Rep. Denise Majette to run for the Senate!

Here's the link-http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/8303913.htm

Rep. Denise Majette, a Democrat elected two years ago in suburban DeKalb County, will seek the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, Majette said Monday.

Majette becomes the highest-profile Democrat to seek the office. The party has struggled to field a strong candidate, while two Republican congressmen have been campaigning for nearly a year: Reps. Johnny Isakson and Mac Collins.

Majette is best known for toppling former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, another black Democrat, in 2002. McKinney was an outspoken opponent of President Bush and even made enemies in her own party, once saying former Vice President Al Gore had a low "Negro tolerance level."

Majette was a former state court judge who portrayed herself as a more diplomatic version of McKinney. Voters agreed, choosing the little-known Majette with 59 percent of the vote in a primary. Majette went on to win the heavily Democratic district by more than 70 percent.

and she won her district by massive republican crossover votes

I live in her district. Yes, she had some repub crossover to beat McKinney. But, post election surveys show that most dems also voted for her over (the very controversial and often abrasive) McKinney.
If Majette could beat Johnny Isackson (the likely repub nominee for U.S.Senate), that would be great for us. Majette has a very liberal voting record, same as McKinney did, but she is just much more low key personality wise. For her to win statewide will be a real uphill battle here is Georgia. However, if she pulls it off and McKinney gets her house seat back it will be a big WIN/WIN situation for us dems.

see post #3....her voting record is even better than Lewis.

She is the last thing we needed.

OTOH, I guess this clears the way for Cynthia McKinney to regain her seat, and that is very good.

Majette is one of the most liberal Members of Congress, Miller is one of the most conservative. Yes Majette had Zell Miller's support in the primary, but then a lot of people, including Bill Clinton and John Kerry, have had Miller's support in the past. And unless you're living in upside-down land, none of them, certainly not Majette, is a clone of Zell Miller. He's sui generis.

and an avowed Fascist.

And while I agree that Berlusconi is a fascist (a label I don't normally throw around), he isn't an avowed fascist. In fact, he denies being a fascist. So there.

You said Majette and Zell Miller are clones. They're not. I disagree with Majette on a number of important issues which I can list if you want, but she's no clone of Zell Miller. They vote differently on most issues - so they cannot possibly be clones.

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she's almost a centrist

then more powere to her. Her running also paves the way for Cynthia McKinney to retake her old seat.

But I just don't think the seat is winnable. I just don't believe Georgia is anywhere near ready to elect a black woman in a statewide election in 2004. This is probably not where we want to be focussing our Senate resources. South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana, where Democratic seats are also threatened, they are a lot more winnable.

DU line about Majette. I must say, I believed it too.

Her voting record is 100% according to the ADA, better than any other in Georgia.

( She may have received crossover Republican support, but they got a big surprise )

http://www.adaction.org/2003housevr.htm

It has been corrupted by the Reaganism-Lite philosophy that is spouted by such DLC luminaries like Al From and Bruce Reed.

But you've got to agree that the ACU is still the bunch of right-wing extremist hacks it always was.

In 2003, they gave Majette a 20. In 2003, they gave Zell Miller a 75. They're hardly clones.

By that criteria, Benito Mussolini is a bleeding heart liberal.

But according to them, Majette is a lot further to the Left of Hitler than Miller is. If anybody should know, shouldn't they?

Majette votes the precise opposite of all those right-wingers in the Republican delegation, meaning that she votes liberal.

Does she support the repeal of PATRIOT Act in its entirety, or the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq?

We already know she supports the Likud position on the I/P conflict, so she is not a liberal on that issue.

She is silent about getting out of NAFTA and pulling out of WTO.

She is also silent about the phony War on Drugs and the evil Plan Colombia.

Very few support that one at all. It's stupid economic policy.

She may not support those other ones, but she is still a liberal compared with around 90%. You just are demanding purity and that's not smart. She is more liberal than the majority of Georgians will likely tolerate, but yet you demand more.

Why would anyone want to? Have you looked at it? There are obviously huge problems with certain provisions of the Patriot Act, but there are also large sections that are totally inoffensive and work to strengthen the ability of law enforcement without limiting civil liberties. Most of the provisions targetting money laundering, for example, were long overdue. Why would you want to repeal them? No the solution is obvious - repeal part of the Act. Not the whole thing.

As for gay marriage, Denise Majette is the only member of the Georgia Congressional Delegation who has said she will vote against the Constitutional Amendment outlawing gay marriage - all the others have signed on as cosponsors.

