crap article
This election is not about transgender or bathroom bills yet that’s the only specific issue discussed. The nyt has inserted this spin. This election has many important features and deserves better coverage
Race and gender issues like abortion are key subtext. Immigration is huge. Criminal justice reform/wages/guns are issues. The gop candidate is also an agribusiness guy and trust me he will further weaken environmental laws. Yet none of this is mentioned in this article. I hope the editors really look at this piece. Does this inform nyt readers? I don’t think this reflects what’s on the mind of most Georgians
The gop candidate has tied himself to trump on immigration/race and guns. He has a track record that is what you would sadly expect of a Southern Republican: eg voter suppression
The democratic candidate is bright and progressive yet this article creates false equivalency. Oh yeah they’re both equally different. Really??
Sad reporting by the nyt
This needs a conversation
13
I know very little about either candidate.
I did see one Kemp ad where he handles a firearm [rifle or shotgun I don't recall which] in an unsafe totally irresponsible manner.
I would hope all persons no matter what their views on gun legislation would condemn this Kemp disregard of gun safety.
I don't think such an individual should be governor.
14
In a manner of speaking, the Republican Party threw its hand in with the devil when it chose to climb aboard pathological Donald J. Trump's clap-trap train from hell. The ensuing chaos was and remains automatic -- until we derail this screeching, out-of-control catastrophe in motion.
12
Going forward my donations will go exclusively to those who demonstrate a unifying leadership. Both major parties are responsible for the divisions in our country. A candidate’s willingness to collaborate and compromise will get my vote and my money.
2
The choice between Abrams and Kemp could not be more devoid of ideological overlap. There are simply no similarities between these two human beings, right down to gender and color. I am thrilled to see Ms. Abrams on the national scene with the smarts, ethics and morality we so desperately need, go up against Kemp, Trump and what they stand for.
We now live in a hyper-partisan country which, in a worse case scenario, could lead to another Civil War.
8
I've been to Atlanta several times for professional purposes and will be headed there again this August. I enjoy the hospitality of the people, the food, and the parks/ architecture of the place. During one of my visits, the group I was visiting asked me if I would ever consider working there. I came up with some lame excuse -- they're a great group -- to hide my real reason: I don't want to work in a state where the politics can be backwards. I don't want to face policies that discriminate or could discriminate against me or my friends. Atlanta is wonderful but it probably does not reflect the rest of Georgia.
The concerns of business leaders are exactly right. I will continue to take my chances in California.
14
Living in Atlanta I can understand what you are saying, however the same
Is true for most city centers across the nation. Upstate NY is nothing like NYC politically. Western P.A. is an entirely different voting base than Philly. You get my point.
Atlanta is blue, and by the sheer consequence of our numbers in growth, our blue is expanding.
10
Kemp and Cagle seemed to be competing on who was the best at calling names, if either has a policy issue, they kept it to themselves.
5
Not sure we'll get accurate results from Georgia's vote machines. They are considered the most vulnerable to hacking in the country, and were hacked as part of an experiment, but Georgia's Secretary of State likes things the way they are.
https://politics.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/how-hack-...
5
I find it laughable that republicans in Georgia are afraid that Stacey Abrahams will turn Georgia into another California. California is the worlds fifth largest economy. I wonder where Georgia falls on that scale?
12
I think there is a good chance for Abrams to win if she can turn out the vote
14
That is going to be the night the lights went out in Georgia.
5
This article reads like a study in false equivalence. The Republican’s agenda includes discrimination against gay people - dehumanizing and victimizing a whole demographic of human beings. The Democrat wants (gasp!) Medicare for all. Nothing about Stacey Abrams veers from “the middle” except the color of her skin. Instead of adopting the skewed perceptions of some Southern whites, the Times should be analyzing what’s really behind them. Until a Democrat advocates state control of private business or the abolition of all marriage, stop with the fake “extremist” label!
23
@Odyss
You are sadly misinformed if you think same sex couples can’t have children. Using sperm donors and surrogate mothers, same sex couples have biological children. Surely you also know that adopted children are considered the legal progeny and heirs of their adoptive parents, and yes, same sex couples adopt children. So your argument doesn’t make sense.
@Maia Ettinger I believe Ms. Abrams is fighting for Medicaid expansion in Georgia, not "Medicare for all". She is running on a platform of freedom to choose (reproductive rights), increased access to health insurance, gun control, and jobs and job training. Mr. Kemp has said that if elected, he will see to it that Georgia has the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. In his ads, he flings around a rifle and appears to threaten to shoot his daughter's boyfriend. And yes, he is in his pick-up truck which he says he'll use to personally round up illegal immigrants and drive them to the border.
As the primaries end and the general election comes into view, I imagine there will be less fiery rhetoric. But looking at both the candidates, I don't agree that each one equally "appeals to the fringes".
2
This older white male Georgia voter is all in for Ms. Abrams, who will enact policy that will look a lot more like last decades "middle", than Mr. " double down on fear bigotry and plutocracy". Sooner or later the demographics will swing us Blue, IF there is anything like a multiparty pseudo-democracy left. Or a planet.
33
"..Ms. Abrams, Mr. Kemp said, was “backed by billionaires and socialists who want to make Georgia into California.”.."
Looks like Kemp will be Georgia's next Governor.. Also, keep in mind the African-American vote and Hispanic vote is not a monolithic [liberal] voting block. Especially in the Southern States.
4
Ms. Abrams has several business and creative ventures. From her website, "Under the pen name Selena Montgomery, Stacey is the award-winning author of 8 novels, which have sold more than 100K copies. As co-founder of NOW Account, a financial services firm that helps small businesses grow, Stacey has helped create and retain jobs in Georgia. And through her various business ventures, Stacey has helped employ even more Georgians, including hundreds of young people starting out." (NOW Account was paid by GA taxpayers.) https://staceyabrams.com/meet-stacey/
Ms. Abrams will be 45 this year, still owes $96,000 in student loan debt. Her student loan debt will be cancelled when it is 25 years old. Cancelled for her but moved to taxpayers, including taxpayers who will never have the income she has. Source: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/abrams-addresses-major-debt-ahead-of-gu...
Ms. Abrams owes $54,000 in back taxes. (WSBtv)
Ms. Abrams, with a high income for X years, has $70,000 in credit card debt. (WSBtv)
Ms. Abrams states she couldn't pay her taxes because she helped her parents but her website indicates parents who are likely to be self-sufficient: "Stacey’s parents attended Emory University to pursue graduate studies in Divinity and become United Methodist ministers."
With income from her law practice, sale of more than 100K copies of her novels, and financial services firm, Abrams is a One Percenter who can't manage her own money.
8
Donald Trump, the king of bankruptcy and debt and having his lifestyle financed by taxpayers, is supporting the opponent of Ms. Abrams in Georgia's election. So I'm not sure what your point is here.
Is it that you're more bothered that Ms. Abrams has these financial issues in her background than you are by Donald Trump's shortcomings? If so, why?
6
@Azalea Lover If you are a Republican, your hypocrisy is showing!
Donald Trump is a one percenter who can't manage his own money, as evidenced by a string of bankruptcies as well as many instances of him not paying contractors.
Yet, he polls at least as high as 80% among Republicans.
*If you're not a Republican, or didn't vote for Trump, my apologies.
7
The point is she Abrams owes back taxes, she running for the governorship of Georgia . She should be disqualified.
Pay your taxes run again. Don't care about her student loans or credit card debt,
Owe that much in back taxes . disqualified
2
Hear the two candidates explain their ideas for Georgia and you will know who is the best person for the job. Stacy has the ideas to lead Georgia for the next 8 years. Kemp on the other hand is an empty suit devoid of substance and ideas. As Georgia's SOS, he threw Georgia voters under the bus when he allowed our personal information to be compromised. He also fought not to fund the credit monitoring after releasing our personal information. If he needs a tax-payer funded job let him apply for park maintenance or dogcatcher where he can do less harm to the state's citizenry.
21
So the authors believe that anti-racism and expanding medicaid are left-wing "fringe" positions? Seriously? If the "centrists" feel abandoned, it's because they have abandoned the center.
21
Stacey Abrams has been an effective, persuasive state legislator for years. She has a track record of productively working across the aisle, of listening to her constituents, and of making initiatives for the good of the state as a whole.
Brian Kemp is a partisan stooge. He is massively incompetent in he key responsibilities as Secretary of State, having "accidentally" exposed the private information of all Georgia voters, presided over the wiping of election results as soon as the FBI requested them, and eagerly implementing GOP voter suppression tactics regardless of legality. His campaign showed off his arrogance, his disrespect for those Georgians who are not white, rich and Christian, and his reckless disregard for the law. No wonder Trump endorsed him.
There is indeed a chasm between these two candidates, and it rests on competence, intelligence and integrity much more than it does on histrionics.
26
@Shar
You are absolutely correct.
5
@Shar
Thank you for this report from the Frontline.
No doubt Georgia residents have far more insight when it comes to the candidates and the matters at hand.
The rest of us can only support you from afar, and hope you can get out the vote
6
One election does not define a state. All it does is expose a gaping divergence of opinion.
4
The first danger is that Trump's endorsement guarantees a Kremlin effort to alter Georgia's election results due to Mr. Kemp's indolence (or worse) with respect to protecting the integrity of Georgia's electoral system. The second danger is more of a certainty, that Mr. Kemp's efforts to deny the vote to blacks and Hispanics will succeed to some extent,perhaps enough to carry the day for him.
So that gives Georgia's moderates, if they still exist, a choice between staying home and voting for Ms. Abrams, who seems more moderate than depicted in an article laden with phony moral equivalence. I lived in the Georgia of super-seg Gene Talmadge. Mr.Kemp is his political heir, unable to follow in the shoes of normal conservative governors in the matter of putting Georgia's economy first. Georgia's independent voters get to choose between the economy and bigotry.
7
I live in Georgia and do not agree with the suggestion that there is no moderate candidate in the race: there is, and it's Abrams. Just as Obama was a moderate, so too is Abrams. Just because the right has drifted off into a land of angry, paranoid delusion wholly unmoored from actual policy doesn't mean the center has to move with it.
29
@DSM
I would cal her a left leaning pragmatist, exactly what most any rational person would want. I just hope our Demcratic voters don't sit out this midterm.
20
@DSM, Hear, hear. The middle path has always been the best way forward.
2
There is so much lying by Trump and his cadre of enabling co-liars, I fear that many of Kemp's supporters are hopelessly ignorant of the untrue world in which they are drowning. Add to that the latent and overt racism and ethnocentric nationalism, one can only wish Ms. Abrams the best of success under these sad circumstances.
Ms. Abrams shares many of Obama's virtues as well as her own qualities and for that reason, she may prevail. I hope so because if she loses to Kemp, Georgia will suffer just like our country is suffering under Trump.
7
As someone with strong family ties to Georgia and a supporter of Ms. Abrams from afar, I do hope she heeds the advice of those advising her to reach out more to the center. My fear is a lot of people who might otherwise support her will just stay home on election day. She's made some excellent points in her campaign, but sandblasting Stone Mountain? Really?
11
@JM
There are probably far more people than you can imagine who'd have no problem with "sandblasting" away any remaining vestiges of the Confederacy and the racist policies it stood for...Really.
4
Who would you rather have as your governor? Cousin Doofus or anyone else? Doofus will be too busy rounding up criminal illegals in his pickup. You cannot make this up!
16
@SH
You can't fix stupid. And I say this as a resident of Georgia.
If Brian Kemp wins the governor's race, the rest of the country will be justified in believing that the state of Georgia is exactly as portrayed in the movie Deliverance.
5
Georgia will go the way of North Carolina and scare off business and conventions. Mr. Kemp will win.
4
@Bob
Did you somehow miss the news that Charlotte, N.C. will be hosting the 2020 Republican Convention?....Keep up.
4
The results of any Georgia election is suspect. The state uses a single model of touchscreen voting with no paper trail. Before the 2016 election, Kemp was the only state election official to turn down election security assistance from the DHS, insisting that the state's elections were not at risk and distrusting Pres. Obama's efforts to "federalize elections".
However, a Georgia security researcher managed to download the entire database of 6.7 million voters, complete with passwords, that he could have altered undetected by anyone. A lawsuit filed in 2017 by the Coalition for Good Governance requested access to the servers, which became more imperative now that the indictments against 12 Russian GRU agents mention Georgia as one of the targeted states. Except that shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the servers were wiped, a process that Kemp called normal.
Kemp is not a person looking to govern well or honestly.
42
Brian Kemp is running a campaign of symbols and dog whistles, completely devoid of ideas and policy.
All shotgun, no shells.
All chainsaw, dull blade.
All truck, no gas in the tank.
Brian Kemp.
All hat, no cattle.
37
Enough with the talk of the precious middle. They're Republicans who choose not to call themselves Republicans.
2
How, exactly, is Stacey Abrams extreme? The article mentions she wants to expand Medicaid, which is something Republican Governors have done and is seen as a mainstream Democratic position. As far as I can tell, the only thing that's "extreme" or "radical" about Abrams is the fact that she's a Black woman.
46
“Ms. Abrams, Mr. Kemp said, was “backed by billionaires and socialists who want to make Georgia into California.”
Oh horrors!!! Tell ya what- ATL, Athens, any other Georgia community interested in living in the 21st Century- we’ll make you honorary Califiornians, anytime.
46
@Gurbie
Instead, how about some of you Californians come down to Georgia, enjoy the weather, and the far cheaper cost of living and help us turn the state solid blue!
4
@Gurbie
Nah, they wouldn't want to emulate one of the top five economies in the world.
2
I imagine the election of Stacey Abrams would once again make Georgia howl.
4
On illegal immigration alone, I hope that Kemp wins.
Hopefully, Georgia voters will completely reject the self-destruction that the fanatic progressive’s ‘open/no borders’ policy will bring to the state and the country.
10
@Summer
Immigration is a federal issue, according the U.S. Constitution.
What does immigration have to do with a governor's race - in any state?
If Brian Kemp actually rounded up the "criminal illegals" in his Ford F-350 and drove them to the border, he would be arrested and convicted.
28
@Summer You have totally exaggerated and stereotyped the Democrats position on immigration. No one is say "Open Borders" but we are saying "Compassion, particularly to Children!"
10
@Summer
FYI. There's a big difference between being a "fanatic progressive", and adhering to the term of the U.S. Constitution, which by the way, probably made it possible for your forebears to enter this country in the first place..
I suggest you read it first before casting stones.
4
I expect “Lester Maddox” to win by a good margin.
7
@Imperato
Mr. Kemp is not a reincarnation of Lester Maddox. If we must use 1960s analogies, then Kemp is much closer ideologically to Howard "Bo" Callaway, the GOP candidate who lost the '66 election for Georgia governor in which Maddox succeeded Carl Sanders.
Maddox was not a bad governor, or at least not nearly as bad as many feared Callaway would have been.
Given a choice between candidates with extreme campaign messages, I think a responsible voter picks the smarter one. That would be Ms. Abrams in 2018.
2
If Stacy Abrams wins, Amazon will come to Atlanta. It may come anyways, but the only disruptor of an otherwise obvious choice would be the election of a man running on values antithetical to those professed by Amazon.
27
Donating to Stacey Abrams, repeatedly. Representation matters, truly.
