Barbara Dooley says she will run for Congress

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Posted 5:44PM on Sunday, May 12, 2002

ATHENS - Barbara Dooley, the Athens talk show host and wife of legendary Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, said she plans to run for Congress. Dooley, who has been mulling a run for the new 12th Congressional District that stretches from Augusta to Savannah, confirmed Saturday that she would enter the race. ``I would like to serve the district in order to bring the values we have in our area to Washington,'' she told the Athens Banner-Herald. Dooley, a Republican, said she would make a formal announcement ``in a couple of weeks.'' Word of Dooley's decision also surfaced at a meeting of the state Republican committee Saturday. State Senate Minority Leader Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, a key supporter, said Dooley would enter the race. ``I've agreed to endorse her,'' Johnson said. Dooley, 62, whose husband is the University of Georgia athletic director, has been encouraged to run by several Georgia Republicans already in Congress, including Jack Kingston, who was reared in Athens. Johnson said U.S. Rep. Bob Barr of Canton also was encouraging Dooley to run. Her only campaign experience has been a failed 1991 race for the state House of Representatives. Nine Democrats are already in the race, including Charles ``Champ'' Walker, son of Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker. Only one other Republican, Woodrow Lovett of Burke County, has announced. Over the past week, GOP officials have been eager to find a candidate to replace Burke County farmer Cleve Mobley, who withdrew from the race Tuesday despite raising more money than any candidate. The 12th District stretches from Athens south and east to take in part of Savannah. Along the way, it jogs slightly to also take in part of Augusta. The district is one of two seats created after the 2000 census. As drawn by the Legislature and Democratic party officials last year, it is heavily Democratic. Al Gore received 55.5 percent of the district's vote in the last presidential contest, and blacks make up almost 40 percent of the voting age population. Still, state GOP chairman Ralph Reed counted the 12th among three open congressional seats that Republicans intend to closely contest. The others are the 3rd District, in Middle Georgia, and the 11th in west Georgia. Dooley said education, tax cuts, prescription drugs and a strong national defense will be the main themes of her campaign.