Email   |  

ATLANTA — Five congressional incumbents easily routed challengers Tuesday after light turnout in Georgia’s party primaries, but two Democratic contenders for U.S. Senate were headed for a runoff.

In Alabama, Huntsville insurance executive Wayne Parker and state Rep. Jay Love won GOP congressional primary runoffs.

In Georgia, veteran congressman John Lewis of Atlanta fought and won his first Democratic primary challenge in 16 years and will return unopposed to Congress.

Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Broun in northeast Georgia defeated a well-funded rival backed by the state GOP establishment. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall crushed a Macon teacher in central Georgia. Rep. David Scott also defeated a Democratic primary challenger. Broun, Marshall and Scott will face rivals from the opposite party in November.

Broun’s commanding victory over Barry Fleming comes 11 months after Broun eked out victory in a runoff against a state senator considered to be the GOP front-runner for the seat left open by the death of U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Broun led Fleming, an attorney and high-ranking state legislator, 71 percent to 29 percent.

Democratic U.S. Rep. John Barrow easily defeated state Sen. Regina Thomas in the 12th congressional district in eastern Georgia. Barrow, who had the support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, was leading with 76 percent of the vote to Thomas’ 24 percent, with about 96 percent of precincts reporting.

John Stone, a former congressional aide from Augusta, won a three-way GOP primary in that district.

Meanwhile, two Georgia Democrats will meet in a runoff in a bid to challenge Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss in November.

DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones and former state lawmaker Jim Martin led in the five-way race, but unofficial returns showed neither able to top the 50 percent of the vote needed to claim the nomination outright.

With 85 percent of precincts reporting, Jones had roughly 40 percent to Martin’s 35 percent. They faced three political newcomers in the primary.

In Atlanta’s 5th congressional district, the incumbent Lewis led with 68 percent with 52 percent of precincts reporting.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins and state Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas had argued that Lewis, a national civil rights icon, is out of touch with the needs in his district.

In Alabama, Parker won a Republican runoff for one of two open U.S. House seats while Love, who represents Montgomery, won the other race.

In north Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, Parker defeated Huntsville lawyer Cheryl Baswell Guthrie. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Parker had 79 percent to Guthrie’s 21 percent.

In the 2nd Congressional District runoff in southeast and central Alabama, Love defeated state Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocumb by 53 percent to 47 percent, with 99 percent of precincts counted Tuesday night.

Email   |  

ATLANTA — In a year when the battle for the White House has pumped up political passions, Georgia’s five-man race for the chance to challenge Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss has been a sleeper.

The race has pitted the CEO of one of Georgia’s biggest counties and a former state lawmaker against three political newcomers who jokingly refer to themselves as the “three amigos.” The crowded Democratic primary field lacks a real front-runner and unifying message, and has generated little noticeable enthusiasm from rank-and-file Georgia Democrats.

And despite speculation that Barack Obama’s history-making presidential quest could drive a large number of Georgia’s heavily Democratic black voters to the polls, Chambliss has the power of incumbency and a $4 million in his campaign war chest.

Former state Rep. Jim Martin, 62, entered the race late and drew the ire of his opponents when he said he’s running because none of the other Democrats could defeat Chambliss. But critics point to his failed 2006 bid for lieutenant governor as evidence that he can’t win statewide.

Vernon Jones, 46, CEO of DeKalb County, has won praise for preserving greenspace, but critics say his personal foibles over the years have overshadowed his accomplishments. Among them: An incident in 1987 when he allegedly waved a gun at a woman; a 2004 allegation that he pushed a DeKalb County commissioner after a budget dispute; and a 2004 accusation of rape by a woman who did not pursue the case. No charges were filed. Jones calls himself a conservative Democrat, but his votes for President Bush in 2000 and 2004 might rankle some primary voters.

The other candidates are Dale Cardwell, 45, a former investigative reporter with WSB-TV in Atlanta; Rand Knight, 36, a former ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service and a private sector environmental scientist who now works in national security technology; and Josh Lanier, 55, who served as a congressional aide and later worked for a number of trade and nonprofit associations.

Email   |  

ATLANTA — Rep. John Lewis has not faced a primary election fight in 16 years, but now two younger challengers want to apply Barack Obama’s talk of change and unseat the civil rights icon who initially backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race.

Lewis, 68, is on the ballot for Tuesday’s 5th District primary with a 31-year-old minister and a state legislator who unsuccessfully ran against Lewis in 1992 and is 18 years his junior.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins and Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas are betting that Lewis’ early endorsement of Clinton will hurt him among voters who may have seen the alliance as a betrayal in a district that overwhelmingly favored Obama.

Lewis later switched his support to Obama and does not expect his initial decision to hinder his campaign.

“I told my young opponents, I’ve been about change. I am change,” Lewis told The Associated Press. “If it was not for the changes that I, along with many of my colleagues, created, they probably would not have an opportunity to be running for Congress or anything else.”

Still, Lewis, who first took office in 1987, said he welcomes the challenge.

“People have a right to run,” he said. “I believe the people of this district will reward me for my long years of service with the hope and expectation that I will continue to provide them with the best of service.”

The winner of the 5th District primary will claim the seat and head to Washington in January, as there is no Republican candidate running for the post.

Hutchins, who is among the youngest congressional candidates in the country, said his candidacy is meant not as an offense, but as a sign of gratitude.

“We thank Congressman Lewis and the generation that he marched with that brought us across bridges in the 1960s, but there are additional bridges to cross,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins gained national attention as spokesman for the family of Kathryn Johnston, the 92-year-old woman gunned down by Atlanta police officers in a botched 2006 drug raid. In the aftermath, he advocated for changes in police department policy and helped keep attention on the case.