31
I deny that the parties are both extremist in their appeals to their base. It is certainly true that the GOP is in the hands of the far right. The GOP embraces nativism and appeals solely to white males; the only question is whether this is more undeniable or ignorant. The GOP has become the nest of vices it winked at and tolerated since Regan began his campaign spouting bloody rag racism in Philadelphia Ms. Now that's all they got, racism, misogyny and rejection of science.
Democrats do not condemn any group, explicitly welcoming everybody, even teachers belonging to unions or people whose crime is coming to America and wanting to be like us. The terrible ideas of the left amount to health care for all...just like every civilized nation except us has. A living wage, which the forced birther church supported, a long time ago. Good schools, good roads, opportunity for everybody's kids, so they can claim the birthright of America, the idea our kids can have a better life. Yeah, those are Democratic ideals. They used to be just American, but the GOP has turned its back on them. That does not make Democrats extremists.
35
Kemp needs to resign as Secretary of State in charge of elections immediately so that the outcome is beyond suspicion. Also, voters need to apply for absentee ballots so that there is a piece of paper to count in the likely case of a recount.
66
@abigail49 - smart, safe recommendations
17
It is a grave misunderstanding for writers to withhold acknowledgement that women, people of color, veterans, people with disabilities, and sexual minorities can too be counted to behave as political moderates.
Never mind that political moderation, here, is never clearly defined nor do the writers demonstrate how moderation in the American South might represent anything other than a select focus on growing a local economy as currently constituted. Nor does it recognize, that political moderation is less a set of coherent political beliefs than norms around how to publicly speak on and engage political ideas (and increasingly in this environment of raised nationalist sentiment, ideas about whom is permitted to engage). That within any of the constituencies of a 'political base' are contrarians, whose views on any variety of topics may track in directions at tension with the political campaign.
Can political moderation not also include the assertion that after centuries, it is indeed a reasonable and tepid political idea to select an other-than-white-man to lead a government? Or include the idea that extending Medicaid to the poor, or reaching out to constituencies that have for generations been left out of political processes (and might indeed have been gerrymandered and voter suppressed out of them) might also constitute a political center?
The Abrams campaign is not the politically extremist equal to racial intolerance or the explicit antagonisms of the right.
26
Not mentioned here is the voting issue. As secretary of state, Kemp was in charge when a number of voter suppression efforts went into place, including racial gerrymandering that turned into court cases. There is no paper trail in Georgia electronic voting. The election servers were hacked, despite previous warnings of vulnerabilities from Georgia Tech experts, which resulted in an FBI investigation, and then 'accidentally' one server was wiped.
One of the Russian spies visited Atlanta in 2016, and two of the Russian officers recently indicted got into county websites in Georgia. Kemp was the only secretary of state in the country to refuse assistance from the Department of Homeland Security before the 2016 election.
Stacey Abrams founded a nonpartisan voter registration effort called the New Georgia Project which was successful at reaching a number of young, minority, and other voters.
Republicans have had a lock on the state government with policies that have been good for business but have attacked women's rights for healthcare, have expanded guns into a broad guns everywhere policy forcing them on campuses against the wishes of universities and with a corresponding rise in homicides with Georgia ranking 4th in gun homicides in 2016. Rural hospitals have been closing due to not expanding Medicaid, and maternal deaths are rising.
The future lies with Abrams and not Kemp ideologically as new generations and Northern transplants reshape the state.
88
Scott Warden and others who paint Abrams as an extremist: please don't listen to the identity politics - her achievements for business and legislative achievements for Georgia are outstanding:
Abrams was named Champion for Georgia Cities by the Georgia Municipal Association, Legislator of the Year by the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce, Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, and Public Servant of the Year by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
She received the Georgia Legislative Service Award from the Association County Commissioners Georgia, the Democratic Legislator of the Year from the Young Democrats of Georgia and Red Clay Democrats, and an Environmental Leader Award from the Georgia Conservation Voters. Abrams won Grand Champion for showing 1000 lb. heifer Bessie at the 2012 Legislative Livestock Showdown at the Georgia National Fair.
Abrams is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly, an American Marshall Memorial Fellow, a Salzburg Seminar – Freeman Fellow on U.S.-East Asian Relations, and a Yukos Fellow for U.S. – Russian Relations (particularly critical in these Trump times, when governors need to be able to diplomatically liaise with other countries.)
Her competitors want to peg her as black and liberal only. That's completely understandable-if I were running against a candidate as formidable as Stacey Abrams, I'd be flailing and grasping at straws too.
68
On illegal immigration alone, I hope that Kemp wins.
Hopefully, Georgia voters will completely reject the self-destruction that the fanatic progressive’s ‘open/no borders’ will bring to the state and the country.
11
Last time Georgia enforced strict anti-immigration measures, crops were left rotting in the fields and fruit (like Georgia peaches) rotted in trees.
Radical anti-immigrant tactics harm the state's largest business which is agriculture. Migrants are needed.
28
@Summer - it's a good thing you live in NY - the borders you want to slam shut around Georgia will keep out incoming businesses and jobs (and will send some huge Georgia companies running for other states!) The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has awarded and praised Stacey Abrams - she's no flaming liberal like you want to paint. But I DO get your worry - if I were trying to support/work for the boyfriend-threatening angry guy running against a candidate with office walls lined up and down with her Georgia business and legislative awards, and strong praise from Republicans for her bipartisan achievements to boot - I'd be running scared silly too!
13
I’m sick and tired of the right wing accusing any liberal of wanting “open borders.” Ms. Abrams wants the current laws to be obeyed and a compassionate and orderly immigration policy. Before you make statements please show us where Ms. Abrams made open border statements rather than stating what you heard in a political ad sound bite.
8
I don't see what the quandary is. You either support a candidate who supports gay rights, rational gun policy, rational immigration policy, health care for all...or you don't. The GOP doesn't even remotely support these policies. No "moderation" about it.
71
Georgia voters need to hold State politicians accountable and keep the spotlight on tactics to block voters. State lawmakers promoted a restrictive system for adding new voters to the rolls that has late as the 2016 election disenfranchised tens of thousands of minority voters. Georgia also relies on paperless touch-screens proven to be insecure and hackable. With touch-screens it's not that difficult to commit electronic vote fraud.
How to hack elections on Georgia’s electronic voting machines - Apr 17, 2018
https://politics.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/how-hack-...
Georgia settles federal lawsuit alleging it blocked thousands of minority voters
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-settles-...
Did computer-aided fraud play a role In Georgia's special election upset?
https://www.mintpressnews.com/laughing-their-ossoff-did-computer-aided-f.
28
The so called centerists whom the authors cite, such as Zell Miller, were , and are,extreme right wingers by any rational definition.
As to their contention that primaries tend to produce "extremeists", The real issue is that the poor abandoned "centerists", by their own choice, have declined to participate in the process of self rule.
As to the candidates' platforms, at least on the Democratic side, Georgia votors finally have a candidate who might join John Lewis as an honorable representative of the State of Georgia.
31
The good ole boys yearning for the good ole days are a dying breed in Georgia. The film industry here is right behind LA and NY in size. People from all over the country are moving here, diversifying the demography further. There is nothing extreme about Stacy Abrams' positions. Kemp, on the other hand, uses all the Trump dog whistles. It's clear who will be better for Georgia.
81
@apparatchick -Kemp was key in preventing minority voters from voting as recently in the 2016 election:
"Georgia has settled a federal lawsuit that accused Secretary of State Brian Kemp of disenfranchising minority voters because of a requirement on registration forms that critics said blocked thousands of them from voter rolls." -Feb 09, 2017
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-settles-...
22
Only through the Republican looking glass could billionaires and socialists be conflated. Seems the Achilles heel for the Republican Party in Georgia and elsewhere isn't merely its embrace of oligarchy, bigotry, and religious fundamentalism, but the fact that it's quite apparently losing its marbles.
37
I think Abrams is going to win, and here's why.
Those of us who are often considered to be outsiders are sick and tired of wealthy white people in this state making the lion's share of the gains that come from our "diverse" and "welcoming" business environment.
And then to add insult to injury, when one of our politicians finally succeeds, like Mayor Reed in Atlanta, former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones (Atlanta), or former GA Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker (Augusta), the white power structure frames them like OJ Simpson and sends them to prison!!!
And now with Mayor Reed under investigation, they're already starting to act like Abrams is a mess just because predatory lenders and an unfair economy put her into debt and made it hard for her to pay her taxes!
I think we've had it up to here. This November is payback time!
Georgia WILL have higher taxes, we WILL be a sanctuary state, we WILL make sure everyone who needs free healthcare can get it through Medicaid, and we WILL make corporations pay their due!!!
Every DSA member, every socialist, every immigrant, and every person of color is going to be mobilized. If the white suburban supremacists who rejected Hillary aren't scared yet, they should be!
18
@Trans Cat Mom Mayor Reed has definitely been under investigation. He has reimbursed the City of Atlanta for thousands of dollars: "Since 2015, former Mayor Kasim Reed has used more than $50,000 from his personal and campaign bank accounts to repay taxpayers for charges he made on his city-issued credit card." https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/meals-laundry-and-vegas-fi...
There's much more - the AJC has done a stellar job investigating Reed.
1
I live in Atlanta, where it’s easy to believe race relations are good and Abrams and Kemp will be judged mostly on merit. But just this week, I was making small talk with a man from southeast Georgia. Here, small talk starts with who are your people and where are you from. I am white, and when he learned that my (thoroughly decent) husband was from a certain county, he immediately turned into a weird Johnny Reb, telling me that “I had married into a family and area such that I could really be somebody, welcome in special circles,” wink-wink, nod-nod. Ii felt like he was about to pull a white hood out of his pocket and toss it to me. All this in front of the young African-American woman who was with me, and said with no sense of shame, discretion, or even awareness. I backed away in a scramble, but I was wrong to be surprised and I think it was because the bubble of Atlanta had lulled me into forgetting how much hateful insanity remains in this state, where I’ve lived, in rural and urban areas, for 50 years. I wish Ms. Abrams all the best, but outside Atlanta, Athens, and maybe parts of Savannah, she’s got a tough road.
P.S. I’ve recently traveled in western Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh, and upstate New York (Finger Lakes, Ithaca.) What in God’s name is up with with the Confederate symbols and flags there? People who live there, please don’t let this become accepted normal. Once it starts, it is hard, hard, hard to uproot.
50
James Carville once said something to the effect of "Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Between them it's all Alabama." I was born and raised in Alabama and can confirm that far more people there fly the confederate flag than Old Glory. Sounds like Carville was right.
13
@Karen Hill
It's not your imagination nor a secret that once you leave New York City, the rest of the state is largely Confederate /Trump territory.
8
@Karen Hill
I find it's worse when I visit parts of the northeast. People like that are everywhere, but that doesn't mean they are the majority.
1
I hope someone is keeping an eye on the integrity of the actual vote, including machines...just sayin'.
26
@Lisa Merullo-Boaz
No kidding. The Republican Party can not be trusted to safeguard our voting apparatus. There is plenty of reason to think that elements within the GOP have already been involved with messing with the last election, with help from their new comrades. If we don't get control of the black box voting system that we have very soon, you can say goodbye to this being a viable country ever again.
1
Also worth noting that my home state of GA now has the opportunity to elect not only a female governor but also a Lt Governor... a white Christian business oriented one... this election will be a bellweather, but no matter how it turns out, the march of demographics and attitudes works against Republicans.
GOP understands their only chance is through
dark money
gerrymanders
voter suppression
Remains to be seen if legislators or judiciary will mute the effects of thos anti-democratic (small d) techniques...
-30-
12
I live in Ga now, the 10th state in 50 years.
It is includive POLICY, not identity and culture will be the basis for how many/?most will vote.
Your characterization of voters' motives is neither fact based or helpful.
7
Strongly agree w this writer. My support for Ms. Abrams is based on her long track record in the state legislature of supporting policies I agree with. Has nothing to do with culture or identity.
24
Nathan Deal has been a great business first politics second governor which has benefitted Georgia tremendously; if Kemp could tone down the nonsense about guns and his big truck he could easily be similar to Deal. Abrams seems to have poor financial sense which scares a lot of people even those like me that side with her leftist leanings and desire to blow up Stone Mountain
8
Here's my prediction. I don't know who will win or lose this race, but I'll bet my first born son that this will be one mean, negative and nasty campaign. The GOP will no doubt pull out all the stops with negative ads...I love my Atlanta friends, but let's not forget this is the state where Senator Max Cleland, a decorated and disabled Vietnam vet was endlessly slandered in TV ads as an Osama Bin Laden lackey by Republican Saxbe Chambliss. And won. Ironic, too.
You can look it up: "During the Vietnam War, Chambliss received student deferments and was also given a medical deferment (1-Y) for bad knees due to a football injury."
Georgia's GOP and their outside allies will pour millions into this race, and sling mud and demonize the Democrat. And as usual, the Democrats will take the high ground, talk about issues, health care, immigration, income inequality, the environment, etc. And if past is prologue, the dark side and the dark money will win.
I sure hope I'm wrong.
19
@Chip Lovitt - Georgia's GOP controls the voting levers; using various tactics to disenfranchise the state's voters and shift voters.
How to hack elections on Georgia’s electronic voting-
Georgia settles federal lawsuit alleging it blocked thousands of minority voters
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-settles-...
https://politics.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/how-hack-...
Did computer-aided fraud play a role In Georgia's special election upset?
https://www.mintpressnews.com/laughing-their-ossoff-did-computer-aided-f.
3
My grandmother, rest her soul, was from Rural Georgia. Decent "Full Dunk Baptist" woman she was, married to a Baptist Preacher.
Her comment on Rural Georgia?
"There are too many first cousins, too much 'kissin", and just not enough different last names in the phone book."
Kemp Country!
15
@Upwising
Interesting. But at the same time, it's hard to imagine that if your grandmother were Black, she'd be saying the same thing.
1
Democrats in other parts of the country should use Brian Kemp in their campaign ads.
Paint your Republican opponent as a "Brian Kemp Republican" - a cartoon character with a shotgun, chainsaw, and pickup truck.
Sadly, Brian Kemp may very well win in my state of Georgia. But on the national stage, he just might be the gift that keeps on giving.
9
Kemp is in charge of conducting this election, from his post as Georgia Secretary of State. He's also in debt to the White House, who have lots of experience bringing in help from the dirty tricksters (such as the Russians) to win close elections.
16
Has it become the style of the NYT to characterize voters as dangerous & diseased dogs? Or is there another intended meaning for RABID? Your editorial slant toward an illusory centrism is degrading your ability to report the news. Instead of normalizing fear through sensational & emotional language, make an effort to observe & report the currents and counter-currents within these social movements. Yes, the elites - including many of the NYT staff - do have much to fear: that is a consequence of gross inequality. But the centrist way is ultimately just tinkering with the status quo - see the Obama administration. Real social change requires active & bold social movements. The greatest fear of the elites is multitudes of people in the street, asking the question ‘Which Side Are You On?’
7
This article is an example of lazy journalism. Once again, the NYT’s is trafficking in false equivalencies. Stacey Abrams platform is anything but fringe. Is pursuing high-quality affordable childcare and universal access to pre-kindergarten programs the far-left? Is promoting affordable housing for the poorest really so extreme? Does your paper really believe making voting more accessible the stuff of Bolsheviks? On the other hand, Kemp wants to “take a chainsaw” to regulations, “round up” economic refugees and dump them at the border, and repeal healthcare for all. How, in good conscience, can “the paper of record” depict these two candidates as the same? Abrams is a public servant while Kemp is a xenophobic nativist. Shame on you.
