8 Days until the Special Election in Augusta

Well kids,

There's 8 days left in the special election to decide who is gonna take Ed Tarver's Senate seat for the 22nd District over in Augusta. If you've been wandering by for the last two weeks, then you are as up to speed on all the ins and outs of this race as anybody drawing breath in Georgia. I have to admit that this race has not drawn all that much attention either in the traditional media or out here in the blog-o-sphere as I thought it would, and I am puzzled by that.

A Senate seat is at stake. One of 56 such seats here in Georgia. Georgia Libertarians should be proud of the fact that Taylor Bryant had the moxie to step up, file and run. It's a large step to go from actually being a Libertarian to being a Libertarian candidate, kind of like transitioning from flying a first person flight sim on your PC/Xbox to actually rolling a 757 down the runway loaded with screaming passengers. And Taylor has run a tremendous race so far.

But in these last eight days something has to happen to enable Taylor to come out on top and lay claim to the first Georgia State Senate seat EVER occupied by a Libertarian. He has to have the support of every swinging Libertarian in Georgia, he needs everything you got to hold what he's got. The first thing is cash. Yard signs cost money, radio ads cost money and Taylor is running the leanest campaign in this race. Hell, democrat Hardie Davis and democrat Harold Jones are out gunning him financially by about 80 to 1. Add in their on the ground advantage with the Augusta democrat political machine and it sure looks like Taylor Bryant hasn't got a chance.

But he does. Augusta is not a monolithic democrat plantation. The Sec States website indicates that Richmond county has about 55,000 registered democrats and about 40,000 registered republicans. It's heavily slanted towards the democrat party but it is not owned lock, stock and barrel by them. It's true that the District 22 senate seat has been held by a democrat for the last 20 plus years, but that does not mean it's guaranteed to be theirs for perpetuity. Voters can change that.

This is special election. Special elections have low turnout. Instead of 65,000 votes cast as was the case in 2008, you should be looking for a grand total of about 12,000 votes cast as was the case in the 2005 special election that Ed Tarver won. About 12,000 votes. And to get a clean win, the top voter getter has to do 50% plus one vote to avoid a run off. So democrat Hardie Davis or democrat Harold Jones has to hit about 6000 votes to get a clean win, and that is assuming the third democrat candidate doesn't break a 1000 votes.

But what if the 40,000 registered republicans show up? I don't see any signs that that is happening but what if 25% of them decide to help a brother out and vote for Taylor Bryant? That is what I want to see happen. Augusta would then have a State Senator that could play both sides against the middle, he could caucus with the democrats on social issues and caucus with republicans on fiscal issues and introduce legislation on a wide variety of Libertarian issues that have never been addressed before in the great state of Georgia.

So, if you know anybody in the Augusta area, call them. Ask them to vote for Taylor Bryant. Help to engineer the greatest upset in Georgia politics in living memory. If you have $20 you can spare, got to Taylor's website and donate it. $20 bucks will buy a 30 second radio ad in Augusta and radio can reach a lot more people that this blog will right now. If you don't have any money head over to the Augusta Chronicle and offer your thoughts on this race. There's an article a day and most of them don't exceed 8 comments from readers. Make your mark and help Taylor Bryant push this puppy over the finish line. Help him be the next Senator from Augusta.