The candidates for U.S. Congress in Georgia’s 11th District squared off in a debate Saturday, and while the fireworks may have closer resembled those from a backyard birthday party than a Washington D.C. 4th of July display, sometimes there’s nothing better than seeing two candidates go head to head in the same room to get a feel for the state of a race.
Barry Loudermilk remains the presumptive favorite after taking three of the district’s four counties and capturing 36% of the vote to opponent Bob Barr’s 27% in the primary. Loudermilk has also received endorsements from several Tea Party groups, the Club for Growth, (who as I wrote last week dumped $500,000 in to an Idaho race last month and has also endorsed CD 1 candidate Bob Johnson) and local favorite Karen Handel. Barr touts his own endorsements from Arizona Sheriff and political activist Joe Arpaio, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, and a smattering of activist groups, (including the recently booted-from-their-national-organization Georgia Right to Life). One more fun fact, legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox is a Loudermilk supporter, while retired pitching coach Leo Mazzone has endorsed Barr. Is the rift between Braves coaches representative of the growing schism in the GOP? Maybe. Probably not. Definitely not. But it’s fun to consider.
The debate itself was standard fare, as congressional debates normally are, with the candidates generally agreeing on most issues and taking shots at each other where opportunities presented themselves. The candidates agreed that saving Lockheed-Martin’s Marietta plant and keeping Dobbins Air Force Base open are the two biggest issues facing the district in the next couple of years, and that President Obama surely should be impeached, (but probably won’t be). Loudermilk is stoutly against gay marriage, while Barr, hearkening back to his Libertarian days, doesn’t really care about it. And both men of course have plenty of advice for the President when it comes to conflict in the Middle East.
The knives, though, came out when the candidates started talking about why they and they alone need to be the one representing the district in Washington. Loudermilk played to his greatest strength, the fact that he’s a ‘Washington outsider’, saying that, “There is an adage in the House of Representatives — and in the State Senate — that if you want to get anything done, give it to a freshman.” Barr disagreed. “‘Give it to somebody that doesn’t have any idea what they’re doing and has just gotten here,’ that’s a new one on me. I hate to tell y’all, but that ain’t going to work.” Herein lies the difference between the candidates. Loudermilk is the outsider. The Tea Party favorite. The man who is going to march into Washington and really shake things up. Barr is the veteran. The guy who the establishment fears. The man who is going to march back into Washington and really shake things up again.
After seeing what happened to Eric Cantor, and what is likely about to happen to Thad Cochran in Mississippi, it certainly seems that Loudermilk is holding all the cards right now. In a race where the candidates have fairly identical platforms, it pays to be the one untainted by Congress and its 16% approval rating. Loudermilk has a long background in state politics and isn’t a Tea Party renegade in any strict sense. But he has a strong base in Bartow County, (the heart of the district), has captured momentum in the primary, and is looking to ride his outsider message all the way to D.C. Just over a month to go before the runoff, and this race is still Loudermilk’s to lose.
