BLOG UPDATE August 6,2008 12:14AM - Jim Martin defeated Vernon Jones for the Democratic Party's nomination for the state of Georgia's U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday night.
The AJC reports that with 89 percent of the precincts reporting Jones was trailing Martin by nearly 20 percentage points in their runoff battle.
Jones lost all of the large metro Atlanta counties (Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett). He lost Fulton County 29 percent to 71 percent (more than a two-to-one margin). Jones lost Gwinnett County 31 percent to 69 percent. The loss in Cobb County was almost three-to-one.
Remember, Vernon Jones has been the CEO of DeKalb County for eight years, and he lost his home county 38 percent to 62 percent. It appears ALL of the voters who didn't vote for Martin or Jones on July 15th, voted for Martin on August 5th (with a fair amount of defections, as well).
With over 97 percent of the precincts reporting, Jim Martin had a 60 percent to 40 percent lead over Vernon Jones, who quickly conceded to Martin, "I accept God's will. He knows what's best for me."
Jim Martin will take on incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in November for the US Senate seat.
Read the entire AJC article about the US Senate run-off here.
plez sez: there was only one real Democrat in the race... and he won!
In local politics, there was the DeKalb County CEO race to fill Vernon Jones's office. Burrell Ellis (a real estate attorney) handily defeated Georgia State Representative Stan Watson, drawing 63 percent to Watson's 37 percent. Since there was no Republican candidate, Ellis will take office in January 2009.
Surprisingly, almost as many DeKalb County residents voted in the run-off as voted in the primaries on July 15.
On Sunday evening, the remaining Democratic candidates for US Senate squared off for debate to determine who'll take on Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in November. DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones looks to replace Sen. Barack Obama as the only Black person in the 100 member US Senate. The former Georgia State Representative has been the CEO of DeKalb County for the past eight years. Jim Martin is a long time Georgia State Representative and former Human Resources Commissioner.
Unfortunately for Jones and Martin, Saxby Chambliss is nursing a double-digit lead over BOTH Democratic candidates (Georgia has been a red state for quite some time). The Rasmussen Reports poll from July 21, 2008 has shown that Sen. Saxby Chambliss leads Democratic challengers Vernon Jones 59 percent to 29 percent (30 point lead) and Jim Martin 51 percent to 40 percent (11 point lead).
The poll also shows that against Jones, Chambliss is supported by 96% of Republicans in Georgia and 19% of Democrats. When put against Martin, Chambliss earns support from 90% of Republicans and just 9% of Democrats. Chambliss tops Jones 66% to 18% among unaffiliated voters. Against Martin, he leads 56% to 33%. While the incumbent leads Jones by double-digits among both men and women, he trails Martin 45% to 43% among women. He leads Martin 62% to 32% among men.
It appears that statewide, Martin will perform a lot better against Chambliss than would Jones.
The debate brought to light some interesting facts: Jones relished his voting for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, Martin voted for John Edwards on Super Tuesday even though he'd already dropped out of the race, Jones has had a number of altercations with DeKalb County Commissioners (one of which involved a formal apology), and Martin isn't well known around the state. Jones opposes the windfall profits tax on big oil companies as proposed by Barack Obama, and Martin supports them. Jones also opposes Obama's proposed tax increase on those families making over $250,000 a year, and Martin supports it.
The run-off election will be held on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 here in Georgia.
Check out the debate using the links below... make an informed decision.
US Senate Run-off Debate in Georgia: Jones vs. Martin
plez sez: this is a tough call. i would love to support vernon jones in the us senate race against sen. saxby chambliss. Sen. Barack Obama looks to put georgia in play in november, but he will not be able to win the state with a weak statewide candidate for the democratic party. the poll results show that jones will not perform well against chabliss in the statewide election, and it is the fear of plezWorld that his poor performance will have an adverse affect on Obama's chances in the state.
his misleading campaign mailers (showing Obama and jones together), questionable activities while running DeKalb County (which has some of the state's worst public schools, an underfunded and understaffed police department, and increasing crime), the votes for bush, and near-slanderous mudslinging during the debate leads me to believe that vernon jones is not the best candidate for the democratic party. it is a longshot for martin to keep within 10 points of chambliss on election night, but his chances and those of Obama are much better than with those of jones.
it's strange that jones would fabricate a campaign mailer showing him and Obama together, when the only thing it appears that they have in common is their skin color! jones opposes a number of key initiatives that have been proposed by Obama while campaigning for president. HELL, he didn't even endorse Obama until late into the primary season (long after the Super Tuesday primary in georgia)!
...and i'm still having trouble reconciling vernon jones's support of george w. bush in 2000 and 2004! in the debate, it sounded as though he would vote for bush again if he had the chance... just keeping it real here, i don't trust the judgement of ANYONE who felt that george w. bush would be a better president (and history bears me out on this one) than Al Gore or John Kerry!
"The reason I think I may have met him is I know somebody told me as I was shaking his hand that he had taken pride in voting for George Bush twice." - Sen. Barack Obama described the one time that he met the DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, while visiting Cobb County, Georgia yesterday.
Due to term limits, Vernon Jones will leave the CEO job at the end of the year and is currently running as a conservative Democrat for the US Senate. He has admitted to voting for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.
Campaign mailer sent out by DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones
The flyer above appears to be a photo of Jones standing next to Obama in front of a campaign crowd. The photo was a digital compilation of two or more images. Jones said he wasn't trying to mislead anyone with the mailer, but his opponents accused him of implying he is being endorsed by Obama, an idea quickly dismissed by Obama's campaign.
After Obama's speech, Jones is quoted as saying, "For Sen. Obama to win Georgia, he will need conservative Democrats like myself."
Read the entire AJC article about Obama's visit to Georgia and Jones's shameful campaign mailer here and here.
plez sez: i'm not shocked! because i've met vernon jones. i am ashamed, because i know vernon jones! he obviously plans to ride BARACK OBAMA's jock to washington, but this is a sleazy way of doing it. if jones is a two-time george w. bush supporter, there's no way that he can say with a straight face that he is an Obama supporter (he didn't even come out to endorse Obama until after he had enough votes to win the nomination).
i live in dekalb county and i received one of those mailers over the weekend. it is obvious that the picture is doctored (and it isn't done very well, either). i'm afraid that i cannot support a "say anything, do anything to get elected" politician, even if he is my frat brother!
i never thought i would be writing this about vernon jones, but plezWorld hopes he doesn't get the nod as the Democratic nominee during the july 15 primary - pretty wishful thinking since most Black folk in georgia will undoubtedly vote for jones (since the other four Democratic nominees are white).
if jones is the nominee, he will drag Obama down with him in georgia in november.
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.
~ husband ~ father ~ son ~ brother ~ mentor ~ subdivision dweller ~ northern by birth ~ southern by choice ~ raised a black baptist, now guided by the spiritual ~ raised a kennedy democrat, now politically dead center (moderate) ~ raised in a Cadillac Coupe Deville, now hooked on an SUV ~ college educated and still a student of life ~ wild college frat boy and now a settled alumnus ~ intellectual yet fun-loving geek ~ technical and leading edge ~ corporate cog ~ consultant ~ college football saturday devotee ~ and a ramblin' gamblin' helluva engineer (GO JACKETS!) ~
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