Hutchins said he used to believe activism was more productive than politics, but was inspired by Obama’s candidacy to challenge a man he considers “the most visible representation of the tradition out of which I come.”

In making his decision, Hutchins said he recalled words often quoted by Lewis: “The time is always right to do right.”

“I think it makes the political season even more historic,” Hutchins said. “It’s a signal for the American people and especially African Americans that it’s time to transition from the civil rights generation to a younger generation of leadership that is able to identify with the pressing problems of the time in which we live.”

Thomas, 50, also forged her political roots at a young age. She was chosen as a presidential delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention and won her first term in the state legislature at 28 as Georgia’s youngest state representative.

Thomas’ first stretch in the state legislature ended in 1993, after she first challenged Lewis for the 5th District seat. She won less than a quarter of the vote, losing by more than 30,000 votes.

She returned to the Georgia House in 2004 and said her experience as a local lawmaker has made her more familiar with the district’s issues.

“You’ve spent so much time being a national leader and forgotten the pain and suffering of the 5th District,” Thomas said during a recent debate, in which Lewis declined to participate.

For all the attention around Lewis’ endorsement controversy, observers say it is unlikely that voters in his majority black district — which spans Atlanta and the metro area in Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb counties — will abandon him next week.

If Lewis’ war chest is any indication, he is in no danger. He has raised more than $870,000 and still has more than $560,000 in cash on hand, compared to $4,682 raised by Hutchins, of which he has only $35 available, according to both candidates’ most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Candidates are not required to file if they raise and spend less than $5,000, and Thomas did not file a report with the FEC.

Still, Lewis may not always be in a politically safe district as a new generation of black leaders continues to emerge, said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.

“He’s getting up there in years, and one of these days, if he doesn’t decide to leave himself, he will find a serious opponent who will potentially unseat him,” Bositis said. “That’s not this year, but that will come, and sooner rather than later.”

For now, Lewis said he is determined to stay in office.

“There’s not any reason to put me on the shelf, to place me in some corner not to be heard from,” he said. “I think the people in this district have been very, very good to me, and over the years, I’ve tried to be good to them.”

Email   |  

ATLANTA — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton each picked up a delegate in Georgia on Saturday as state Democrats selected their delegation to the party’s national convention in Denver this summer.

Obama picked up another superdelegate later Saturday in Wyoming, then one more in Alaska. Obama also took a pledged delegate from Clinton at Alaska’s Democratic party convention Saturday.

That brings Obama’s overall delegates to 1,974 — only 52 shy of the 2,026 needed to secure the presidential nomination — to Clinton’s 1,779.

The two add-on delegates in Georgia are state party secretary Stephen Leeds, an Obama supporter, and Verna Cleveland, who was Clinton’s Georgia state director.

The add-on in Wyoming was state Rep. W. Patrick Goggles, who told the Associated Press after his selection that he will support Obama at the convention.

In Alaska, former Gov. Tony Knowles said he would support Obama for president.

Obama won Georgia’s Feb. 5 primary. Of the state’s 30 at-large and pledged delegates, 20 are Obama supporters and 10 are Clinton supporters. Georgia also has 13 superdelegates, with seven committed to Obama and three to Clinton. Three are officially undecided, including former President Jimmy Carter.

In Wyoming’s March caucuses, Obama defeated Clinton 61 percent to 38 percent, Obama picking up seven pledged delegates to Clinton’s five. He has the support of four of the state’s superdelegates, with two remaining uncommitted.

In Alaska’s caucuses last February, Obama got 75 percent of the vote, with the other 25 percent going to Clinton. Obama’s final delegate count was 14, including four superdelegates; Clinton’s was four, including one superdelegate.

Email   |  

John McCain received the endorsement Monday of six governors during a Washington, D.C., press conference that the Republican presidential candidate did not attend.

Helping shore up the Arizona senator’s conservative credentials were Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, Georgia’s Sonny Perdue, North Dakota’s John Hoeven, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Hawaii’s Linda Lingle and Alabama’s Bob Riley.

Barbour, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee when the GOP took the House in 1994, said McCain may not be ideal to conservatives, but they will get behind him by November.

“I don’t think I need to convince anyone how liberal Senator Clinton is. And believe it or not, Barack Obama is even more liberal,” Barbour said. “McCain’s not as conservative as Haley Barbour. He’s not as conservative as Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney. But he’s more conservative than Hillary Clinton.”

Perdue said unfortunately for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who once led the National Governors Association, the time has come to remove the “presumptive” label from McCain’s nomination.

Neither Barbour nor Perdue, the only governors at the event, said they were contemplating being McCain’s vice presidential pick.

“I’ll be on hurricane duty,” said Barbour, who has been credited with deftly handling the state’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

“The only time I’ve heard about it is from the media and they’re trying to get rid of me in Georgia,” Perdue joked.

In a statement from the campaign trail, McCain thanked the six governors for their support.

“Each governor’s tireless service has made a positive difference in their respective state,” he said. “I am proud to have each of them as a member of our team.”

FOX News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Email   |  

REPUBLICANS

John McCain: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma

Mitt Romney: Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah

Mike Huckabee: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Barack Obama: Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Utah

STATE

Alabama: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee

Alaska: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Arizona: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Arkansas: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee

California: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Colorado: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Connecticut: Barack Obama, John McCain

Delaware: Barack Obama, John McCain

Georgia: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee

Idaho (D): Barack Obama

Illinois: Barack Obama, John McCain

Kansas (D): Barack Obama

Massachusetts: Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney

Minnesota: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Missouri: Barack Obama, John McCain

Montana (R): Mitt Romney

New Jersey: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

New Mexico: TBD

New York: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

North Dakota: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Oklahoma: Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Tennessee: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee

Utah: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

West Virginia (R): Mike Huckabee