I am the first to dub the coming Senate race in Georgia the “Mike and Ike” election. State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond and U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson come from an era in Georgia politics where the first inclination was dialog and cooperation. That period is history and these two nice guys are generals in a rough political battle. Hot Tamales, Red Hots, Atomic Fire Balls, Jaw Busters, and Lemonheads are candies that better describe the current political climate.
“Now or Laters” seem to be Thurmond’s favorite candy because he has a reputation of make wise, calculated political decisions. At times, a leader must take one for the team and Georgia Democrats couldn’t let a newcomer face Isakson. I told the Senator he should get a pass for being one of the best Republicans in congress—Jon Stewart would say that is like being the skinniest kid at fat camp. As a moderate Democrat, I wanted to leave Isakson’s reasonable temperament and sizeable warchest out of the mix. One can speculate that an economic turnaround would be need for the Dems to do well this year and the Labor Commissioner taking about job creation and training helps the Dem ticket overall.
To me, the biggest problem with Isakson is his inability to convince other members of his party to embrace his logical, less bitter brand conservatism. We remember the Georgia GOP giving Isakson and Chambliss flack for simply negotiating with Democrat colleagues. Will the angry fringe of the southern GOP pull Isakson into their bitterness or will he introduce them to coolness. They better bring the coolness because Thurmond, Thurbert Baker and Sanford Bishop wrote the book on staying cool under fire—never let them see you sweat. I think both Isakson and Thurmond put Georgia’s best interest above party bickering.
My conservative African-American friends (all both of them) think Democrats should be afraid of Palin in 2012. Rep. Paul Ryan, Senator Johnny Isakson and Mario Rubio are the policy-based conservatives who if cloned would be the real concern. Could we please turn our attention back to Palin. For Dems, it is fortunate that the GOP often emulates the wrong folks.
For reading this long babble, you should treat yourself to some old school “candy” music. Is Cameo’s Candy better than LL Cool J’s? Real candy, like political campaigns, isn’t good for you, has little nutritional value and lacks the substance of policymaking –stick with Georgia-grown fruits and vegetables.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWuMtutu8rQ
Cameo- It’s Like Candy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqgeAvhoraQ
LL Cool J- Candy at 5:10 from live show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMICD3aMZpw
Bow Wow Wow – I want Candy
Update:
How could I leave out 10,000 Maniacs’ “Candy Everyonebody Wants.” Some of these races will be decided by 10K Maniacs.
Project Logic Ga 
If there is such a thing called receiving an Oscar for best writing, you should be the recipient of it. This post is by far one of your best Slyram. Classic. Well said. And so in tune with my upcoming book and upcoming plans. Now, isn’t that something? Continue to set the stage for what is about to hit the state of Georgia and entire southeast. All I can say readers is stay tuned. And Slyram, keep on writing, my friend.
thanks to helen blocker-adams for pointing me to this.
i see what you mean when you say “For Dems, it is fortunate that the GOP often emulates the wrong folks.” you mean in terms of winning elections, but actually, if the republicans would emulate the right folks, it would be more fortunate and less scary for everyone. poor america has to live in fear of superbad conservative choices, when really we should be having discussions about priorties and looking to experts we all trust to help us carry out policies that reflect our national priorities. i don’t want to deal with “dare” candies like warheads and atomic fire balls or apocalypse chews. not even if it means that the party i vote with wins more elections. it skews the whole decision away from thinking and running our country properly to one of avoiding disaster.
kind of like having to go to the emergency room instead of getting regular checkups.
Jill: From the policy standpoint, moderates like me generally like many of the core views of the Right. The wrong folks would be those who would use questionable methods to reach noble goals…i.e. some on Fox News.
i was responding to this: “Could we please turn our attention back to Palin. For Dems, it is fortunate that the GOP often emulates the wrong folks.”
i doubt that moderates want sarah palin as president. what i thought you meant was that democrats are lucky that such crazy candidates and ideas are getting pushed through on the republican tickets.
maybe that wasn’t what you meant, maybe you only meant fox news and glenn beck’s questionable methods and that the goals of palin and fox news are fine by you. either way, i don’t consider the craziness to be good luck for anyone.
i think either way, i get your point. politically in terms of wins, craziness on the right shifts a certain number of voters left, but i would rather see two reasonable parties and not live in fear of losing elections. higher chance of winning isn’t worth the raised stakes when the inevitable loss does someday and somewhere come for the radicals or extremists or boundary pushers or mavericks or real americans or whatever they want to call themselves.