We already know she supports the Likud position on the I/P conflict

No, its Israel's position. She doesn't seem to agree with Likud more than Labour or Shinui, nor has she shown any indication of intervening in Israeli partisan politics. Why should she?

Its interesting that you fail to mention her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. Why not?

PATRIOT is fatally flawed as a law and should be repealed in its entirety.

Our civil liberties are in as much jeopardy under Bush or Kerry if PATRIOT remains on the books.

I don't understand. Most people - including a large number of Congressional Republicans - would readily agree that large parts of the Patriot Act are wrong and almost certainly unconstitutional. But why would you want to repeal the inoffensive portions of the Act? I don't understand what it means to be fatally flawed - if you look at it, you'll see that its a hodgepodge of different measures that have little or nothing to do with one another. Some make sense, others don't. So repeal the mistaken provisions.

Why do more?

ON EDIT: More to the point, even if you did disagree with that, how does her support for the inoffensive portions of the Patriot Act - again provisions that justly deal with legitimate problems like money laundering - make her a facist or even a clone of Zell Miller?

PATRIOT gave tremendous powers to the federal government, powers that IMHO it should never have, even in wartime.

I believe in the Bill of Rights and Constitutional rule, not in PATRIOT or in a Third Reich-like Homeland Security Department.

The Patriot gave tremendous powers to the Federal Government that it shouldn't have been given. So repeal those. But you still haven't given me a reason why the very legitimate powers that it gives the Federal Government should be repealed. I think we agree on the problem, and I think we'd agree on which portions are flawed. I don't understand what your point is.

Do you think ANY candidate for the U.S. Senate in Georgia could win with those positions?

I sure don't!

DTH

What a right winger. ;)

as I wrote in another post. I suggest you go look at the votes they rate them on.

i consider it a progressive step in the democratic party. we need more diversity in the senate and also we would be getting another woman in there. if majette had zell miller's record then i could understand the objections, but just because she isn't cynthia mckinney doesn't mean she is some right winger.

if Kerry wins in november against the chimp. i hear barney frank is likely to run in kerry's senate seat. so we would have also have an openly gay person in the senate.

I would prefer Frank I guess.

to be the ones to run for kerry's seat. i think whoever of the two runs will win. i like both guys and would be happy with both, but also prefer barney frank.

It would be fantastic to have Barney Frank in the Senate as he is a brilliant, articulate and persuasive speaker--and a damn fine liberal!

so democrats who think can vote for him/her over Majette.

We don't know the effect that having the shadow of facing off again against McKinney in 04 in GA 4th CD primary might have had in voting record. Majette would have had to have that kind of voting record to have a chance in the re-match, because there will be no cross-over voting in this Primary (There's to many ballot items for Republicans to vote on in their own primary). There were some real high profile Dems that were considering running for the Senate seat, including Vince Dooley. None of them chose to run.

Majette lucked out.

If Majette wins the nomination to run for Senate, I wish her luck in the General Election.

But there is no way that Majette wouldn't have beat her in the general election. Majette is a popular, articulate incumbent who ousted McKinney in 2002. If McKinney couldn't win it 2002, when she was a well-known incumbent, how could she beat the now equally well-known (at least in GA-4) Majette.

to support Majette since he supported her against McKinney?

do not belong in the same sentence.
Zell has officially gone over to the dark side.
He should have changed parties years ago.
He believes in very little that our party now stands for.
He is now an embarassment to all Georgia dems.

The really bizarre thing is that Zell Miller was a great governor. Very progressive. Everybody thought he'd be a great Senator. He campaigned on the issues Democrats campaign on everywhere, he talked the talk, and then, when elected, his brain turned to mush.

I just don't understand.

Gary Leshaw was a going to be the candidate. Aren't Dean's people helping him

he wanted a special position where he stood out. not just a senator where there are a 100 of them. but by being the democrat who supports republicans he finally stands out and gets revenge on democrats for not picking him for vp. this is why he will remain a democrat, if he becomes a republican he will just be another asshole republican supporting republicans. by staying a democrat he is an asshole democrat supporting republicans and gets special status .

that he wouldn't endorse any candidates.

Frankly, Dems need to keep this seat. Control of the Senate is far more important than one senator's ideological leanings. It is hard to imagine that any Dem could be worse then Zellout.

Keep your eye on the ball people. This is politics, not Fantasy Island.