86
Last year I was invited to a women’s luncheon for Emily’s List. There was a panel discussion including many renowned candidates including Kirsten Gillibrandt. Let me tell you something: Stacey Abrams stole the show.
An unknown on the national stage, she nonetheless managed to ignite the audience and when the panel was over the longest line was the one to shake her hand.
She’s awesome!
She’s pragmatic.. Smart. Earnest. Candid. Inspiring. She’s everything you want from a public servant. I predict she will win Georgia and I think she has a bright future ahead of her. She’d have my vote but alas I don’t live in Georgia.
But it she wins, I’ll wish I did.
31
@GWE
As a fellow New Yorker, I'd like to remind you that you aren't making your point any more significant by slamming our State Senator, Kristin Gillibrand, who was totally instrumental in passing the Zadroga Act to ensure 9/11 First Responders continued to receive health care.
I worked in the North Tower of the WTC, and what she did for these Heroes says and means a lot.
3
How moderate can any of these old saws be if they were willing to deny hundreds of thousands of Georgians health insurance through Medicaid? If they were willing to let rural hospitals go under and even big Atlanta hospitals have to struggle with patients who couldn't pay their medical bills? That's the heart of Abrams' "radical platform," Medicaid expansion, an idea borrowed from other left-wing states like Arkansas, Louisiana and Kentucky.
18
I grew up in both Atlanta and rural Georgia. I see no likelihood of Georgia coming to its senses. Gibbon blamed Christianity for the fall of the Roman Empire. Pretty much the same story in our country. Places like Georgia will lead the charge downhill.
4
Apparently Democrats are damned if they do damned if they don't. If they stake out positions, such as Medicare for all, free education, and other socially progressive ideas, then they are excoriated for being too radical. If, as this article Intimates that they should, they move to the center, whatever that is, pursuing the elusive center-right voter, then they are labeled as Republican light. I say, go for it Ms. Abrams, it's about time we started pushing this country forward, instead of trying to stay on the edge of the cliff while the Republicans are trying to drag us over the edge.
45
In the article:
"Both campaigns say they are committed to maximizing turnout by their most rabid supporters rather than moderating in order to broaden their appeal to centrists and independents."
I am one of those in-the-middle people for whom extremism does not fly. If I lived in Georgia, I would probably get disgusted and not vote. All things being equal, I mostly vote Democratic, so Ms Abrams would lose my vote.
I just don't get the political calculus that says the way to fight extremism in one wing is to go extreme in your own wing. The middle, where most of us sit, is far bigger than the extremes.
11
How is Abrams an extremist? Have you read her platform?
29
@Scott Werden "All things being equal" might be why you "get disgusted" and don't vote: moral relativism. "All things" are not equal: there is good and bad.
14
wow, you're going to let hate and racism prevent you from voting because you don't totally agree with the candidate in question.
I hope there are others who see differently.
10
I don't know why a progressive, forward looking national or international company would ever look at a Georgia headed by a close minded closet white supremacist as a new location for its company. Maybe a company that is stamping out latrines and paying minimum wage.
22
@kirk Educated (on paper at least) workforce and low unionization. There is no such thing as a progressive, forward thinking multinational. They exist to maximize profit, period, and fair play to them. It's government's job to keep them from damaging the overall society.
As a lifelong Georgian and follower of the news, I must say that this article's slant on Stacey Abrams isn't quite accurate. I have a wide network of friends, Georgians, mainly moderate to liberal Democrats who are quite satisfied with Abrams' policies. She said a lot more that we are satisfied with when she won than the thing about Stone Mountain.
This election in Georgia, and indeed the 2016 election, can be summed up as the last gasp of white supremacy versus the new emerging United States of America. The only question is will the new emerging Georgia led by Abrams win this year or in four or eight years, but the handwriting is on the wall.
65
@Katherine
The "only" question right now is will Abrams' supporters door knock, register voters, take them to the polls, support her financially, i.e. do the necessary and tiring grass roots, on- the-ground organizing?
Then, after the election you can see if your "only" question is relevant.
1
The local races are a sign of approval or disapproval of the Trump administration. I hope all of the voters act on this. Vote out all of the GOP representatives on Nov 6. Start with Kemp (GA), Scott (FL), Comstock (VA), Meadows (NC), Jordan (OH), Nunes (CA), Gaetz (FL), Goodlatte (VA), Brat (VA), Rohrabacher CA), McCarthy (CA), Sessions (TX), Gohmert (TX), Steve King (IA).
19
"...Mr. Kemp said, was 'backed by billionaires and socialists who want to make Georgia into California.'" And that's supposed to be a bad thing? CA has, depending on which stats to believe, the 6th or 11th (according to Politifact with adjustments to cost of living, etc.) largest economy in the world. I'm sure any Georgia business person would love to boast that fact about Georgia, and stated by Mr. Robinson: “The main thing is, let’s not do anything to mess up our historic business environment, particularly discriminatory practices of any kind...” Nice to see that there are progressive business people in Georgia.
8
@Sheila: As opposed to that Republican billionaire in the White House who's supporting Kemp...
4
@Sheila California is the Fifth largest economy in the world, having overtaken Great Britain following the Brexit disaster.
4
To those who want to discuss finances: Abrams is paying bills for two households - hers and her parents who are supporting her sibling's child - plus bills for college and graduate school, and she's working a government job.
And Abrams does NOT have the kind of government job (or lack of ethics) like Ivanka Trump - who made $82 million in her father's first year in office - or like Donald Trump's, who bilked taxpayers for $72 million for 123 golf days so far in his presidency and violates the emoluments clause to turn his deficit-ridden DC hotel profitable during his presidency. Abrams makes an ordinary amount of money - does not cheat taxpayers - and has tremendous responsibilities (even more students will suffer her pain going forward because of draconian student loan actions taken by our education grifter in chief, Betsy DeVos.) The new SCOTUS nominee has extensive debt - a current mortgage of $865,000 and significant credit card debt incurred on and off for more than a decade. He reported $60,000 to $200,000 in debt on three credit cards and a loan in 2006. And let's not forget Trump's 6 bankruptcies and thousands of lawsuits to get out of paying his bills-which ran many U.S. companies out of business.
But - nice try. I completely understand that it's hard to go after a ridiculously high quality candidate SUPPORTED BY GEORGIA BUSINESS when there's nothing but positives to find. I'd say good luck with your candidate who aims guns at boyfriends - but I wouldn't mean it.
30
Yet she loaned $50k to her campaign. Still owing $54k in student loans. Such interesting math when we look at others financial choices
3
@Margo - I applaud her lending $50 thousand to her campaign to do good for other people - confirmed by her heroically long list of business and legislative awards for the state of Georgia. Contrast that with Trump spending $72 MILLION taxpayer dollars on 123 days of golf in his first term so far (to do good for whom??) - and he's declared bankruptcy 6 times and sued thousands of companies to get out of paying his bills - running many out of business. And don't forget his Trump University fraud perpetrated on students that he had to pay $25 million to settle (and do you consider the money that went to Stormy Daniels and the Playboy model to be campaign-related loans or just bribes?) Abram's loan numbers also don't even come close to Nathan Deal's $2 MILLION owed when he took office. Like Abrams, his debt, though far far larger, was due in part to lending to family.
I get that you can't find anything real to tarnish her with - she's just that accomplished and clean. Georgia business loves her - she's won several Georgia legislative and Chamber of Commerce awards, and Republicans praise her BIPARTISAN legislation successes. Yes, Stacey Abrams is THAT good.
1
Why say I am going to sandblast Stone Mountain? That isn’t the way to unify a state. Her opponent says he is going to round up the illegals. I am actually for having the people here legal. There is a benifit for me there. Less illegals means higher wages and lower rent for the poor. Sandblasting the faces of people that have been dead for a hundred or more years does nothing for anybody. Removing the monuments is meant to just anger people. Washington owned slaves. Time to sandblast the Washington Monument?
10
@Jim "does nothing for anybody" who is white. you're not walking under and paying tax dollars to maintain a symbol of your ancestor's 300 years of dehumanization and enslavement and 200 years of terrorization after "emancipation."
12
@Jim
How about removing the faces, and the statues, of white men who tried to overthrow the government of the United States? True, Washington owned slaves. He, like slave-owning Jefferson, helped found the United States and its form of government. While they might have slave-owning in common, there is a world of difference between traitors and patriots.
6
One of the ironies of Stine Mountain park is that there are more black visitors on a weekend than white. It's a big chunk of granite surrounded by a park that is used and enjoyed without much focus on the family that owned it or their political activities.
1
I went to visit Chickamaugua once, and people were speaking Spanish at the nearest McDonalds. Georgia has changed a lot, and this race may be closer than people think.
12
@Mike Livingston wow, Spanish! Scandal! White genocide!
@Gustav Aschenbach I think Mike was referring to the fact of changing demographics, not bemoaning it.
I'm looking forward to the political ads that juxtapose Brian Kemp and his shotgun with Lester Maddox and his axe handle.
19
@MidtownATL Good idea. Hope the Dems use it.
The subtext of the Georgia governor's race could not be more clear - the good ole boy south vs anything/everything non-white. Now in the rural counties where confederate flags still fly, they will again become energized like they did in the 2016 elections. This is do or die time.
While Atlanta and its suburbs do hold the key to an Abrams victory, she knows she must reach all non-whites in the state to win. Blacks, Hispanics and young voters must turn out and vote. This is do or die time.
This will be an ugly campaign, filled with the likes of Trump and Pence, firing up the base in those rallies. Campaign contributions from the likes of the Koch Brothers and Heritage Foundation will be flowing to Kemp. Georgia is the glue that still holds the structure of the old south together. This is the bastion of white power and economic control for the region. An Abrams win would upset the old order. This is do or die time.
18
@Lawyers, Guns and Money That can do, but they can't avoid dying. One more drink at the toxic trough of white supremacy isn't going to make them any stronger economically. The Kochs aren't immortal, and twice their obscene fortunes wouldn't be enough to buy the feudal economies they want.
In an otherwise interesting article, reading Ms. Abrams described as a "brainy" Yale educated lawyer is hugely rankling. I can't image the same adjective being used to describe a man. Et tu, NYT?
17
@Karen
THANK YOU for pointing out blatant sexism! The use of the adjective"brainy" implies that smart women are the "exception to the rule". Will men ever learn?
2
@Karen No one is going to describe a man who brags about his guns and his trucks as "brainy". No man who runs on that sort of braggadocio would want that in the first place. Trumpism is the proud affirmation of what sawdust-headed football-lovin' skirt-chasin' beer-swillin' Barcalounger pilots think of as true manliness. Trump's candidates parrot it like it's holy writ. Kemp is the GOP's nominee because he was good at it.
3
Oh please, he was using comparison to frame the differences of each candidate; I’m about as PC as you can get and even I think your take is a bit ridiculous. And yeah, I could see a guy being labeled as brainy.
1
The Dem will win. Kemp is nor worthy.....
12
We should trust Georgia finances to a person who's deeply in debt and deferred her IRS payments in the last two years. We've all had financial setbacks. But her path to victory seems to be primarily reaching out to voters in serious debt with an awful history of paying money they owe. Good for her. Those debts should all be erased. What about the people who paid back the money they owed? They should all be reimbursed for their trouble.
3
@Brisco Darlin: So why trust America's finances to a guy who brought his father's successful business to the brink of bankruptcy on four separate occasions before being bailed out by friendly Russians?
20
I moved to Atlanta in 1965, the same year the city's business community turned her into the "City Too Busy to Hate."
The story is the stuff of legend: After Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize, progressives organized a dinner to honor him. But white leaders refused to attend and a prominent banker even mounted a phone campaign urging people not to go. That's when our white mayor called the chairman of Coca-Cola. And at a hastily called meeting of city business leaders, Coke's CEO spoke of the embarrassment of being headquartered in a city that refused to honor its Nobel prize winner: "The Coca-Cola Company doesn't need Atlanta. You all need to decide whether Atlanta needs the Coca-Cola Company."
Over 1500 attended the dinner, including all the white movers and shakers of the business community. By the end of the evening, they even joined in a rendition of We Shall Overcome. And business boomed.
The business community is hardly going to get behind a professedly "politically incorrect" supporter of the religion bill they just got Nathan Deal to veto. And contrary to the characterization here, Abrams is not a far left firebrand they can't stomach. She is smart to the point of geeky and has a long record as minority leader of the Georgia Senate as knowledgeable, rational and pragmatic.
Metro Atlanta--with its powerful business community and over half the state's population--is true blue. The issue is not centrists' lack of choice. It is rural turnout.
55
Growing up as white southerner, I've longed for my childhood region to join the future of our country. Remember this was the state that brought us a compassionate, honorable Jimmy Carter.
The "southern strategy" has given repubs frequent power to reward their Oligarchs and punish everyone else, including the majority of white southerners. Perhaps it's ready to fade with it's self destructive thinking.
15
At Predictit.com, Abrams has a 38% chance of winning.
3
Unfortunately the governor's race in Georgia is going to have a lot in common with the recent election in Kenya. All that will matter is what tribe you are in, and the majority tribe will once again beat the minority tribe.
5
If it was all about the economy, Georgians would love someone ‘backed by billionaires and socialists who want to make Georgia into California’
10
I guess issues don’t matter anymore. The NYT just wants us to vote along color lines.
12
@M: This is a news story, not an editorial. There's nothing in this article that indicates The Times' preference for one candidate or the other.
7
@stu freeman
You’re kidding, right?
Having lived in the ATL in the 90's during the runup to the Olympics, the city was red hot. And how Atlanta goes, so does the state. New corporations attracting highly educated millennials of all races, housing starts that were affordable to a rapidly expanding minority middle class, world class banking and sports teams, surrounding by parks and trails and river systems. And a state lottery system that is a success. Best of all the politics were run by democrats but who were supported by forward thinking moderate republicans. Atlanta was and still is a beacon of modernity. Unfortunately, the current governors race is shaped by binary choices. One steeped in looking backwards, the other looking forwards. And not coincidentally shaped largely by race. Those voting will have to ask themselves, is it time for a second renaissance? The choice is clear to me what this state needs.
23
I so hope that the people of Georgia do not end up having to deal with what we in North Carolina have had to deal with for the last decade. Hyperpartisanship combined with poor leadership in the General Assembly and weak governors from both parties have devastated both the government and the politics of a state whose steady moderation somewhat resembled that of Georgia until about 2009. Although Ms. Abrams is clearly the candidate best prepared to move Georgia into the future, the victory of either candidate will push hyperpartisanship in Georgia into the stratosphere, which will doubtless impact both Georgia's economy, and more importantly, the cohesiveness of the Georgian population. Perhaps in this age of Trumpism, populism, and resistance to change coming from those who are so afraid of diversity in America, all of this is sadly unavoidable.
20
I moved to Atlanta from San Francisco in 2008 to take a job in academia. I have made a few dear friends here but have never felt completely welcome. Kemp told me as much last week in his victory speech. Educated, well-traveled, and informed people who value diversity are not welcome in Kemp's vision of Georgia. Sadly, Kemp will most likely win and become a blot on the state's reputation. The business community should be afraid, very afraid of the consequences of Kemp in the governor's chair. It is also important to note the visceral dislike of Atlanta in rural parts of the state. A portion of the rural population may very well prefer to crash the economy in order to return the state to the 1950s. As for me, I am off to the West Coast next week to search for retirement property. And as for the Georgians who tell disaffected outsiders that "Delta is ready when you are," I say "I sure hope so."
