Edwards Win Straw Poll

At a recent meeting, the Muscogee County Democratic Party took an informal straw poll in the presidential race, and the winner was John Edwards. Why does that matter? According to the AJC, Muscogee County Democrats have an uncanny ability to pick winners. Here's what Frank Myers had to say about his support for Sen. Edwards:

Frank Myers, a Columbus attorney, said he's backing Edwards for a simple reason."Of the top-tier candidates, he has the best chance to win the general election," said Myers, 47. "Who is the Republicans' best candidate? It's Hillary Clinton." Those sentiments — the need to pick a candidate who can defeat the Republican nominee and that Clinton is too polarizing — were common at the social. "Hillary has great credentials," said Ross Marshall, 61, an advertising sales executive with Davis Broadcasting. "[But] she will energize the opposition like no one could." Marshall, too, is supporting Edwards.

Why John Edwards Matters for Georgia

Paging all Iowa caucus goers and voters in early primary states.

Georgia is not an "early state," and it could be that, due to the momentum created in the early caucuses and primaries, the nominee will be a virtual lock before Georgians vote in our February 5th primary. Yet, the result of that nomination process and the result is critical for Georgia and other "red" states. That's why so many Georgia democratic leaders-including women-have stepped forward to support John Edwards. Simply put, we all know that John Edwards at the top of the ticket will help democrats up and down the ballot get elected in 2008, and we know that John Edwards as President will help Georgia elect a democratic governor in 2010. And, if John Edwards is our nominee, then we know that he puts 'red' states and important 'swing states' in play-in part because he actually plans to run there-making it more likely that our next President will be a democrat.

To some democratic candidates, Georgia is nothing more than a great big piggy bank. John Edwards has raised his share of cash here, too, but he remains the only one of the candidates who has been to Georgia to raise money for our democratic house and senate caucuses and for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

So, it's no wonder that key Georgia democratic leaders like Gov. Roy Barnes, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, Sen. Valencia Seay, Sen. Vincent Fort, Melita Easters and others have stepped up to support John Edwards-not only is he the candidate who has the best chance of actually winning nest November, but he's the candidate who can help turn states like Georgia a nice shade of blue!

Here are a couple photographs that help tell the Edwards story in Georgia.

Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, Sen. Valencia Seay and Sen. Vincent Fort Endorse Edwards

Georgia Women Democratic Leaders With Elizabeth Edwards

Photographs from the Carter-Edwards Event

For your weekend viewing pleasure, click below to see a photo essay of the Carter-Edwards event in Americus.

Rural Georgians Step Up for Edwards

Georgians may be voting red, but, when it comes to presidential politics, we're giving blue. The most recent FEC filings show that in Georgia, for the first two quarters of 2007, Democratic presidential candidates out-raised Republicans by more than half a million dollars.

Though Obama continues to lead the field of Democratic candidates and nip at the heels of Mitt Romney, John Edwards also has some impressive numbers, raising significantly more outside of metro-Atlanta than other Democrats, and in many areas more than the nearest Republican, Mitt Romney. Here are some quick numbers per new FEC interactive site. (They have seriously misplaced Columbus on this map, but otherwise, it really is fun to play with.)

All Candidates: $3,401,717
Democrats: $1,953,545 (57.42%)
Republicans: $1,448,171 (42.57%)
Romney (R): $762,159
Obama (D): $749,544
Edwards (D): $605,513
Clinton (D): $402,586
Giuliani (R): $360,250

Giving Outside Metro-Atlanta (sample)

Middle Georgia (312xx)
Total: $60,525
Edwards: $49,150
Romney: $4,000
Obama: $2,267
Clinton: $ 500

Middle Georgia (310xx)
Total: $58,030
Edwards: $35,635
Romney: $ 8,250
Clinton: $ 5,195
Obama: $ 250

Columbus (319xx)
Total: $34,906
Edwards: $18,270
Clinton: $8,525
Romney: $ 4,211
Obama: 0

Savannah (314xx)
Total: $72,734
Edwards: $19, 174
Romney: $16,925
Obama: $6,965
Clinton: 0
(Dodd also raised $18,400 in this zip)

Athens (306xx)
Total: $63,489
Edwards: $26,889
Romney: $18,300
Clinton: $7,675
Obama: $2,375

This is cross-posted at Georgia Women Vote!

Step Up for Edwards

With the end of the quarter upon us, I have decided to engage in a little grassroots fundraising for my favorite candidate. Will you help by clicking here and making a contribution? It could make all the difference.

"We Can't Afford to Elect the Next Great Politician"

On Thursday night at the JJ Dinner, and again at a luncheon on Friday, I had an opportunity to hear Sen. Edwards speak. I will write more later, but one quote from Friday's speech has stuck with me:

"We cannot afford to elect the next great politician. We have to elect the next great leader." (John Edwards, May 18, 2007)

Edwards to Welcome Georgia Supporters

Most of you know that John Edwards will be in Atlanta on Thursday to help raise money for the DPG. To my delight, today, his campaign announced that prior to the JJ Dinner, they are creating a zero-cost opportunity for his grassroots supporters to meet and hear from the Sen. Edwards.

This is a a great opportunity for anyone who would like to meet and hear directly from Sen. Edwards. The campaign does request that you RSVP. They will be serving snacks and cold drinks, so they need to know how many people to plan for.

Here are the facts:

What : Meet and Hear from Sen. John Edwards

When: Thursday, May 17th at 5:15 pm

Where: The Georgia World Congress Center, Room 302C
285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW
Atlanta, Georgia
(there's a MARTA stop right near the entrance on Northside Drive).
Park in the Gold lot, enter through the Northside Drive entrance and go up the escalator,
Room 302C is on the right.

Who: YOU! And Everyone you know who would like an opportunity to meet and hear
from Sen. Edwards.
THE CAMPAIGN DOES NEED TO KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE TO PLAN FOR, SO PLEASE RSVP to:

http://johnedwards.com/events/rsvp/20070517-ga-jj or 919-633-0753.

This is cross-posted at Georgia Women Vote!

Edwards to Help DPG Raise Cash

The Democratic Party of Georgia will host our annual JJ Dinner on May 17th, and Sen. John Edwards will be on hand as the keynote speaker. This is an important fundraiser for the State Party, and it really sound like it will be a very cool event this year- business casual, a band, dancing (yes, I said dancing), and, of course, a great speaker.

So, let me invite you all to come. Tickets are available at the DPG's brand spankin' new website.

By the way, this will be the second time in recent history that Sen. Edwards has made a trip to Georgia to help raise money for Democrats other than himself. He came earlier this year to help raise money for the House and Senate Caucus, and now he's coming back to help raise money for the Party. He talks about a 50 State strategy for the 2008 election, and he's backing up his words with action. I think that he is the only one of the candidates to come to the state to raise money for other Democrats.

Georgia Leaders Endorse Edwards

Tune in to 60 Minutes tonight to see John and Elizabeth Edwards' first interview since announcing her diagnosis. They want you to know that the show may be delayed because of the UNC game, and that they will be watching, cheering on the Tar Heels, as always. Tune into CBS at (about) 7 PM.

Over the weekend, I saw a CNN story about Edwards challenging the other candidates on healthcare, and a story about Hillary Clinton having a fundraiser where she expected to snag a cool two million. That's quite a juxtaposition. Edwards is increasingly viewed as the candidate with a detailed, workable platform on issues that the average American cares about. No wonder Georgia leaders, like Gov. Roy Barnes and Shi Shailendra have already announced their support for Edwards.

This is cross posted at Georgia Women VOTE!