O

Majette will make a good candidate for senate. She's probably the best candidate with the best voting record that we could run in this race. I support McKinney for congress. She can win her old seat. But McKinney couldn't get 40% of the vote for US Senate, unfortunately.

We need a unified party. I think the nominees must support each other, whomever they are.

maybe she forces the Repubs to spend money on a race they'd otherwise take for granted. As a new resident of this nice state of Georgia, I'd sure like to see someone give that fool Isakson a run for his money.

now McKinney can take her district back.

While Majette will have the toughest time in the five open Southern seats, that doesn't mean that she won't have a shot at this. It would be better if we were taking on Mac Collins (who is archconservative) than Johnny Isaakson, but she should have some moderate appeal. Anyway you look at it, Majette's entry should increase turnout in November, so that could help us in GA-11 and GA-12. Majette is a liberal Democrat, but gives the appearance of a moderate, so this could definitely improve our chances.

Everyone in Georgia know who Majette and McKinney are.

I feel Majette is still something of an unknown quantity, but if she can pick up some Republican votes here and there and defeat a reThug in November because of it.... I'm certain she'd be better then another Saxby Chandliss (R) clone.

and i hope she gets to be president someday.Ladies and gentelmen Cynthia Mckinney is what a democrats is supposed to be

this leaves her congress seat safe for a liberal and we have improved chances in Georgia. We can use more (D)s other than (R)s period.

She's the most liberal member of the Georgia delegation.

If Max Cleland was defeated in his Senate seat, how will Majette, a more liberal Dem win?

this allows Cynthia McKinney to get back in.

Almost. :)

So McKinney's pretty much back. Good.

She's certainly not going to be likely to win. But it would be pretty good for Georgia to have a highly educated, proven moderate-to-liberal, black woman running as a Democrat. She would be a very concrete example to Georgia voters of how the Party is renewing itself, how it is moving away to a competent and moderate liberal/Left consistency- definitely away from the mix of immoderate liberal/Left and muddled conservative stances that Zell went cognative dissonant on.

I suspect she'll make it closer than people here think now- low mid forties, perhaps, after a lot of local Democratic bellyaching.

As for the 4th District, I'd doubt strongly that Cynthia McKinney will make a comeback. Incumbents knocked out in primaries rarely do. I would be surprised if someone younger and fresher doesn't win that seat. The knock on McKinney, as I understand it, is basically that she's from an older generation and behaves that way- which, even though it is far enough Left/liberal, disappointed a lot of her Democratic constituents.

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I worked in this campaign....so, I have some insight that some of you may not....
It was well documented that a large part of Majette's financial support came from Jews and a large part of McKinney's came from Arabs.
This added to the nasty tone of the campaign.
This district is very racially and ethnically segregated.
North part is more white, affluent, jewish (home of Emory Univ.)
South part is more black, less affluent.
However, it is solidly democratic in both parts.
Repubs that crossed over and worked for Majette did so out of hatred for McKinney and her statements about Bush's possible pre-knowledge of 9/11. Also, she was perceived by many Jews (both Dems and Repubs) that she was pro-Arab.
Cynthia's father (Billy) also lost his state rep seat this year and ran his daughter's losing primary campaign.
When asked why he thought his daughter lost - he replied -
"J-E-W-S".
Anyway, the upshod of all of this is that Majette and McKinney are both very liberal (and to me) vote the right way most of the time.
They are VERY DIFFERENT in style. Majette (a judge) is very measured in her speech, very calm, and almost shy. McKinney is quite aggressive and often shoots from the hip.
I think there is room for both in our party and in Georgia.
I hope they both win. However, odds are that McKinney will easily win back her house seat and Majette will lose her U.S.Senate bid.
Majette faces huge odds. Just don't see a black woman playing well statewide. Although, Fulton County (Atlanta) and DeKalb are very dem...the rest of the state has skewed more and more repub....many rednecks out there in north and south GA. that would NEVER vote for a black woman. Majette would have to win metro Atlanta overwhelmingly to have any chance. Some of those McKinney supporters who still harbor a grudge from 02 against Majette will probably not vote for her. Doubt they'd probably vote for the repub (probably Isackson)...my guess is they'd just leave that portion of ballot blank. Hope I'm wrong. Go Majette! Go McKinney! Go Ga. Dems!

probably too liberal for GA. I doubt she'll even win the nomination, let alone the actual seat.

I fear this seat has been lost to the dark side -- for several years now (Zell himself turned out to be a traitor).