52
@Lucien Dhooge
Not only will you have Trump the Vile as your president but you will have a ridiculous cartoon called Kemp as your governor. Is the job worth it?
2
@Lucien Dhooge - As a native Georgian of 60+ yrs., may I offer my apology for any who suggested you leave, and it makes me sad to think that you will, although I don't blame you (I hope that you will be here long enough to cast a vote in upcoming elections - we need all the help we can get).
Kemp, Cagle, Deal, David & Sonny Perdue and now Handel (who took Prices' seat), are all backward, retrograde, embarrassing do-nothings who hold our state hostage to a time and ideology anchored in a shameful past. They've done nothing to improve the every day lives of most Georgians - nothing.
After two decades of their stewardship of the state, it is only through sheer numbers of people like yourself, that we've managed to maintain some forward momentum. I hope you stay long enough to help send the likes of Kemp to the woodpile. If we can turn GA around, despite the R's herculean efforts to cheat their way into office, there's hope for the rest of the south. Despite what many may think, we're not all dumber than a bowl of grits.
Just remember that what afflicts GA is not geographically confined to GA - Issa, Nunnes and Rohrbacher to name a few, are from CA, so watch your back(yard).
13
@Deb
Thank you for your post. I will indeed be here long enough to vote in the next election or two.
Fair point about CA. I lived in San Francisco but worked in the Central Valley. I felt as if I was crossing an international border every time I crossed over the Altamont Pass. There was a farmer/rancher who carved an enormous cross into the western-facing side of the pass. That became my informal boundary line for the 12 years I made the commute.
Interesting analysis. One factor not reported here is local Atlanta politics where, bit by bit, financial "missteps" by the past mayor of Atlanta and his inner circle are being uncovered. Corruption in City Hall can affect how Atlanta voters see Abrams.
3
@Margo Why Abrams and not Kemp?
2
@Margo will only affect voters if they are the unthinking illogical variety.
3
Moderate votors in Georgia are stuck in a real world version of the kids’ game: “Would You Rather?”
Would you rather support common sense gun regulation or arm the racists, the mentally ill and the criminally inclined with more semi-automatic weapons?
Would you rather help ICE put children in cages, or work to advocate for and implement a more humane and rational immigration policy?
Would you rather extend the benefits of prosperity beyond the 1%, or continue to do the bidding of the Koch brothers, the Mercers and the Trump?
Would you rather maintain your nostalgic attachment to a white, Christian, racist South, or work with people of all races and religious backgrounds to build a more inclusive Georgia?
Moderate voters need to do more than throw up their hands in frustration. They need to go to the polls and make a choice about who they want to lead them and who they can work with. Then, they can have a voice in moderating the divisive, corrosive politics of today. It’s not a kids game anymore!
44
@RDB: agreed. Moderation is what happens when adults on both sides recognize the need for compromise in order to achieve prosperity, equality, and justice for all. This is no time for moderation in choosing of candidates. Ms. Abrams is not an extremist, she is putting out there what we all want in this country - ADULTS running our local, state, and federal governments who know that campaigning is different from governing and compromise is required to have functional governments.
6
She is referred to as a black woman. A minority. Why not an extremely smart Yale grad who will soon start a revolution?
61
@Voice Of Reason - I completely agree! And Abrams is recommended for her bipartisan legislative and business achievements by both parties and the chamber of commerce!
1
People are focusing on the ideologies of the candidates. In Atlanta, a lot of policy has been driven by the dollar. After the Civil War Henry Grady was a white supremacist but championed the New South to encourage northern investment. Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. saw segregation as a threat to Atlanta’s economic growth. And in 2015 when Georgia Senate bill 129, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was introduced and its passage was estimated to have a negative economic impact of $1-2 billion, it died. These same forces are likely to come into play in this election after a lot of shouting about ideology. When it comes down to losing Atlanta’s film industry or getting tougher on illegal immigrants and hobbling Georgia farmers because they can’t find labor, things sure better find a way of working out.
18
@Susan. I heartily agree.
The powerful Atlanta business community is hardly going to support Brian Kemp, who proudly proclaims his political incorrectness and campaigned on the passage of the same religious "liberty" bill they got Nathan Deal to veto. They know it will be the death knell to our bid for Amazon's second headquarters and a poke in the eye not only to our thriving film industry, but also to the many national and international companies already headquartered here.
And it's not like Stacey Abrams is the far left fringe candidate she is portrayed in this piece. As minority leader of the state senate, she has demonstrated not only her intelligence and understanding of how business works in this state, but also her rationality and pragmatism.
I hope and believe that just as Ivan Allen and Coca-Cola turned the rest of the white business community around in 1965 to honor Martin Luther King--appealing not to their higher angels but purely to their business interests--the now far-more-powerful Atlanta business community will work to turn the governor's mansion blue for the same reasons.
Unfortunately, the real battle will likely be fought in Georgia's rural hinterlands. The chainsaw, guns and pickup truck contingent will be out by the millions. The monkey is on the Dems' back to do an even better job of turning out the vote than Doug Jones.
6
The article characterizes Stacey Adams as a fringe candidate because she wants to expand Medicaid coverage to include more of the poor people and disabled, and because her strategy to win depends on registering young and minority voters.
Is this really "fair and balanced" reporting?
140
@Robert Dannin
I noticed that too. If that is fringe, what is the middle?
13
I understand Ms. Abrams was implicated in a scheme that "diverted" money raised to support her political campaign into her private business. So it appears she's a typical politician regardless of her "person of the people" campaign speeches. That means she's another political hypocrite. She should do well.
14
@Brisco Darlin Fake News? Sure sounds like it. This post needs to be investigated. Bigly.
1
@Brisco Darlin wouldn’t it seem reasonable to offer some evidence for this vague statement?
5
@Brisco Darlin
I live in Georgia and haven't heard of this accusation. Would you please post the source for it?
4
I'm surprised the article doesn't mention that Brian Kemp is currently Georgia's Secretary of State, and thus in charge of elections in GA. And I've heard nothing indicating he intends to resign from that position this. He'll be overseeing the election for governor that he's running in...could there be a more overwhelming conflict-of-interest?
His record as SoS is abysmal. He's been sued and challenged numerous times by the NAACP and others for illegal purging of voters from the rolls. In 2014 he said, urging Republicans to register voters,"…Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.”
Democrats are working hard, but with Kemp as SoS and the extreme gerrymandering by Republicans in the Georgia House, it's going to be very tough for Democrats in GA this November.
104
@Mendel
There was a lot of useful information missing from this article, as the authors fell back on the search for equivalencies and standard framing. Thanks for providing these important details. In his campaign ad, Kemp made himself look like nothing more than a smug guy who liked to wind people up (not unlike the president he supports). It's disheartening to learn he has real influence over how this election will be conducted, and has a chance of gaining even more power. Good luck to the Democrats.
14
@Mendel
Very interesting point about Kemp overseeing the elections as Secretary-of-State.
I’ll certainly contribute to and vote for Abrams but people should not expect a supposed “blue wave” (or even rational thought?) to suddenly sweep over GA this fall. True, her opponent is a bigoted incompetent but her securing the Democratic nomination was more a testament to the dearth of electable statewide Democratic candidates than any other factor. I fervently hope she proves me wrong but don’t expect it.
9
The press and pundit alike are going to characterize this race as ''extremes'' running against one another. That could not be further from the truth.
There is only one extremist running, and that is the one on the radical right, that not only wants to keep the status quo, but go back to even before the civil war, as far as people's rights are concerned.
The other candidate simply wants there to be human rights for all and equality for all, in all regards. That could be socially or economically. She is Progressive and wants to move the state forward, instead of backwards.
Georgia has a clear choice and the outcome is obvious.
154
Agree with everything you say except the last statement.
It’s not obvious which choice will win.
1
@FunkyIrishman
Hear hear. It's stunning to see the Times reporter characterize Abrams's candidacy in such polarizing terms. The "story" about her seems to be to be three-fold. How does her "brainy" Yale Law career (so surprised the reporter doesn't dig into that east coast credential) connect to her track record in Georgia's state legislature? And it seems to me that Georgia's demographic shifts make Abrams far from being a "fringe" candidate.
5
Yet another article that creates a false narrative of two extremist candidates. There is only one extremist candidate in this race and that is Kemp, a man whose campaign ads were a circus of shotgun wielding threats and offers to kidnap undocumented immigrants.
Kemp and some fellow Republicans, like his former runoff opponent Cagle, pretend to be pro-business but seem to have no problem removing a tax break for Delta airlines, our state’s biggest employer, when they announced they would no longer honor certain discounts for NRA members.
This is such a tired article that simply empowers an extremist right by giving a tale of false equivalency to its readers. Ms. Abrams is a reasonable, decent person who is running against someone who has opted to win votes by doubling down on Trump’s brand of vague generalizations on real issues and inflammatory rhetoric on guns and immigrants.
135
@SouthernMed False equivalency has run rampant, has paralyzed too many centrists and is being successfully wielded as a propaganda weapon more often than not by one side of the political spectrum.
4
Sandblast Confederate figures off Stone Mountain? Might as well advocate erecting statues of William Tecumseh Sherman around Georgia!
12
@TenCato I think Ms. Abrams made a misstep with her comment. While I think that Stone Mountain is an appalling tribute to slavery, it is on private property and the government has no right or power to destroy it. It is protected speech under out Constitution.
@TenCato No need to do that, just remove the traitors from public land.
3
Stone Mountain is on property owned by the State of Georgia, therefore it is public land. It also happens to be the birthplace of the KKK. That a natural wonder could be defaced for the sake of a confederate memorial is in and of itself disgraceful, that it happens to be the Klan's birthplace adds insult to injury. Abrahams is the first public official with the vision to say it should be removed. That said, I believe Stacy should leave the decisive rhetoric to Kemp and campaign on positive issues that will attract rather than alienate those middle of the road voters who are experiencing voter's remorse for voting against HRC in favor of tRump.
2
Not surprising to hear Republicans spouting the same old myth that a Black candidate will support more Welfare and Medicaid handouts for poor Blacks, when in reality it's mostly poor whites who benefit.
All the more reason for Georgia to get out the vote and finally bring a change to the Deep South's false and racist narratives.
92
@N. Smith .... I wonder how many whites will be willing to give up their social security and medicare benefits ?
5
@barneyrubble
Not many. Probably none. And even less willing to admit that this is reality, and not 'Fake News'.
The press and pundit alike are going to characterize this race as ''extremes'' running against one another. That could not be further from the truth.
There is only one extremist running, and that is the one on the radical right, that not only wants to keep the status quo, but go back to even before the civil war, as far as people's rights are concerned.
The other candidate simply wants there to be human rights for all and equality for all, in all regards. That could be socially or economically. She is Progressive and wants to move the state forward, instead of backwards.
Georgia has a clear choice and the outcome is obvious.
7
The press and pundit alike are going to characterize this race as ''extremes'' running against one another. That could not be further from the truth.
There is only one extremist running, and that is the one on the radical right, that not only wants to keep the status quo, but go back to even before the civil war, as far as people's rights are concerned.
The other candidate simply wants there to be human rights for all and equality for all, in all regards. That could be socially or economically. She is Progressive and wants to move the state forward, instead of backwards.
Georgia has a clear choice and the outcome is obvious.
6
@FunkyIrishman
Amazing that some actually believe that Republicans want to take ‘people’s rights’ back to ‘before the civil war.’ You know, as in reinstituting slavery. It’s that nonsensical level of rhetoric that makes the so-called ‘resistance’ absurd.
9
I support anyone who believes we should tear down the children's concentration camps, stop the "let's have blacks and whites fight" arguments stop, and adhere to "all men are created equal". The Republicans, generally, miss this simple cut-off point. But a lot of Democrats do also.
9
@Roger Duronio Do you have any idea how offensive all these "concentration camp" analogies are? Please answer yes or no - are there children OR adults being herded en masse into gas chambers and being gassed to death anywhere in the US? And, btw, didn't "migrants" crossing the border illegally CHOOSE to do so? Concentration camp analogies are an insult to the 7 million people who were killed in REAL concentration camps in Europe.
4
>
I hope she wins, but this is GA we're talking about, yes?
4
No one thinks that a young Roy Barns or even a young Jimmy Carter would be a winning candidate in GA these days. But lots of folks, many of whom are never going to vote for any Democrat, seem to think that Abrams should run as one.
2
Stacey if you are reading these comments I have some advice- Let the other guy do 'crazy' and you stick to jobs, jobs, jobs and economic growth for Georgia. Don't fall into the cultural wars trap. Georgians love their pocketbook. Nothing wrong with sticking up for your values but you must stress that if we elect Kemp we will lose business due to his cultural agenda. Georgia is much more diverse now than it ever was and it is our strength. That is the message.
72
@rose
I am further left than most of the Democratic Party, but you are correct that the winning issues are those that help working people thrive.
If you show people that left economics works better than encouraging corporations to take money out of the U.S., then left community norms will be far easier to spread.
The majority of the country wants to subsidize education and universal healthcare, and build and maintain modern infrastructure, and have no problem with the mega rich paying more taxes.
Social issues divide the county down the middle and are hard to win elections on.
But candidates have to follow their passion. Pretending to have no values has almost killed the Democratic Party.
There you go again, NYT. More willing to gin up a false-equivalence drama to keep clicks than to report on the lopsided, anachronistic behavior and ideas of one of the candidates. You did this in the 2016 general, and it did not help this country. What is your core motivation?
38
@Bob Jones - click bait
1
I moved to GA in 1996, when my last duty assignment on active duty in the army was Ft. Gordon. At that time, we still had the Stars and Bars as part of the State flag. Removing it was what cost Roy Barnes his political career. When I first got here, the very last hold-outs among conservative Democrats were in the process of defecting to the GOP, which has given Republicans a lock on political power in the state ever since. As the article mentions, concerns about driving away business kept them from doing anything too crazy for a while. But the arrogance that comes with having an unassailable lock on power for almost two decades, combined with the carefully planned, patiently implemented, think tank researched, billionaire funded rightward drift of the nation has ended the last vestiges of moderation. And Democrats, weary of the defeats that have accompanied their attempts at triangulation and compromise, have decided they have little left to lose by abandoning attempts to negotiate with terrorists.
44
As a resident of Georgia for the last 50 years (all in Atlanta), and as a white male, I’ve worked with black and Hispanic workers of all classes. They aren’t any different than white people - just more traumatized by how we’ve treated them over the years. Now the Rad Cons (radical conservatives) are claiming the mantle of victimization (“they are storming our borders” and “they want to take away our guns”). As long as anyone stays in a place of fear, there’s little hope of meaningful change. I do think appealing to the wisdom of the middle is a wiser course than supporting either fringe - right or left.
15
One would think so (re: appealing to the center). But the Ossof campaign showed that the hurdles are too high. I think Ms. Abrams has a very small chance either way. But if she wins as a progressive, it will cause an uproar in the Democratic wing everywhere else!
2
@CS What about the trauma inflicted on victims of violent crime and their families? Why don't liberals care about THEIR trauma?
3
They do. Most violent crime is perpetrated by Americans (not foreigners or immigrants- legal and illegal). But a lot of violent crime is with guns - which are easily obtained without any checks.
Liberals have empathy for the victims of crime but focus on the true facts and want to address the true cause. But it’s so much easier to whip up hate by blaming Mexicans.
