In final debate, GOP governor candidates turn focus to Barnes

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Posted 7:44AM on Monday, August 19, 2002

ATLANTA - Three Republican candidates for governor made their final televised pitches for office Sunday in a debate where Sonny Perdue described himself as the only man who can win in November and Bill Byrne and Linda Schrenko dismissed Perdue's claim to be the front runner. The three are vying in the GOP primary Tuesday for the right to face Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes in November. Barnes is unopposed in his primary. Perdue, a former state senator, urged Republican voters to choose him because his campaign is organized in every county. "I believe I'm the only candidate that can defeat Roy Barnes in November," he said. Schrenko picked at Perdue for making that claim. The state school superintendent pointed out that Republicans have run candidates like Perdue for more than 100 years without success. "The definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same action over and over and expect a different result," she said. "That's what we've been doing as Republicans." Much of the hourlong debate was spent discussing who stands the best chance to beat Barnes. Byrne, former Cobb County commission chairman, and Schrenko said Perdue is too much like Barnes to give voters a real choice. Perdue was a Democrat in the General Assembly until 1998. Perdue countered that Barnes sees him as the most formidable opponent of the three. On Friday, Barnes' campaign started running TV ads criticizing Perdue's role in contacting the state pardons board on behalf of prisoners. "Obviously the governor doesn't want to face me in November. He knows I'm his worst nightmare," Perdue said. In a WSB-TV/Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released Aug. 9, it appeared none of the candidates would get more than 50 percent of the vote, required to avoid a runoff. Schrenko was favored by 25 percent, Perdue 24 percent and Byrne 19 percent. The rest were undecided. In Sunday's debate, the candidates also revisited points they'd made in earlier meetings. Perdue challenged Schrenko about her many absences from state school board meetings, and Schrenko again said she was meeting with President Bush and his staff on national school reform. Later, Perdue challenged Byrne's claim that taxes went down all 10 years he ran the Cobb commission. Byrne insisted any taxes that increased were the fault of the General Assembly, of which Perdue was a member until this year. All three candidates said they wanted a public referendum on the state flag. Republicans have criticized the Democrats for changing the flag to shrink the Confederate emblem without putting the issue to a statewide vote. In fact, all three candidates lobbed more blows at Barnes and the Democrats than at each other. After the debate, they talked for several minutes and posed together for pictures. Schrenko said they agree on most points and will support whoever wins the nomination. "Actually, the day after the primary we'll be getting along rather well," she said. "We decided that a long time ago."