In the past two weeks both David Perdue and Michelle Nunn have received visits from their national party chairmen who pledged their support down the stretch of what appears to be a tightening race. While it is no surprise that outside money would be pouring into such a vital contest, the importance of how these resources are best used could well be the difference between winning and losing come November.
Speaking at a conference in Atlanta last week, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz reiterated the importance of Georgia in the national landscape.
Said Wasserman Schultz, “We are here because the DNC is expanding the map, spreading the Democratic message, and we plan to turn Georgia blue.”
DNC support will be especially crucial for Nunn because of the relative weakness of the state’s Democratic Party. Former chair Mike Berlon was forced to resign his post last summer following a series of legal concerns, and the party was left with only $30,000 on hand. DuBose Porter, the newly elected party chair, has done much to right the ship. He has put together a strong slate of candidates for state-wide seats for the November ballot, and has dramatically increased party fundraising, (the party entered 2014 with over $400,000 on hand). That being said, the Democratic party in Georgia still lags well behind their GOP counterpart both in manpower and in pure cash, leaving the DNC to come in and pick up some of the slack.
Not a problem, says Pratt Wiley, the Democratic Party’s Director of Voter Protection. “Georgia hasn’t been a presidential battleground in a while so you don’t have that same type of infrastructure as you have in North Carolina or Florida but we’re going to build it here and make sure people here are trained and have the tools.”
And what tools could be of more use than the voter targeting software developed by the Obama campaign in 2008 and refined in 2012, which helped the President bring out the vote of nearly unheard-of numbers of young and minority voters.
In a race where African American voter turnout could be the key, this get-out-the-vote campaign by the Democrats carries vital significance.
Of course, the GOP isn’t going to sit back and watch Georgia turn purple without a fight.
Wasserman Schultz’s Republican counterpart, RNC Chair Reince Priebus, was in town this month as well, speaking to a group of supporters at the Cobb County GOP headquarters. Priebus was focused on his main objective – to take a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate – and had no qualms about saying so.
He told the media after the event that the RNC was willing to be involved, and to spend, “as much as it has to be” to win a race that will be crucial to Republican hopes of taking control of the Senate.
The presence of the two head honchos in partisan politics shows just how important the Georgia race for U.S. Senate really is for both parties. Expect a lot more ads similar to the ‘Pillowtex’ piece that hit the air last week from Nunn’s camp as she tries to paint Perdue as an out of touch elitist, and be prepared for Perdue in turn to couple Nunn with our widely unpopular President.
As the candidates work hard to prepare their own warchests, the outside money has started to pour in. Whether it be in tv ads or grassroots efforts, internet buys or bus tours, politics at this level is all about the money, so don’t expect the national parties to pull any punches as they hit the home stretch.