1
In a fair election with strong turnout in Atlanta and other cities, Abrams might be able to win, but "Jaw Jaw" has a long history voting irregularities. One of the most recent and famous involved Karen Handel's election to Tom Price's Congressional seat. Pre-election polls consistently showed Jon Ossoff with a 4-5% lead, yet Handel "won." With Republicans still in control of the electoral apparatus in "Jaw Jaw," don't be surprised if history repeats itself.
8
Pre-election polls aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Didn't you learn that in the last presidential election?
1
I'm a bit surprised that we're still doing this kind of political sporting analysis as if politics is only a game and not real life. Pivot to the middle? So declare what you believe in and then nullify it a few weeks later? Why can't Stacey Abrams just have what at this point are mainstream Democratic party viewpoints without a false equivalency with an insane person? She may not win, but she doesn't need to stop advocating for popular things like expanding Medicaid. You decry the gap between the two, but it just seems to me that every time a mainstream democrat goes up against a far-right nut-job conservative there are a spate of articles wishing the democrat would moderate themselves. Georgia is ready for a progressive who is one of their own. We don't need to pine for the lost middle, just understand that smart people are allowed to run from the left without it being a negative thing.
34
There is no need of elections to know what the Deep South stands for: ignorance, racism, bigotry, and religious fanaticism. Several centuries of history should have made this very clear by now, one should think.
17
@Richard Monckton
Stereotypes save time but perhaps ascribing ‘ignorance, racism, bigotry, and religious fanaticism’ to an entire region with tens of millions of people betrays your own ‘ignorance, racism, bigotry and (secular) fanaticism’ and intolerance.
13
It would be so good for Georgia to enter the 21st Century but the good ol' boys in the redneck parts of the state are still alive-they are just deciding which flag to wear these days-the one for the traitors of the 19th century civil war or the one from Russia.
12
This will also signal to businesses whether Georgia is backwards and racist, like Kemp, or inclusive and forward looking. I would certainly hesitate to choose Georgia if they choose gratuitous cruelty that Kemp admires and promotes.
19
Another article that tries to say that both sides are equally extreme and blah, blah, blah.
21
In 2016, I had the bumper sticker "Love Trumps Hate".
Guess what I learned?
God help us.
6
Centre schmentre. Stacy Abrams message doesn't seek to marginalize anyone, rob them of their dignity and leave them feeling like strangers in a strange land. The other candidate? He as much as boasts if you don't look like him and his followers he'll happily run over you with his big truck. The Times needs to cut it out with such false equivalencie and give its readers credit for a little intelligence.
36
@Leigh My thoughts exactly. Disappointing take on these two candidates. One is inspiring and imclusive the other is running on a platform of bigotry and fear.
10
@Leigh
I agree completely. It's so disappointing to see the Times reporters mischaracterize Abrams' record and policy positions so thoroughly.
3
How on earth is expanding Medicaid or raising taxes for education equivalent to waving guns around in TV ads or "rounding up illegals" and personally deporting them at the (which, exactly) border?
24
@Teddy Chesterfield
Stacey is for MediCAID for All, ted.
1
I think her talk about defacing stone mountain will work against her. I am not a Republican, but I see no reason to do that, as it just a meaningless art work, at this point.
Better to focus on thing that will help the state citizens.
8
@bruce
Lots of Stacey’s ideas won’t preach in GA. I live here.
2
@bruce
Just to be clear. Ms. Abrams is talking about removing signs of the Confederacy from Stone Mountain -- not "defacing" it.
There's a difference.
2
@N. Smith The fact that you don't realize how much this depends on one's point of view is part of the left's problem. Along with their reluctance to even permit differing points of view.
Kemp is a wolf if Lester Maddox' clothing.
5
Looking in from the outside, it is interesting to see the cultural veneer that American polarization bares. However, underneath all these dog whistles I sense that the real issue is about money. The political right, whether it be upper-middle-class professionals, or lower-middle-class tea partiers want their money, and everyone else to be excluded. The cultural veneer simply allows these right-wing groups to sucker the working classes who have to pay the price for their privileges.
The "Confederacy'' rises again and again!
5
@Barry Lane I definitely agree with your first two sentences. Having lived in Canada, however, I know it to be a comparatively rich country. Basically, Canada is an upper middle class country, with working class Canadians more comfortable and secure than working working class Americans. Maybe Canada's much, much more restrictive immigration policy helps maintain working class Canadians' higher wages and benefits? Also, Canadians didn't seem to spend a lot of time ridiculing and bashing other Canadians (Although I seem to remember a few mild jokes about "Newfies".) Anyway, could it be that the more anxiety people feel, the worse they behave?
3
Abrams will need to maximize the nonwhite vote like Doug Jones did in Alabama (98% of black women and 93% of black men voted for him).
Her gender is irrelevant. Southern white women will dutifully vote republican again... They voted for Roy Moore in Alabama even though he wished to eliminate all constitutional amendments after the 10th, which includes the women’s right to vote!
The most promising thing for Abrams is that trump won Georgia by only 5 points, while carrying Alabama by 28 points.
6
@ Chris
Abrams can win white college educated women in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia. Please retire that stereotype of white women in the South as ‘dutifully’ behaving one way or another. I am accountable to no man for my vote.
2
We have learned that a governor can do a lot of harm if he/she wants to but doing much good requires the cooperation of the legislature. The barking by this Republican about driving a truck around and rounding up illegals is a foolish appeal to the fringe, but it can work. I'd like to see people with trucks drive food to shelters and voters to the polls.
The immigration service is alive and well, and doing its job even if Mr. Kemp would have the good people of Georgia feel they must hide under the bed covers until he shows up. Mr. Kemp's appeal to fear and leading a parade with torch lights should be over. Georgia is a great state and should be leading the way to a better USA rather than retreating to some fear-soaked ragtag version of a society not needed in this age.
7
Stacey Abrams will be our next Governor. Ms. Abrams is a well educated - Yale, in fact, - woman who brings a caring, inclusive message, a woman whose personal story is one of living out the message of caring for all not just those who look like her. She sees a bright future for Georgia, a state that international companies will expand into because we have such excellent colleges and the renowned UGA in Athens, the home of Abrams' opponent, Brian Kemp. Kemp will not win against Ms. Abrams. The only way he could win against his former opponent Casey Cagle was by releasing tapes of Cagle being less than honest and of course the help of Trump Pence duo but when up against an educated woman like Stacey Abrams who actually appeals to people of all races and cultures Kemp does not have a chance. Who is Kemp? Well, he is the man who will lead Georgia back to the Lester Maddox bad old days. Just look at Kemp's commercials wherein he portrays himself as a little trump who will load up his pickup and hit the road collecting 'illegals' and drive them to the border. Or, with his rifle or chainsaw - Lord only knows what he plans to do with those but it does bring back images of the 1960's Governor Lester Maddox and his ax handle which he used to threaten black people in particular. This great state cannot afford to go backwards with Kemp and that is why Stacey Abrams will be our next Governor.
16
@Martha There are plenty of voters who eat up Kemp's dogwhistle politics. I hope you're right about Abrams, but if you'd really like her to win, I'd encourage you to work for voter registration and voter turnout. She won't win unless people of all races get to the polls!
8
I hope so - but it will take an uprising of people who are sick of the Russian puppet to make this happen.
5
Georgia is redneck like tobacco is to nicotine. Ignorant, underserved and self-destructive. The wonderment is why anyone would try to save dusty roads, corrupt sheriff departments and county clerks that are beholding to political bosses. Ms. Abrams is a brave woman but possiblely unaccustomed to the deep flaws of rural Georgia.
2
If the republican wins, Hollywood should stop making movies there. I'm tired of seeing that Georgia peach in the credits. And I always wonder why LA lefties would give money to those people.
6
Yes, watch out, Georgia. The secretly-Kenyan, secretly-Muslim, secretly anti-colonial, communistic segment of your state is secretly conspiring to make you another. . .Virginia.
5
Heads up republicans and democrats: you won’t always get a candidate you want, like, or one that speaks to your moderate soul.
We tell our kids: sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do because they need to be done.
Hard work is hard.
Quit complaining about the candidate you don’t have and educate yourself about the two you do.
Then vote.
11
I would STRONGLY urge the New York Times to look carefully at their political coverage of ALL upcoming elections.
We are now suffering mightily, as a nation, because too many media outlets forgot to focus on policy stances of candidates, and instead rushed en masse to cover the most “dog-whistle-y” and “entertaining” candidates; in large part creating the circus atmosphere that got us to the tRump era- to no one’s benefit (except the very wealthy).
PLEASE DO BETTER THIS TIME AROUND!
48
@Michelle Neumann don’t bet on it...this article shows the problem.
The NYT developed a wonderful map of red and blue counties across the state this week. Take a look at it. It shows Georgia and many if not all states with red rural counties and blue cities and suburbs. This race will be against the rural counties of Georgia and the blue counties of its cities. Urban v. rural. North Carolina lost this race when the red counties won and took a big step backward in attracting new business and industries. We'll see if Georgia and other Southern States move forward.
12
Another vivid example why the 2-Party system no longer functions in America.
We need a Moderate 3rd Party, and FAST!
3
Stacey Abrams has a real chance to attract a broad swath of undecided voters if she focuses relentless attention on her opposition to any new, unnecessary and highly divisive "Religious Liberty" laws.
Her position is in clear contrast to Brian Kemp who has painted himself in a box with his passionate support for this kind of legislation. Kemp's action on this one issue could jeopardize Georgia's tremendous economic growth engines and make us look just like Indiana and/or North Carolina.
Moderates, suburban Republicans and disengaged voters might wake up and see that Kemp is a big threat and get out and vote. Abrams should be making the case to them again and again.
14
@cramerrsjr I wouldn't go to Georgia for any reason even if someone paid me to do it.
If the red states in the southern US don't want to move into the 21st century with the rest of the world, fine.
Let them secede. We'll help them. They will find out that their overarching principles will not carry them forward.
Georgia is on my Mind. The future, or the past. This Century, or the 1800s, and even earlier. Women, especially Black Women: THIS is your time to shine, and WIN. WE can do this, here's this secret plan : VOTE. Make sure everyone you know is registered, get them interested and excited. Take them to Vote. Spread the word, and the necessity. Please.
10
Keep Stone Mountain. Save the horses. Art. Tourism. You can add some insightful commentary at viewing sites. Future generations many years from now can erase the carving if they even care one way or the other. It will be like looking at some ancient Roman ruin and not thinking too deeply about the human misery associated with it.
3
"The Republican won the nomination Tuesday after branding himself a politically incorrect conservative who would “round up criminal illegals” and haul them to the border in his very own pickup. The Democrat all but opened her campaign by demanding that the iconic carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson be sandblasted off Stone Mountain."
Both Sides!!! On the one hand, rounding up babies into jails, on the other the racists' monuments get taken down.
7
As Georgian and a white senior citizen born in the deep south, Stacey Abrams for me represents, hope. Old white men have run the country into the ground and Kemp was even responsible for the cover up the 2016 vote machine hacking in Georgia!
It's long past time for change and Abrams is the future Georgia needs, not a man in a TV ad threatening a boy with a shotgun like Lester Maddox with an axe handle.
31
Yeah Jorjah is an “image conscious” state all right.
The state’s image was set in stone for me the night the benighted electorate voted out Democratic Senator Max Cleland in favor of Republican Saxby Chambliss.
Max was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who won a Purple Heart and Bronze Star and lost both legs and an arm for his country. He was 25 while serving in Nam.
Saxby was a draft dodger who sat out the war with college student deferments and a “bad knee” from playing football.
In the run up to the election Saxby ran an ad campaign questioning Cleland’s patriotism of all things and was elected by 53% of the good people of Jorjah.
Expect another white southern Lee Atwater Republican like Kemp to win handily in November, especially since Trumpo has made being openly racist de rigeur again in the South.
10
A democrat will not win Georgia—black or white. So, hyping this as a black white event is just wrong.
4
For Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp, their politics and those to whom they appeal couldn’t be more stark. There seems to be no give or take, no middle ground. Both sides are gearing up for a scorched earth campaign with an “either or” unspoken message to independents and uncommitted voters.
With the middle being ignored by both sides, the Georgia gubernatorial race will have echoes of the 1968 presidential election that had a tapestry of divisive racial politics woven into the fabric of that campaign. The political assassinations, anti-war demonstrations and widespread civil unrest placed American voters in two distinct and unfriendly camps, which favored the Republican Party, simply because there were more white voters willing to vote against the radical left. Sheer numbers probably will favor Kemp over Abrams in November in spite of Georgia’s changing demographics.
Kemp is using the same tactics used by Ed Gillespie in last November’s gubernatorial race in Virginia and Gillespie lost by 9 points in a purple state. Appeals to fear and racism didn’t help Gillespie in Virginia but Kemp could play the race/immigration card in Georgia and unite the hard right fringe with enough support from the middle to make a difference.
1
@silver vibes
Kemp has sounded extremist alarms. Abrams has not. The Times, for some mysterious reason, has chosen to mischaracterize her campaign.
Check out Abrams' policy positions here:
https://staceyabrams.com/her-vision/
These are not the stuff of "fringe" or "extremist" politics.
4
Wow! Talk about false equialencies. One supports the desperate cling to instituional white supremacy of the nation and cultural racism of the deep south; the other addresses long ignored institutional injustice and both are cast in the same light of "extremists." Seldom has the Times seemed dafter.
24
I sincerely hope the Democratic candidate wins, but this race is hardly a defining moment for Georgia. That state, like most others in the south where I live, is a deeply racist one and I'm quite confident she'll lose by a landslide. Georgia's electorate is largely poor, poorly educated and easily swayed by whichever candidate can deliver the most hyperbole and drama. And like nearly ever other Democratic candidate running for office these days, her bio leads with a mention of her Ivy League degree and the word "first". That dog doesn't hunt in flyover country.
4
@KCF Exactly what Southern state is Bangkok in?
2
@skeptic Not everyone stays in the same place their whole lives.
Georgia is still a one-party state and Ms. Abrams probably doesn't stand a snowball's chance of winning the election. The Democrats don't even bother to field a candidate in many, if not most, local elections. The state, however, is trending blue and will hopefully become a two-party state in the not too distant future. It is certainly not the "Deep South" state of years past.
2
This race is a turn out the vote exercise. That unfortunately costs money.
Donate a little to Ms. Abrams if you can.
12
Abrams "all but opened her campaign demanding......". Operative words her are "all but." This is not a central theme of her campaign. There is no mention of it on her website. Would she like to see it removed - yes. But this is another fear tactic along with trying to take all of your guns away. I heard nary a peep when Nathan Deal - the current Republican Governor - removed Confederate Memorial Day from the GA calendar. Stay focused fellow Georgians and don't get distracted by the identity politics.
14
So much for “objective reporting”. Fawning over the democratic candidate and belittling the GOP candidate in every paragraph like a democratic campaign worker should be something left to the NY Post or the Daily News but yet again, the NYT stands out as a mouth piece for the left. This article so much like a political add for Stacey Abrams I almost vomited up my coffee.
8
@Dave Actually, NY Post is a lot more even handed in both its reporting and in its editorials. NY Post editorial staff will criticize BOTH Democrats and Republicans. And they are willing to report on crimes committed by ALL races, something NYT refuses to do.
1
@Dave
Are you kidding? I felt as if the Times had done a hack job on Abrams, inexplicably portraying Abrams as a "fringe" candidate with an "extremist" and "narrow vision"! All but belittling her Yale Law degree. Unbelievable.
