Former Georgia governor looks to reverse 2002 mistake by focusing campaign on rural areas

The Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia is more or less abandoning metropolitan Atlanta to focus his campaign on rural areas. Former Gov. Roy Barnes, left, "has bet his campaign on rural Georgia — the one that turned its back on him in 2002 for his removal of the Confederate battle emblem from its place on the state flag," Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. That year, Barnes rarely campaigned outside the metro area and lost the governor's seat to Republican Sonny Perdue, who focused his campaign on 70 rural counties that had voted for Barnes. (AJC photo by Rich Addicks)

Barnes campaign manager Chris Carpenter acknowledged the similarities between Barnes' current campaign and that of Perdue, who is term-limited this time. "Roy Barnes told me about six months ago that if he wins this election he’ll have to win it south of Macon," Bobby Rowan, a former state senator and former member of the Public Service Commission, told Galloway. Rowan, who lives in Enigma, population about 870, said those who think the Republican have a stranglehold on rural Georgia are incorrect. "We frankly don’t care anymore," he told Galloway. "Partisan politics has passed us. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Roy Barnes could roll up a 60 to 70 percent win in our county."

"Margins of that size, reached in multiple rural counties, could offset balloting from the Republican-dominated counties of metro Atlanta," Galloway writes. "A heavy turnout for Barnes in rural Georgia would essentially crack the super-majority of white voters required for statewide GOP victories." Rowan says the economy has labeled the playing field for Barnes after the 2002 flag controversy. "This whole election, it ain’t about a $3 tag, it ain’t about a chicken in every pot," he told Galloway. "It’s about a job for every man that’ll work. That’s the issue." Former Secretary of State Karen Handel and former Congressman Nathan Deal are in a runoff election for the Republican nomination.

Galloway writes that Barnes will be so focused on campaigning in rural precincts that he won't even return to Atlanta for an August visit from President Obama. "Sounds like a convenient excuse or a strategy -- avoiding association with a president who is unpopular with white voters in the state," says Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Commuinity Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog. (Read more)