Tuesday, July 17, 2007

SCOOP: Vernon Jones in 2008 US Senate Race


Vernon Jones is the current DeKalb County, Georgia Chief Executive Officer (equivalent to Mayor in a city), he has held that post for two 4-year terms. He received his start in politics as a Georgia State Representative, working at the "gold dome" for 8 years. A lifelong Democrat who holds the highest office in a predominantly Black suburb of Atlanta, Jones plans to unseat Georgia's Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Republican in a red state, in the 2008 election cycle.

On Saturday, July 21, 2007, Vernon Jones is expected to announce his candidacy for the office of US Senator from the state of Georgia.

plez sez: this will be a very interesting election cycle. with hillary clinton and barack obama energizing the grassroots, i would expect that the democrats will enjoy a record turnout on election day IF clinton and/or obama are on the 2008 presidential ticket. but georgia is still a red state which has rarely elected a Democrat in a statewide election, except for thurbert baker (a Black man who has been appeasing the right wing electorate since he took the helm as the state attorney general - see genarlow wilson post). ambassador Andy Young ran for the governor of Georgia in 1990, but couldn't win the democratic primary! And saxby chambliss unseated decorated Vietnam War Veteran, triple amputee, and incumbent senator max cleland in a nasty Senate campaign in 2002... needless to say, jones will have his work cut out for him. and to make matters even more difficult, there is another democratic hopeful in the journalist-turned-politician dale cardwell, who is a pretty popular guy from an atlanta news station.

THE PREDICTION
(hey, i'm getting good at this, see my NBA Draft post):
  • there will be moderate improvements in iraq, but the country will still be clamoring for a change in direction(and as i've already told you in earlier posts, we're going to be in iraq until those oil wells run dry).
  • HILLARY CLINTON will head the 2008 presidential ticket, and in an attempt to shore up the south, she will select a southern democratic senator or governor (think JOHN EDWARDS of north carolina or TIM KAINE, governor of virginia)... i'm still pulling for BARACK OBAMA, but i think the novelty will wear off when the primary season kicks in and the gloves come off.
  • Black folks will still come out to vote in droves, because for some reason you people still love the CLINTONS.
  • this surge in Black voters will ensure that VERNON JONES wins the democratic nomination.
  • but the US is no more ready for a woman president than Georgia is ready for a Black senator... both will lose in close races.
  • here's a surprise for ya: MITT ROMNEY will be the next president and of course, SAXBY CHAMBLISS will remain in the Senate... you heard it hear first and me wishing for something different will not change the outcome!

i received an e-mail message scoop on this announcement earlier today. i know Vernon Jones, we are members of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and are members of the same alumni chapter. i wish him the best in his bid for the US Senate.

2 comments:

Francis Holland said...

I think you're on to something here, in that Hillary will win the nomination and Black people would generally prefer that Obama be the VP once that happens.

Dr. Daystrom said...

I agree that this will be an interesting election cycle to watch. In particular, I can't wait to see how Hillary handles the "Obama conundrum". She might conclude (with good reason) that a ticket with a woman and a Black man is DOA however, at the same time she cannot risk alienating Black voters. All this is further complicated by the fact that she and Obama seem to not like each other very much.

This, among other things should make for an interesting election season.

Yusuf
http://www.linkedin.com/in/yusufrahman