Republican Johnny Isakson, soon-to-be Georgia’s senior U.S. senator, is running for re-election. His decision will be made official by way of rally at the State Capitol on Monday, promoted relentlessly by Isakson’s campaign team throughout this week.

Earlier this year, many felt he was heading to retirement. That would have meant another bruising, crowded and expensive Republican primary of the Georgia saw this year. Instead, Isakson is announcing for a third term not too long before he’ll likely take the gavel as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Coming as 2014 election post-mortems are ongoing, it deals another blow to Georgia Democrats and their pining for revival. Since last Tuesday, internal sniping has marred coverage of the party’s coping effort. On one side are cohorts of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, on the other is state party chairman DuBose Porter and his backers. Their clashes and recriminations are noteworthy for two reasons.

First, Peach State Democrats will gather in February to elect or re-elect a chairman. Porter hasn’t voiced intentions one way or the other, but it seems sufficient to say there will be a factional gnashing of teeth when the time comes. Porter bested Reed when he won the chairmanship last year over the latter’s preferred candidate, former state Senator Doug Stoner. Now, however, Porter has an election cycle under his belt that was ultimately disappointing.  

Second, it is against this backdrop of internal fighting that Democrats must field a candidate against the popular incumbent Isakson, as opposed to running for an open seat. The question of whether or not to bother funding someone in an attempt to make them credible against Isakson is one that will be debated amongst the party in the weeks and months to come. If recent history is any indication, it will spill into the public. After all, Kasim Reed last found himself in hot water with the party’s base for suggesting they opt out of vying to unseat Deal altogether and focus resources on just the Senate race. That was in the midst of basic candidate recruitment; this will come as the party chooses a chairman.

The national coverage of Isakson’s decision to run again also exposes the weaknesses facing the Democratic bench in Georgia. Only two names have been cited as potential challengers to Isakson – Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter, the 2014 as candidates for Senate and governor, respectively. Both were handily defeated.

Virtually everyone will concede that Nunn and Carter each have a political future in the Peach State, should they want one. Most also agree such a future won’t include a Democratic primary cleared of opposition, as was the case in 2014.

Joining the Democratic retreads in the coverage of Isakson’s planned announcement is a Politico story titled “10 states that could decide the next Senate” in the 2016 election cycle. Georgia isn’t one of them, and it is indicative of the double setback still impacting Democrats in our state.

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