On the surface you would think that a Republican Senate victory would be a done deal in the state of Georgia but maybe not. For starters the Democrats have a strong candidate in Michelle Nunn, daughter of the former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA). And then there are the eight Republican candidates that represent everything the Republicans have been trying to avoid.
The front runner is Rep. Paul Broun:
Rep. Paul Broun is one of the three candidates grasping at the lead spot in the polls. Even before Broun jumped into the 2014 Senate race he caught national attention for saying scientific theories like evolution and the big bang were “lies straight from the pit of hell.” After national outcry emerged noting that such comments came from amember of the House Science Committee, he later claimed the comments were “off the record.”
Broun has a menagerie of taxidermied animals in his office including a moose, caribou, and white tailed deer. A recent Daily Beast article showed Broun standing in his office furnished with a taxidermied lion and bear.
During the current slog of a Senate race, Broun wondered why a “Middle Eastern”-looking man at the airport didn’t get a pat down. He also warned that Obamacare is abigger danger to the country than a national default and suggested that Democrats were trying to rig the vote by proposing a path to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally. In a show of hands, Broun’s shot up first when some of the candidates were asked if whether they would vote to impeach President Barack Obama. He recently offered for his supporters to “start off 2014” with an AR-15 assault-style rifle in campaign sweepstakes giveaway.
Another front runner is Rep. Phil Gingrey:
Rep. Phil Gingrey, another candidate regarded as one of the strongest in the large GOP primary field, earned himself plenty of criticism for complaining that his $172,000 congressman’s salary was too little. Before the Senate race he also defended then-Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) “legitimate rape” remarks by calling them “partially right,” even though other top Republicans raced to distance themselves from.
In November there was a mass exodus of top Gingrey campaign officials for mysterious reasons. Gingrey also eagerly mimicked Broun when asked if he would impeach Obama.
And the third candidate likely to make the Republican runoff, Rep. Jack Kingston, has had his own gaffs:
Republicans likely looked to Rep. Jack Kingston, who came into the race as the most polished candidate, as the candidate that could avoid a clumsy mistake. But even that hope quickly fizzled. Kingston suggested that middle school students should sweep the floors in exchange for school lunches — when in fact Kingston himself had enjoyed a few free lunches in his time in Congress. Kingston also committed the cardinal Republican sin of suggesting that it’s not completely responsible to get rid of Obamacare without having a replacement.
Kingston’s staff hasn’t helped either. After Georgia suffered from a crippling snowstorm a finance co-chair for Kingston’s campaign strongly criticized the“cosmotini” drinking men who were whining about a little snow, even though the debilitating snowstorm and insufficient response left many in the Atlanta area stranded for hours.
Once again we see that the Republicans are their own worst enemy. If they lose what should be an easy Republican Senate seat they will only have talk radio, the Tea Party and themselves to blame. Even in Georgia the demographics are changing and the Republican base is out of touch with the majority. I for one think the country needs at least two strong political parties so this Republican self destruction is not good for the country.