Could it be that we're reading good ol' Northern condescension towards the Deep South?
2
It’s telling that this article failed to mention how Abrams has over $200k of personal debt, over $70k of which is on her personal credit cards. How is she to govern the finances of an entire state when she can’t self-govern her own finances?
7
@Mike So she understands the precarious finances of most people in the US. She supports multiple people in her family and is saddled with huge student debt. Hers is the condition of many people in the battered middle class. Should only wealthy people run for office?
104
@Susan
The current governor of Georgia declared personal bankruptcy just before he ran and won the governorship. So how many more people like Mike think that the rules are different for Republicans than for Democrats?!!
39
@Mike: I know this is whataboutism, but really, has the Dear Leader been an exemplar in debt management? Six bankruptcies, God knows how many failed business ventures, stiffing contractors and workers, being illegally propped up by Daddy's money when his casinos - CASINOS - were failing? How do fail in the casino business when the odds are in your favor? Let's not forget the settlement of Trump U when he "won" the 2016 election and paid out over $25 million to close that case rather than take it court? Such a big man with such tough Twitter talk fails at everything and you accuse this woman of having debt? What's your debt load right now?
11
Perhaps many are choosing their politics on identity because outlets like NYT are obsessed with it.
23
@CS - How exactly does the NYT impact voters in red states? It's not as if people in rural Georgia are reading the NYT.
1
This article and the original announcement of Ms. Abrams' candidacy tout identity politics and paint Ms. Abrams as a left-wing zealot whose principal accomplishments are being black and liberal. Please meet Stacey Abrams, the stateswoman that Georgia would be extremely fortunate to have as Governor:
- Legislator of the Year, DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce
- Legislator of the Year, Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals
- Public Servant of the Year, Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Outstanding Public Service, Latin American Association
- Champion for Georgia Cities, Georgia Municipal Association
- Georgia Legislative Service Award, Association County Commissioners Georgia
- Legislator of the Year, Young Democrats of Georgia and Red Clay Democrats
- Environmental Leader Award, Georgia Conservation Voters.
- Grand Champion for showing 1000 lb. heifer Bessie at the 2012 Legislative Livestock Showdown at the Georgia National Fair (that's diversity that matters too)
And governors, in this age of Trump's tariff wars, need to be able to communicate skillfully with foreign governments:
- Lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations
- Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly
- American Marshall Memorial Fellow
- Salzburg Seminar, Freeman Fellow on U.S.-East Asian RelationsYukos Fellow for U.S.–Russian Relations
NOW you have been properly introduced to Stacey Abrams.
...OR you could pick the guy who will scare business AWAY from Georgia.
VOTE.
40
@common sense advocate - And then there's:
"Abrams has openly discussed her money troubles before. And financial disclosure forms revealed last month that she owes $50,000 in back taxes and holds $170,000 in credit card and student loan debt."
That is not entirely bad, many voters have similar problems, but it may cause some potential supporters to think twice.
8
@common sense advocate Well done! A proper clarification on a biased and incomplete presentation of the candidates.
8
@Jonathan Life is expensive. Public service jobs in the south don't pay well.
Those bills can all be paid off over time.
Advice to the democrats, if you want to have a much better shot of winning don't run as an identity obsessed black extreme left wing woman.
Learn from Obama. he ran as a moderate progressive American and not an identity obsessed black man.
If you abandon the middle, the right wingers will always win because fear will always win over extreme left wing politics.
You want proof, the last election between Trump and Hillary.
4
Looking forward to reading the New York Times take on Abrams and Kemp debates.
1
While I’m skeptical that any black woman can be elected Governor of a a Confederate State, If Abrams does win, I hope she blasts that monument to racism right off the side of Stone Mountain.
9
There were two excellent alternatives to Kemp or Cagle in the Republican primary -- Clay Tippins and Hunter Hill. Either would have been much more preferable to the choice we ended up with in the run off, and both would have appealed to more moderately aligned voters. However, as we see time and time again, candidates from either side cannot win primaries anymore without going to the fringe. After all, it is the "fringe" that votes in primaries. And, no Republican can win anywhere without the Trumpians, as they are just too large a percentage of the base to ignore. However, most of what would be considered the more moderate (or perhaps "sane" would be a better word) Republicans will vote for the party nominee simply because the Democrat will be so far left as to be even less desirable. We old school Republicans may not like the where our party is right now, but we are not about to move over to supporting the Democrat party which now seems, even in state and local elections, to be trending a lot more RED than blue.
4
I disagree, @Dudley McGarity. Clay Tippens and Hunter Hill were also fringe candidates on the extreme end of the political spectrum, just like Brian Kemp.
Casey Cagle was the moderate, mainstream conservative choice, similar to the current governor Nathan Deal. (Or at least Cagle was until the Republican primary devolved into a circus sideshow.)
4
@MidtownATL I think it's pretty clear why Cagle was not fit to be governor. And all the dirt didn't even come out.
Democratic candidate is deemed fringe for having compassion for families fleeing violence and poverty. She believes we'd be safer with a ban on the kind of assault weapons which have featured in mass killings and are available under lax state law to just about anyone with cash. She'd prefer that the demented, abusive, and underage not have weapons. She sounds pretty reasonable to us. And she's smart, competent, has a sense of justice and a sense of humor.
Her opponent, Brian Kemp, would like to eliminate due process, proclaim himself judge, jury, and toss those he considers criminal into the back of his truck (presumably while he brandishes the same weapon he pointed at a kid in one of his political ads). He's the barely competent Secretary of State under whose watch the personal information of 6,200,000 Georgia voters was compromised. Kemp failed to notify citizens of the breach until sued, cost the State of Georgia $1,600,000 in legal fees and credit monitoring. Yeah, in terms of disregard for rule of law and generally being unsafe around guns and confidential data, Kemp has our vote for Most Dangerous Choice for Governor.
30
I suspect that this election will tell progressives what they don't want to hear: when push comes to shove, the voters in the middle will reluctantly take the conservative candidate.
That is my prediction. We'll find out in a couple of months.
17
@Jonathan agreed.
1
Brian Kemp rejects the conclusion by the US intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
(Translation: Up Is Down: Down Is Up GOP 2018)
Amid Russian interference in the 2016 election, Kemp criticized efforts by the Obama administration to strengthen the security of election systems, including improving access to federal cybersecurity assistance; Kemp said the Obama administration's efforts were an assault on 'state rights.'
(Translation: Georgia is a proud Jim Crow state and I will not be told what to do by a black man)
On July 3 2017, state voters and a good-government group filed a lawsuit alleging that Georgia officials ignored warnings that the state’s electoral system was extremely susceptible to hacking and that the system had already been hacked.
On July 4 2017, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office was alerted about the lawsuit by the press and declined to comment. It received a copy of the suit on July 6.
On July 7 2017, Georgia officials deleted the state’s election data, which would have been critical evidence in that lawsuit.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/10/georgia_de...
Brian Kemp and his Republican hijackers have never subscribed to democracy.
D for democracy: R for rigged Russian-Republicans.
Stacey Abrams 2018
285
"Wedge" issues aside (such as the sandblasting kerfuffle), several deep South states - and Georgia is among them - are becoming much more sophisticated than most folks realize. If it weren't for blatant gerrymandering during the long Republican stranglehold on states like Georgia, some of them - and my own Florida in particular - would most likely go from "purple" to solid blue.
A study of districting in most southern states shows the effects of gerrymandering that result in rural areas having significantly more voting power per person than cosmopolitan centers. (E.g., a resident of sparsely populated Marion County has roughly twice the voting power of a resident of densely populated Orange County.)
Too many elections come down to a very basic battle between "heartland" (rural) and "cosmopolitan" (city) dwellers. Gerrymandering puts a thumb on the scale in favor of the heartland.
64
@CPMariner - How can gerrymandering impact the governor's race? They just count up the total votes for each candidate.
5
@CPMariner: This is pretty obvious from looking at the Times' map of the 2016 voting. In state after state, the cities are blue while the rural areas are red. And gerrymandering does the rest for the republicans.
5
@Jonathan Exactly right. Typical Democratic obsession with gerrymandering.
There’s also an Atlanta versus the rural parts of the state dynamic that I think national observers don’t always recognize.
Abrams will carry Atlanta and the close-in suburbs. She will also carry Athens (University of Georgia), Macon, and Savannah. Kemp will carry the more rural parts of the state. The question is the margins. Can Abrams get just enough suburban Republicans (economic conservatives, social moderates) to cross over? Can she sell Medicaid expansion as not just about helping the poor, but as about saving rural hospitals? Can she turn out the base in historic numbers?
I do disagree with the idea that this election determines the future political direction of the state. The demographics are shifting Democrat, but still favor Republicans for the moment. I hope Abrams wins, but the state is more solidly purple or even light blue by 2024, regardless of the 2018 and 2020 outcomes.
47
And Atlanta's "cottage industry" is "corporate recruitment, often of global firms"? Is this not a tad condescending?
3
I'm rooting for Stacey Abrams just to demonstrate that we are one nation under God and all are created equal but I have no illusions about the rural white south so I doubt she much of a chance
21
I do not intend for this to be political. To all the suburban voters out there who don't feel represented by either candidate, please, you must vote!! Don't think about your party, we seem to beyond that. Don't think about promises, we all know politicians never keep them. Please do think about intelligence and moral character. Please consider the levels of kindness, caring and humanity in a candidate's speeches. Please vote for the candidate who seems to honestly care about the job you are selecting them for, about the people they will serve, and about the well-being of ALL the constituents in your community. No candidate will offer the perfect solution to your problems, but if they seem to have the ability to serve a community at large, they will help us find our way collectively to a better country. Please vote, and please give your choice the seriousness it deserves!! THIS is what America is all about.
84
@kglen: Wonderful rendition of the citizen’s duty to vote. I would add that sometimes candidates are successful in keeping their promises. But the political situation in this country for a long time has been non-cooperation and obstruction from no-longer loyal opposition, so it may be hard to implement many promises. So the way to get out of this bind is to vote for people with the most integrity, even though in some cases it appears from campaign smears that neither has integrity. The best way to judge is to listen to the candidates directly and ignore the mudslinging.
1
@kglen
Nicely said.
When Roy Moore was the Republican candidate for Senator, our neighbors to the west in Alabama became a national embarrassment. They redeemed themselves by electing Doug Jones to the Senate.
Move over, Alabama. With Brian Kemp's cartoonish candidacy, it is now Georgia's turn to be the laughingstock of the nation.
63
@MidtownATL I expect Georgia won’t redeem itself.
endorsed by trump - that's all I need to know.
9
Democrats take note: It was the African-American vote that helped get Doug Jones elected to the Senate in Alabama this past December. WORK HARD ON GETTING OUT THE VOTE.
125
@Tom against a pedophile...and Jones barely won. Things don’t look good for Georgia.
1
Please do not use the words “Deep South”; that label is variably used, and is not specific.
17
@DoctorSpecificaly that would be the 11 states of the confederacy. It is pretty "deep" to rebel against the government, to take up arms against it, to become traitors to it and the Constitution that founds it. Those 11 states are: Virginia, N.C., S.C., Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. By historic force of secession and rebellion that's the Deep South and has been ever since.
4
Will voters in Georgia turn out or turn off?
6
Is the election in Georgia a preview of the presidential election in 2020? A Republican running on a far-right agenda vs. a progressive Democrat (Warren, Sanders, Booker, Harris, Cuomo or other outspoken left- of-center Democrat)? Because that's what is brewing. The days of a centrist Democratic Presidential candidate competing successfully against a rabble-rousing, bigoted President who has no respect for the law, fellow citizens, and the rights and protections initiated over the last 50 years are over. Democrats must make their case strongly and move left to recover what the Trump administration has destroyed. I wish Stacey Abrams success and that Democratic candidates for state and national office follow her example.
22
This article is 100% correct that this election is an unfortunate reflection of national politics and the centrist amongst are all but abandoned. I was born, raised, and live in GA and am employed by a large multinational organization that encourages diversity and inclusion. Our team of 13 on a recently completed project included 7 immigrants from every corner of the globe, as well as diversity in religious practice, those identifying as LGBT, and ranged in ages from 23-58. I repeatedly find that the differences among us only make us stronger and more effective. I lament why many Americans seem unable to find common ground with their neighbors. It really is not that hard. Even worse, it’s shocking that there are many who wish to continue to stifle the rights of others. For most of my life I have voted republican but not anymore. Like so many republican candidates recently, Mr. Kemp’s campaign was disgusting and offensive and I am horrified by how many of my fellow Georgians found this acceptable. However, I also have concerns about some of Ms. Abrams policies and wish for our state to remain fiscally strong. Unfortunately though, a vote for Mr. Kemp is a vote for hate and racism, so I feel compelled to vote against that more than anything. It is sad I have become a one issue voter, and my one issue is “vote against hate”.
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@Liza Brava!!! As a Southern exile, your comment is a balm to my soul. I've held my nose and voted here in NYC more than once, particularly in Democratic primaries that mainly decide elections. So glad to read your words here.
@Liza Thoughtful comment, thank you. As a slightly left of center Dem, I imagine we could find some common ground.
@Liza
Your state remains fiscally strong by not doing much for the areas outside metro Atlanta and the people who live there. Your state pursues the large multinational organizations that have shortchanged the areas and people who, sensing this, went for Trump. Bringing jobs and immigrants who filled most of these jobs, and building housing and amenities for them, was great for Atlanta but left out a lot of rural areas and small towns. So these corporate moderates, by their policies, helped give rise to Trump.
Ms. Abrams is going to spend money on policies that benefit the left-out, both black and white. There are powerful forces in Georgia who will hate and fight these policies, and one of the ways they will fight is by spreading scare stories about spending. You should remember that the states that spend more money on such policies are more prosperous; that this fact is counterintuitive is one of Mr. Kemp's greatest advantages.
Every time I hear the words "Center" or "Centrist" ... I have no idea what they mean, whether on the national or state level. However, I am happy to note that finally there is an article here that underlines what I have been writing on this comment board for ages now: Pres. Obama and Hillary Clinton came close to winning Georgia. I believe that they both could have taken Georgia had they campaigned here. There was no presence, because the Strategists decide that they can find their Electoral College votes elsewhere. Worked for Mr Obama, but .... This strategy definitely hurt the democratic party in the down ballots elections.
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Remember the 1990 Senate race between legendary racist incumbent Jesse Helms and (Black) Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt? That too was a stark and defining choice where centrists felt left out. Helms was the victor, but his white male supremacy was challenged as never before.
This Georgia race has some echoes of the Helms-Gantt contest: can the South rise above the cartoonish racism for which it is known to outsiders (even though the reality has always been more complex)? Can big business be a force for good? Can a metro area triumph over small towns? Will national money and attention hurt or help?
But there are new questions with the Georgia race. Can a woman get full respect at the highest political level? Will the surging Latino and Asian populations feel connected enough to the issues to turn out? Will young people make the difference?
This is the most important election in the midterms. I know that Harvey Gantt is looking down on us and cheering Stacey on.
19
That Helms-Gantt race was one of the ugliest I've seen. Made notorious for the "white man wringing his hands while voice over intones 'you wanted that job but they gave it to a minority'" dog-whistle ad. (The ad still lives on in infamy on Youtube.)
1
Voted for Abrams in the primary and will vote for her again in the general.
Kemp is a throw back to a 1950's style of intolerance. His cartoon character ads, with his shotgun and chainsaws are an embarrassment.
