Georgia Democrats Have Started Their 2004 Presidential Campaign

In many ways it seems impossible that the Presidential campaign of 2004 is already underway, but it is. These campaigns are starting earlier and earlier because presidential candidates have, first, to gain their party's nomination in state-level primary elections, and the primaries are being set very early nowadays. The reason this comes to mind is because Georgia Democrats held their annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner the other night in Atlanta. Two potential Presidential candidates were there, both from New England, Howard Dean and John Kerry. Dean has been getting a lot of support in the Democrat Party because of his strong stand against the war in Iraq. I have no idea what it means, but Dick Gephardt was not there. Neither were the two Southerners being mentioned, John Edwards or Bob Graham. It'll be interesting to see who the Democrats put up against George W. Bush. Four years ago, when Al Gore and Senator Bill Bradley campaigned in the South, Georgia was the place to be and the state they felt they could win big. Roy Barnes was gaining national attention, and Zell Miller's Lottery strategy had been used to elect Democrat governors in South Carolina and Alabama. Since then, all three of those governors have gone down in defeat. Miller was named a Senator and now votes more Republican than Democrat.

Some immense political changes have taken place in the past four years, but I have one bit of advice for my Republican friends in Georgia; don't count the Democrats out, and don't relax.

This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.