Rumor-ville
It's been barely a day since Carl Jordan announced he wouldn't seek reelection for the District Six Commissioner for Athens-Clarke County, and the rumors are already flying about who's in the mix ... and not just for Jordan's seat, but also for the District 10 slot currently held by Elton Dodson.
While we all know Jordan is stepping down, Dodson hasn't said one way or the other what he'll be doing.
For District Six, current Clarke County Board of Education member John Knight indicated here that he would be interested in seeking the seat (of course, it was with the flattering addition that I seek his spot on the BOE). Red Petrovs has repeatedly indicated that he was considering running and, particularly with Jordan deciding to not run again, convential wisdom has to think he's now definitely in it.
(For clarification purposes, I've gotten emails and phone calls this afternoon asking if I was running since my name was mentioned a while back and I've expressed an interest, and the answer to that rumor is no).
For District 10, I heard today from a reliable source that Regina Quick might challenge Dodson if no one else steps to the plate. Quick ran as a Republican in the three-way race against Doug McKillip and E.H. Culpepper for the State House District 115 seat that McKillip would go on to win. She earned a lot of bonus points from traditionally Democratic Athens-Clarke County, and Quick does hold several progressive positions on key issues.
Of course, she was responsible for a large 'Dump Heidi' sign in her downtown office which would put her standing in District Five - and the rest of the in-town progressives who are crucial to that seat - in jeopardy.
David Hamilton, who sought the District Eight seat in a special election against Andy Herod a year ago, has also been mentioned by a few folks to me. As I said throughout that race, I like Hamilton a whole lot and thought that district would be served well by either candidate.
I've also heard Sean Hogan for that seat, but I've heard his name associated with a million different offices it seems like. I don't personally know Hogan, but I think he'd have a hard time winning Districts Five and Six (he'd probably get swamped in the former), meaning he'd need huge margins of victory that I don't think he could obtain.
I hear Bill Overend a good bit too, and I'd personally love to see him get in the mix. He'd pick up good-sized chunks of support in both District Five and District Seven, but I also hear that he's looking at a possible run for District Seven in 2010.
Now let's get into some ridiculous scenarios just for the fun of it ...
- Herod is up for reelection this year as he finishes States McCarter's term. Let's say Herod, who would win convincingly in District Five and District Eight, goes for District 10 and Hamilton runs for District Eight and wins that.
- Herod stays put, and Hamilton runs for District 10 where he would play well in Districts Six, Seven and Eight. Quick (who I was told lives in District Six) runs for District Six where her progressive views would play with traditional Democrats and her Republican credentials would enable her to dent what Petrovs brings to the plate.
- Dodson opts to run again and Quick (or Hamilton) challenges him putting District Five into a difficult predicament. There's been some visable friction between the in-town progressive crowd and Dodson, as there has been between Quick and that group. Seeing how those precincts traditionally vote at a ridiculous rate - something like 60 percent or more - they're critical to winning. Dodson has burned a ton of bridges in District Eight and, to a lesser extent, District Seven, which would indicate that Quick (or Hamilton) would play well there.
- Barack Obama picks a little-known progressive blogger from Athens-Clarke County as his vice-presidential pick. The latter could boost Obama's vote total here by 17 and possibly draw the votes of 39 personal friends in who normally vote Republican in heavily conservative Columbia County.
While we all know Jordan is stepping down, Dodson hasn't said one way or the other what he'll be doing.
For District Six, current Clarke County Board of Education member John Knight indicated here that he would be interested in seeking the seat (of course, it was with the flattering addition that I seek his spot on the BOE). Red Petrovs has repeatedly indicated that he was considering running and, particularly with Jordan deciding to not run again, convential wisdom has to think he's now definitely in it.
(For clarification purposes, I've gotten emails and phone calls this afternoon asking if I was running since my name was mentioned a while back and I've expressed an interest, and the answer to that rumor is no).
For District 10, I heard today from a reliable source that Regina Quick might challenge Dodson if no one else steps to the plate. Quick ran as a Republican in the three-way race against Doug McKillip and E.H. Culpepper for the State House District 115 seat that McKillip would go on to win. She earned a lot of bonus points from traditionally Democratic Athens-Clarke County, and Quick does hold several progressive positions on key issues.
Of course, she was responsible for a large 'Dump Heidi' sign in her downtown office which would put her standing in District Five - and the rest of the in-town progressives who are crucial to that seat - in jeopardy.
David Hamilton, who sought the District Eight seat in a special election against Andy Herod a year ago, has also been mentioned by a few folks to me. As I said throughout that race, I like Hamilton a whole lot and thought that district would be served well by either candidate.
I've also heard Sean Hogan for that seat, but I've heard his name associated with a million different offices it seems like. I don't personally know Hogan, but I think he'd have a hard time winning Districts Five and Six (he'd probably get swamped in the former), meaning he'd need huge margins of victory that I don't think he could obtain.
I hear Bill Overend a good bit too, and I'd personally love to see him get in the mix. He'd pick up good-sized chunks of support in both District Five and District Seven, but I also hear that he's looking at a possible run for District Seven in 2010.
Now let's get into some ridiculous scenarios just for the fun of it ...
- Herod is up for reelection this year as he finishes States McCarter's term. Let's say Herod, who would win convincingly in District Five and District Eight, goes for District 10 and Hamilton runs for District Eight and wins that.
- Herod stays put, and Hamilton runs for District 10 where he would play well in Districts Six, Seven and Eight. Quick (who I was told lives in District Six) runs for District Six where her progressive views would play with traditional Democrats and her Republican credentials would enable her to dent what Petrovs brings to the plate.
- Dodson opts to run again and Quick (or Hamilton) challenges him putting District Five into a difficult predicament. There's been some visable friction between the in-town progressive crowd and Dodson, as there has been between Quick and that group. Seeing how those precincts traditionally vote at a ridiculous rate - something like 60 percent or more - they're critical to winning. Dodson has burned a ton of bridges in District Eight and, to a lesser extent, District Seven, which would indicate that Quick (or Hamilton) would play well there.
- Barack Obama picks a little-known progressive blogger from Athens-Clarke County as his vice-presidential pick. The latter could boost Obama's vote total here by 17 and possibly draw the votes of 39 personal friends in who normally vote Republican in heavily conservative Columbia County.
posted by Jmac at 4:59 PM
2 Comments:
Let's hope Sean Hogan doesn't run -- I don't think I can handle months of his bitching about how poor, disadvantaged, hard-working developers can't build affordable housing because ACC won't let him. I'd love to see him in a cage match with Chuck Jones, though.
Can Bob Beal be the referee?
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