Ms. Abrams is highly intellegent, and has solid policy stances. She speaks in complete sentences, answers questions thoughtfully. She doesn't rely on dog whistle sound bites.
This is indeed a pivotal race between progress or regress. A Kemp win would signal a desire for a dark past, a time of division and strife.
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@Dog and you can bet the farm that Abrams will lose. Intelligence has never been a trait that gets you elected in the Deep South. And it won’t be this time, unfortunately.
It is a shame the center has collapsed into an endangered species. Extremism is high-schoolish. In an earlier revolutionary time, Benjamin Franklin is said to have responded to extremism by saying he was an extreme moderate. Centrism and complacency are not the same thing.
18
@uga muga Stacy Abrams is hardly extreme, and the truth is not necessarily in the middle. Between reality and fantasy, the idea that the truth is somewhere in between, is frankly ridiculous. One side can be much more right than the other.
For once the Governor’s race in Georgia is giving us a real choice. Too often it had been apologetic Democrats running essentially as “Republican-lite” candidates. It was telling in the primary when Stacey Abrams crushed Stacey Evans with nearly 3/4 of the vote.
Evans ran as the typical “republican-lite” candidate, when Abrams doubled down on progressive populism, and was well rewarded for that tack. You can’t out-Republican and Republican, so why even try? Instead, Abrams is offering a true contrast, which is refreshing.
Outside of Atlanta, where I live, I can’t begin to predict how she will do in the more rural and conservative areas, especially when race and gender bias come into play. But if Abrams can energize her base and actually get people to the polls, it is possible that she could win.
Cook Political Report just updated the state from “solidly Republican” to “leans Republican”, so there’s that as well.
26
Everything has shifted. When did compassion become a fringe liberal idea? When did wanting to preserve the status quo become a moderate position? When did wanting to follow the cruel regressive Trump agenda become conservative?
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It's been shifting since WWII. Peaceful times serve as the soil for corruption and inequality, until another war or revolution "breaks the status quo". I once had hope in the American system, but now it seems the history is going to repeat itself.
This is such a well written article. Great overview, specific facts about population/demographic change, and insightful quotes.
3
Mr. Kemp is a contemporary version of Governor Wallace. The voters of Georgia must remain cognizant that his election, based on his rhetoric of xenophobia and racism, will definitely discourage inward investment. Georgia is at a crossroads; it can pick between the 1950s or the 21st Century. Ms Abrams is the most qualified, dignified and prepared candidate to move the state forward. The Democratic Party's base must turn out in large numbers to ensure the future of the state. The a anachronistic, atavistic and archaic Mr. Kemp must be rejected. The vote will be close. As an American in Europe, I implore the people of Georgia to find the moral and economic policies of hope and trust over fear and cruelty.
29
Democrats will do well to pay attention to other democrats who have won elections in moderate to conservative areas. Transgender candidate Danica Roem won a seat in Virginia by knocking on thousands of doors and focusing on local issues that affect people's lives, never mentioning trump by name. Her opponent played the trump culture war cards. Knocking on all those doors and making many public appearances gives voters a chance to get to know the person, not the cardboard cutout the opposition will try to make her. It may be best if Ms. Abrams does the same: find issues that matter in everyday life; talk about problems trump creates, but not about trump himself; never use the word impeachment, especially since that's not under the purview of a governor, anyway. Her opponent will regularly display his bigotry, ignoring everyday issues in the process. Let him hang himself.
33
@HighPlainsScribe
This is exactly what Ms. Abrams is doing!
1
So on one side of this 'polarized' campaign, reminding Southern folks that the Confederacy lost a 150 year old war and that Confederate leaders weren't and aren't heroes, proposing that social and healthcare safety nets actually act as a safety nets, and ensuring human rights enshrined in the constitution are applied to all represents 'appealing to the fringes' and mobilizing 'rabid supporters?
The theme of polarization here is a false dichotomy. Just because one side are dog whistling the worst racist xenophobes does not mean the other side also represent extremism in the other direction. When one side has gone of the grid, call them out for it, rather than create false equivalence in the name of, dare I say it, 'fair and balanced reporting'.
One side of US politics has engaged in a race to the bottom, destroying confidence in government and our institutions, and has ruined the moderate middle ground by pulling the playing field in a dangerously right wing direction. At least some Democrats are now refusing to get pulled in that direction and are making a stand.
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@Jeremy
I'm glad more people are calling out the media on this. I hope more of us continue to speak out. It was this type of reporting that propped up Bush and gave us the current president. If something is not right or esp. not true, say that don't pull in those who are trying to do the right thing and say that somehow they are just as bad. It is a betrayal of the legacy of the fourth estate.
While not the perfect candidate, I like Stacey Abrams and appreciate her remarkable personal story - going from the working poor in the Deep South, to Yale law school, to Georgia house minority leader. But while voter turnout is huge in the primary election, I don’t understand the strategy of NOT reaching out to the middle!!??
Instead of choosing divisive cultural issues, talk about bottom up growth that benefits business and citizens. Make an economic argument for education and healthcare, not just an ethical / mora one. Reach out to the businesses and employers, and grab the middle! It’s not that her actual positions are that radical, it’s that somehow, amazingly, she’s choosing to ignore white voters altogether!
And pieces like this don’t do her any favors..., rather than highlighting her mostly moderate positions, it highlights how divisive her candidacy is. The interviews she’s doing on her personal debt are fine, but distract from
a message of economic progress and shared prosperity.
With Kemp as the nominee, the opportunity is there! Grab the middle!
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@Professor Abrams will lose...that’s a given. My condolences.
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@Professor
The key is to remember that the middle is not the corporate "center" a defined by global corporate mass media. The"establishment center" is poison. The real middle of the country is against it. Independents wanted Bernie, then many settled for Trump, because couldn't stomach Hillary.
The real middle wants subsidized universal healthcare, subsidized higher education for their kids, and modern infrastructure to cut their commutes. And they have no problem taxing the mega rich to pay for it.
The business communities in other southern states will benefit greatly from an Abrams win. Georgia's reputation as a tolerant, business -oriented state was hurt by the last few elections in Atlanta that have been openly racial (no white's need apply) and have done little to quell the issues of crime and congestion in the state's business hub. That said, I think the fear of what an Abrams win would bring economically and socially will result in an easy Kemp win - moderates in the South have no desire to turn their states into warmer versions of NY, NJ, CA or IL.
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@Chris , yes heaven forbid a southern state should turn into CA which has the world's fifth largest economy. Sadly, the entire GDP of the historical confederacy barely equals that of California alone. Yeah, it would be a shame if they should turn into less humid versions of California
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@djk CA is approximately four times the size of GA so I'm not sure what GDP has to do with it. I do think that Georgians have no interest in a high tax, high spending, non-english, PC culture. If Californians like it, great, but numbers in recent years say CA loses net population to other states and the only thing keeping the population from dropping is legal and illegal immigration.
DJK - Think you mean "more humid versions of California." Otherwise agree totally.
Kemp’s opponent said the one who portrayed himself as the craziest would win the primary. He was correct
Abrams refused to criticize her supporters who shouted down a white female opponent as, according to her, they were simply exercising free speech in doing so.
Kemp is a man who runs commercials pointing a gun at an actor portraying his daughter’s boyfriend. Abrams is an attorney with an Ivy League degree who can’t pay her bills or taxes .
Who says the cream rises to the top?
4
Perhaps Stacey Abrams is a “brainy” Yale graduate, but there is so much more to her life. Abrams grew up in Mississippi with shipyard worker and librarian parents. Eventually her parents moved the family to the Atlanta area so that both the mother and father could go to Methodist seminary. What an incredible and true story of perseverance and achievement in her early life. It is the cumulative of Abrams’ experiences that is so important, so impressive. And FYI- the Stone Mountain carvings we’re officially completed in 1972.
20
I wish Ms. Abrams well...but in my son's words, who lives in Georgia: "Don't get too excited Dad, remember its Georgia."
11
One month ago, I closed escrow on a condo in Savannah. When I walked into the golf clubhouse near my place, and told the guy behind the counter that I was a New Yorker who bought a place in the community, he said to me: "You a Yankee liberal"?
I responded, "You betcha and I'm bringing my blue vote to Georgia"!
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@Wiley Dog And, you will be a very lonely NY'r in a very Red state.
2
And people wonder why the rest of the country doesn't want New Yorkers are people from the PNW in their states. Reminds me of stories of residents in Idaho kicking cars with California license plates. People live in these states for a reason. Stop ruining it.
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@Wiley Dog Good luck with the times now!
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Mr. Kemp, armed with a shotgun and chainsaw, pledging to round up "illegal criminals" harkens back to those tumultuous days of Lester Maddox, selling axe handles from his retail store near Georgia's state capitol while he was governor. Randy Newman memorialized all this and more in his classic recording, "The Good Old Boys." Of Maddox, he sang, "He may be a fool but he's our fool."
Kemp's inflammatory TV ads are being replayed in campaigns throughout the country because if nothing else, they demonstrate the frightening forces Republicans unleash when they appeal to our sinister instincts.
As for Ms. Abrams, I can only pray she will take counsel from the legendary Andrew Young, a man who commands respect everywhere, and focus on bread and butter issues.
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Years ago Sonny Perdue (R) ran against Roy Barnes (D). One of the defining issues for the campaign was the state flag, it had been changed by Barnes to get rid of the striking similarity to the Confederate flag. Perdue promised to change it, he won. Unfortunately for his voters the rebel flag did not return. It was changed to another bland nondescript one.
Point is, the Republican base here in Georgia is ready, willing, and able to fall for the flim-flam man, like in most other states. Georgia's strong economy has everything to do with the Democratic stronghold of Atlanta, and nothing to do with the rural countryside.
Abrams is likely playing her cards right, just get every Democrat to vote. The moderate voters surrounding Atlanta will be key, win them and you have a good shot at Governor.
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@cherrylog754: so true, just as Clinton said in the 1990's - "it's the economy, stupid."
I'm hoping that the young in our nation stand up and be counted in uniting our country and stem the tide against the divisive troll mentality that has swept the country. A society is judged on how it treats the disadvantaged, cares for the elderly, and pulls for each other. I believe in the American dream and that there is enough room in our nation for all to achieve it.
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And not just Georgia. This governor's race will reveal what we are all about as a "free people."
Stacey Abrams appears to have absolutely no reasonable opportunity to overturn centuries of white political dominance. This race (no pun intended) is far removed from Virginia and Massachusetts, where two black men (L[awrence] Douglas Wilder and then Deval Patrick) won popular elections to their state's governorships.
Brian Kemp, the conservative "no political correctness" is Ms. Abrams's exact polar opposite. The Democrat wants Georgia to move out of the 18th and 19th Centuries; the Republican wants the Peach State to remain exactly where it has been: a deeply red (and deeply divided) political enclave helmed by white men, one where guns and God run rampant.
In a region of America, the South, with its own unique War and Peace issues, Georgians will, in a very short time, be forced to decide on what they envision for their state. Ms. Abrams is literally the face of fright for many entrenched citizens there: non-white, female, giddy with the prospect of change. Mr. Kemp, for his part, doesn't draw on any new ideas as much as he is content to emphasize the status quo--one that runs back centuries. His underlying message will be "why change; everything is fine," one that will resonate to the core of many voters.
Ms. Abrams's genuine chance for an upset is to be herself: non-threatening and sincere. These virtues may not be enough to see her through, but God bless her chances.
18
When the catholics and evangelicals vote to put in a GOP they are saying thanks for the continued support for tax free churches and vote buying . They will support more climate damage to occur with the GOP's love of coal and fossil fuels by the way which our Pope Francis is the only one in the Catholic family who supports saving the planet. He is for building bridges not walls with people and nations. I support him and the Democrats as we are for what the Pope is for save the planet for the next generation . We will have a wilderness to live in like he described recently. The destruction will be the fault of the Catholics ,evangelicals and the GOP.
11
I am disappointed in the ‘both sides are extreme’ arc to this story. On one side, the candidate promises to personally dump illegal immigrants over the border. On the other, the candidate offers expanded Medicaid. The horror!
Clearly there is the same choice that will be repeated around the country the next two election cycles: Republicans promising fear, anger, and division; Democrats promising actual solutions and governing competence. I wish the Times could describe that divide with some lens besides the right/left are polarized.
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Mr. Kemp said, was “backed by billionaires and socialists who want to make Georgia into California.” I always get a chuckle when I read statements like this from supposedly pro-growth, pro-business Republicans. California boasts the world's 5th largest economy and even when adjusted for the cost of living, which is undeniably high in California, the state still comes in at #11 globally. To me if you're interested in economic growth and a business-friendly environment, some of these "red" states could do far worse than adopting a copycat mentality and model themselves after California. Is this a function of the often cited Republican stupidity or is it the result of something more deep seeded, like a two-faced attitude toward constituents, on the part of conservatives, who clamor publicly for economic growth, but are really only concerned with amassing power and leverage social issues to wield that power? Regardless, if you're worried about economic development in your state, deriding the notion of making it "into California" is arguing with success and just plain stupid.
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@Rick You didn't mention that California is the roughest state in the nation on the high-end wealthy. Increasing taxes on the wealthy has resulted not in a poor overall economy, but a booming success. I doubt that Laffer is laughing about that.
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It's too bad we don't see many Georgians out here in California. I'm sure they're lovely people. The Georgians we do see are usually found wandering around outside Disneyland looking for the Orlando Airport bus.
4
Yes, all true. But of course they're subsumed with hating our culture here in CA. In terms of our outsized contribution to the overall American economy, just wait and see how unwilling they would be to let us secede if that vote ever passed here. Don't think so... they're dumb, but not that stupid!
2
No contest. The Republican will win hands down. Another Democratic mistake.
6
A Republican win because of the bigotry, sub-Rosa racism, regressive economic and social policies, etc.? If we succumb to the Venn diagram union set of animus, venality, and stupidity/ignorance then all is truly lost for America. To borrow from Raiders of the Lost Ark: Choose wisely.
5
You say no problem. I say no clue.
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That really adds to the discussion. Your cold-hearted and content-free analysis demonstrates nothing but your own biases, which thankfully will be totally irrelevant.
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Brian Kemp represents what the Republican Party has become. There is nothing new about making scapegoats out of immigrants and people of color. Trump has played the racist/anti-immigrant card since he entered politics. Brian Kemp is a fellow traveler.
Trump has a lifelong history of overt racism and bigotry. Trump built his career on Birtherism, racial hatred personified. Racists and bigots now inspired by Trump are attacking Afro-Americans, Mexican immigrants, and Puerto Rican and Muslims citizens of the US across the land.
No true American can stand with the Republican Party of today. We can only hope that a majority of Georgians will break the mold and reject the Trump/Kemp message by voting for Stacey Abrams. They need to vote for what the US has fought and died for: freedom and justice for all.
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Interesting how you think minorities do and should think alike. We don’t.
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@jefflz Very good. Thank you.
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I am praying (and will be voting too) that Stacey can pull it off. I live in the metro-Atlanta area, and although I’d love to see it, I just don’t know if this state is going blue.
I work at one of the larger universities in the state, and even the educated white folks in my office are decidedly conservative. Even if they don’t love Trump, they do love guns, “freedom,” and a blonde hair-blue eyed Jesus. They don’t like that the demographics of their East Cobb and North Cobb neighborhoods are changing. They want to see more “Vinings” and “Eagle’s Landings.” Because God forbid having to live and interact with low-income Black and Brown people. They don’t like seeing signs in English and Spanish. They don’t like scholarship programs targeted at getting more minorities into STEM. And these are only a sampling of things that white people have been brazen enough to say in my presence. Dog whistling & identity politics are the language of the Right.
Good luck to Stacey and any willing to try and change this place for the better! GA is a fickle place, and thankfully, I spent half of my life in the northeast. I can’t wait to be out of this state for good.
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@The Black Millennial that confirms my impression of present day Georgia.
1
That has not been my experience.
My paternal black African American ancestors were enslaved on plantations east of Atlanta until General William T. Sherman came by on his way to Savannah in November 1864.
Their heirs fled Jim Crow separate and unequal Georgia for the South Side of Chicago in 1930 after the son of a family friend was shot to death in front of his mother without any criminal justice consequences.
I just returned from a family reunion in Atlanta and felt, heard and saw a new Atlanta Georgia. But these were my mother's people. And they have been free-people of color from the birth of the nation in South Carolina and Virginia.
13
The contest is whether Georgia decides to stay a powerhouse of the South by electing Abrams, or becomes more economically irrelevant by electing Kemp. Georgia’s dynamism is from its diversity; if decades of gerrymandering and racial politics somehow keep Abrams out of the statehouse, I expect folks will vote with their feet.
15
The characterization of the Georgia governor's race as a contest between candidates on the extremes of the political spectrum may be appealing rhetorically, but it is highly misleading. Kemp has -- accurately -- positioned himself on the far right. Abrams, on the other hand, is advocating a range of positions that are moderately left of center. As one of the "centrist" voters the article is so concerned about, I do not feel that I am being asked to choose between two equally extremist candidates. I only see one of those in the race.
537
Amen.
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@Monte
Totally agree!!
2
The state of Georgia is a microcosm of America and all of its divisions: on race, on religion, on guns, on drugs, and whatever else divides America including the POTUS. Whoever wins the race for governor somebody else will feel disenchanted, disheartened, and maybe cheated as well. It doesn't bode well for either Georgians or Americans. It is also painfully clear that compromise is dead in America and that a take no prisoners mentality is dooming America to divisiveness, a lack of inclusion, and distrust of the other (whoever he or she may be). It shouldn't be "God Bless America" it should be "God Help America".
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@Stephen Kurtz God helps those that help themselves.
The poplitical polarization described is real, and the middle is indeed without a standard-bearer. But I question the usefulness of the term "Deep South" in the 21st century, which was popularized in the mid 1800s, a term largely unused in these parts. ("South" or "Southeast" would do quite well, actually.) "Deep South" does not accurately reflect the tremendous diversification of Georgia's population in the last several decades, or the forces behind its economic growth. Moreover, yearning for a political middle-ground without an emerging leader is not unique to Georgia. We do wonder if people from the Deep North and the Deep West will be saying, "As goes Georgia, so goes the nation." A pivotal moment awaits, and voter registration and voter turnout will certainly be key.
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@Sam I've been going through recent endorsements by Indivisible's central organization--what some might call a "progressive" movement. A vast number of the endorsed candidates
1) are from the South and Southwest, especially Tennessee;
2) Present themselve more as humanitarian centrists than anything else: many are clergy or deeply religious; many take as centrist position on gun control (support the 2nd Amendment as interpreted but want restrictions); all support Universal Health Care, wage enhancement, etc--the "socialist" program.
I suspect that is the true, new "middle ground."
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@Sam. I agree. I am originally from the south but have lived all over the country. When I hear that term, I wonder if it is employed to make other regions feel better about themselves. The "Deep South" has historically faced down its demons, whether it has wanted to or not. Sadly, the demons aren't gone by any means, but I know a south that is determined to be progressive. And you don't have to be a southern leftist to be a progressive either.
8
@WOID: The centrist urge exists, but candidates who espouse these platforms will, I imagine, need to be successful at state levels in sufficient numbers before they have influence in a national level. I hope the binary nature of “What side of the aisle” will eventually become a relic of the past, and other parties more reflective of our political spectrum will represent our interests.
5
One candidate addresses a notional problem of 11-million-and-growing illegal immigrants. The other wants to start by sandblasting carvings that have now become offensive. Does she want to abolish ICE too?
Democrats simply don’t get it. The Latinos they are counting on are largely anti-gay and anti-abortion. Atlanta is now segregated in a new way. Koreans don’t want blacks and Hispanics in their neighborhood. Hispanics don’t want Koreans in their neighborhood. Black racism towards Asians is rarely addressed by any politician. It is the same in most major cities, New York, Chicago, Las Angeles, Houston ..,This is the “diversity” that Democrats are promoting. It is a “diverse” form of segregation and racism.
Sand blasting does not address real issues in front of our eyes.
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@Citizen - I suppose that you are thinking that the Koreans and Hispanics will vote GOP. You may not be wrong. They are about as 'non-white' as Jews and Italians were fifty years ago.
@Citizen Some very Not Liberal economists and publications believe, based on their low crime rate and boost to local economies, that the only immigrant problem we have is Not Enough Immigrants. Every community that has welcomed immigrants sees them as economic drivers. Hard working. Aspirational. Tax paying.
Law abiding. You're right, though, about the racism. The melting pot doesn't produce a decent stew unless someone treats all the ingredients with respect. It starts at the top.
6
Very interesting that citizen has no problem with celebrations of slave holding traitors. Once so positioned we understand him to be an unreconstructed racist as is borne out by the balance of his comments. And like it or not: there will be hell to pay for that.
This article pictures Ms. Abrams as a "fringe candidate". Reading her platform reveals nothing radical or fringe at all, unless you consider raising taxes, expanding Medicaid, and expanding civil rights and fringe. A article that depends on false equivalence, that unfortunately the NYT does way too much of these days.
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@Dudley McGarity
Well, a few of my Iowan ancestors sandblasted Confederates off the face of all Georgia once. They didn't start it but they finished it. When they got done, a lot of the real "fringe" in Georgia was running back to Texas.
Slowly Georgia backfilled, growing people who cared for the environment, who cared for the future of their children, who cared for America.
Georgia's regular folks are not pining to return to the 19th century; they are plenty happy to be alive and well and contributing to the 21st century.
27
@Roger
Yes, that was exactly my reaction too---the article seems to accepts a right - wing cartoon description of the campaign of a Yale law school graduate and leader of the State Legislature, as equivalent to the actual cartoon ad of a guy spewing hatred with a gun from his truck.
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@Roger Well, sandblasting the Confederate memorial off the face of Stone Mountain is considered a bit on the "fringe" side, at least here in Georgia.
5
The most striking statement in this whole article is that it states that Georgia has a 40% non-white population. That’s huge. If all minorities voted ( or most of them) and assuming the great majority of those are voting for Abrams, it seems that all they would need is maybe 15% of the rest of the 60% of whites to vote for Abrams.
The biggest thing they need to do is get out the vote in minority areas and the suburbs of Atlanta. Seems to me she has a shot if they do that.
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@Karen E
Exactly. And yet the Times reporters characterize Abrams' strategy to turn out this electoral base as a "fringe" and "extreme" plan. Why?
3
@Karen E
Perhaps the biggest thing will be that Brian Kemp is the Secretary of State and in charge of the elections.
2
@Karen E -
Georgia settles federal lawsuit alleging it blocked thousands of minority voters
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-settles-...
1
Like every election is comes down to motivating your base but also appealing to the growing larger 'independents'.
Doom and gloom moderate Democrats and Republicans are gnashing their teeth and predicting dire consequences as their parties move to the edges.
But desperate times call for desperate measures. Racism, misogyny, social Darwinism and xenophobia vs diversity, tolerance, and much more government support for expanding the safety net which will mean higher taxes for some.
It will be an interesting race to watch on election night.
26
Funny how this story fails to ask the big question.
How is a Yale Law grad $200,000 in debt, which includes $50,000 in UNPAID FEDERAL TAXES.
In otherwise she is a dead beat tax cheat.
Does The Times think the people or Georgia are going to elect a woman that doesn't pay her taxes Governor?
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
21
Sparky Jones....the people of Georgia were happy to elect the President of the fraudulent Trump University and a Bankruptcy Filing Expert who refused to show America his secretive tax returns.
Ms. Abrams has provided a detailed explanation for her debts, mostly relating to poverty and the high cost of college and graduate school.
http://fortune.com/2018/04/24/stacey-abrams-debt-georgia-governor/
Donald Trump, a notorious draft-dodger, debt-dodger, responsibility-dodger and spoiled rotten son of a billionaire, never provides a detailed explanation of any of his award-winning transgressions.
Funny how Republican voters and minds have mastered the art of deplorable hypocrisy and flushed all reason down a fetid Trump Toilet.
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@Sparky Jones. may I remind you that we elected president who says it is smart not to pay your taxes? Ans who is very clearly hiding something fishy in his tax returns that he wants no one to know about? Also, have you ever paid for tuition at graduate school? It puts a lot of people in debt. And further, I don't know the details of her personal tax situation, but the IRS offers many tax deductions and credits to people who are enrolled in graduate school.
10
@Socrates
So it's Trump's fault she is a tax cheat?
Trying to figure out the connection.
Did he also eat her tax default notices?
Once again a news article goes on about changing demographics without mentioning that a major lesson from the 2016 elections was that population averages are meaningless if you don't turn out the voters from your base. The real story in this campaign will be which one has the best machinery to accomplish that task, not the messages from the fringe that both are uttering.
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@David Godinez
Precisely. So why don't the Times reporters focus on this fact in their own story:
Ms. Abrams streaked into the general election after taking 76 percent of the vote in a two-person primary in May. The results seemed to validate her strategy of registering thousands of young and minority voters and exciting them with an unapologetic appeal to the left. Turnout in the Democratic primary was two-thirds higher than in 2014, nearly equaling that in the Republican primary for the first time in a dozen years.
The state’s demographics are shifting rapidly in Ms. Abrams’ favor. Over the last 20 years, when the state’s population ballooned nearly 30 percent to 10.4 million, the share of registered voters who are not white increased to 46 percent from 27 percent, state election data shows. Two of the suburban Atlanta counties that fueled the Republican rise — Cobb and Gwinnett — are now so populated by immigrants and African-Americans that they voted for Hillary Clinton over Mr. Trump.
So, Kevin Sack and Alan Blinder: what is "fringe" or "extreme" about Stacey Abrams' strategy?
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@David Godinez. What is fringe about Ms Abrams? that is just ridiculous
Why is the United States the only country in which each party needs to “motivate their base“ to show up and vote?
In almost every other free country, people show up to vote because they understand that voting is an obligation and a great privilege. Even if it means choosing between two non-ideal candidates, they still show up and vote.
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@Sarah jones
I speak about Canada, and Canadians are from voting as an obligation and a privilege.
The lowest voter turnout on record was in 2008, when voter turnout fell to only 58.8%. Voter turnout in the 2011 federal election, at 61.4%, was the third lowest in Canadian history. Voter turnout rose sharply in the 2015 federal election to 68.5%, the highest turnout since 1993.*
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_Canada
@Sarah jones, Because all kinds of tricks are used to limit the franchise and we don't make it easy to vote. Weekend polling or a public holiday would make a difference, tho' I don't think a mandate to vote would be tolerated.
Look at the 2016 presidential election map. You'll see that Georgia is like most cities in America - still vastly republican and still totally ignorant for supporting a man who aligns himself with white supremacists.
Stacey Abrams would be a real turning point for the South. But having lived in Georgia for four decades, I don't think it's going to happen. We live in the most racist country in the world. We need a few more generations to emerge from it.
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@MARCSHANKGeorgia is not a city
@MARCSHANKI thought it'd take a few more generations when I was growing up in rural North Caroline 65 years ago . . . well, here we are. Still the same, and getting worse. Honestly, makes me wish they'd fire on Fort Sumter again so that this time we could have the good sense to say, "Don't let the door bump you on the way out."
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@MARCSHANK it was 46% for Hillary and 51% for Trump. The difference doesn’t seem that vast.
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Quite a stretch, NYT, in drawing a parallel between vigilante justice against human beings who may or may not be breaking the law and ridding public spaces of inanimate symbols of 300 years of dehumanization, kidnapping, torture, enslavement and its subsequent 200 years of state-sponsored terrorism. Sure, they're the same thing: eliminating symbols of hate and terrorism is the same as rounding up human beings at gunpoint.
Perhaps this is why "the middle" is unsure where to vote: the false equivalencies and contortionist appeasement by "liberal" media. Rude, dishonest, racist are whitewashed as "politically incorrect," while fundamental liberal positions such as healthcare and equity are "rabid."
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@Gustav Aschenbach
Anyone interested in why this happens should "follow the money."
Who profits by these distortions of the truth?
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well said!
To characterize Stacey Abrams as a fringe radical equivalent to Kemp is false equivalency. How is advocating rational, evidence-based policies that respect human rights and the dignity of all people a radical fringe position?
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As a New Yorker, I can't vote for Stacey Abrams, but I want to get down, for the record, that I think she is an ideal candidate, and I want her to win. I'm giving as much money as I can afford to her campaign: she is honest, articulate, humane, and a serious politician. I wish her all the luck in the world.
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@Robin Cunningham You can count on at least one blue vote in me! Thank you so much for your donation to a candidate that is a breath of fresh air in these days of exhausting circus politics.
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@Robin Cunningham
It's New York Times bothsiderism at its worst.
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This article seeks to label Stacey Abrams as a radical leftist, but she is anything but that! She worked to save the Hope Scholarship when she was Minority Leader. She has valuable knowledge of policy and getting things done. I am from Georgia, and I have heard Ms. Abrams speak. She is highly articulate, knowledgeable, and committed to serve the people. Kemp, on the other hand, is divisive and angry. He speaks out against immigrants and dehumanizes people by calling them “illegals.” He is also responsible for not securing our touch screen digital voting machines, and under his watch, the election voting record servers were wiped two times times after a close election in Georgia’s 6th District. Honesty, I haven’t been so impressed with a candidate since I heard Barack Obama speak at the Democratic Convention way back when he was a senator.
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To all the commenters here who pledge financial support for Ms.Abrams, I will vote for her in your honor.
I’m a native Georgian, descendant of Confederate soldiers, slave owners, Revolutionary War soldiers and early colonists. Growing up in the 60s I was engulfed in segregationist racism, but I was also exposed to ideas espoused by MLK and Bobby Kennedy, and, due to desegregation, African-American children with whom I’d never interacted.
The night of MLK’s assassination men in my neighborhood came by our house and discussed defensive preparations should “those” people riot. As Daddy and I went back inside I was wondering what he would do to prepare- make sure he had plenty of shells for his shotgun and that it would be ready for any eventuality? He walked past the closet where the gun was stored and went to bed.
Only later did I realize that he was deeply disturbed by MLK’s death.
And later I also realized that kids of different colors were just kids and that the segregationists wanted to keep us apart because they knew that we could not hate people with whom we’d become friends and that desegregation would begin the continuing realization of MLK’s dream of reconciliation between the descendants of slaves and slave owners.
At 22 I resisted recruitment by the KKK. By then I knew the only path forward was open and friendly relations with everyone.
Abrams will work for all Georgian’s, even for poor whites who may hate her. She will continue to pursue MLK’s dream.
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@Thomas Tillman That was a powerful statement. Amen.
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@Thomas Tillman
Thanks for writing that.
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@Thomas Tillman A great well thought out response. In today's political climate you may be the exception and not the rule to overcoming bigotry and racism.
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