Lone Democrat challenges Gingrey in former battleground district

<p>Western Georgia's ugly shaped 11th District is ugly for a reason: Democrats drew it less concerned about appearance than whether they could win it.</p><p>But two years after a millionaire Democratic businessman lost a nail-biter to Republican obstetrician Phil Gingrey, only one Democrat _ Cedartown attorney Rick Crawford _ has emerged to challenge the incumbent in his first re-election bid. Through March, Crawford had less than $20,000 to launch a campaign, compared to more than $1 million for Gingrey.</p><p>"Probably a lot of Democrats looked at it and didn't think it was competitive with an incumbent in it," said Michael Binford, Georgia State University political scientist.</p><p>Heading into the last election cycle, this oddly shaped district that stretches narrowly up the Alabama boundary from Columbus to north of Rome appeared to be Georgia's great congressional battleground. The area most resembled the old 7th District represented by Republican Bob Barr, but the new map chased Barr to a neighboring territory, where he lost to fellow U.S. Rep. John Linder in the GOP primary.</p><p>Not only did Democrats in the Legislature think they had concocted a competitive district in 2002, but they lined up two heavyweight candidates for it _ millionaire businessman Roger Kahn and former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden. Kahn beat Darden in a fierce primary, then Gingrey edged Kahn on a huge November night for Republicans statewide.</p><p>Despite the demographics of the district and the fact Gingrey is only a freshman _ albeit a well-financed one _ Crawford says he is only somewhat surprised it's just the two of them in the race.</p><p>"It's a wonderful opportunity for us to flip a seat," Crawford said. "I was told by some folks early on that if I got in, nobody else would. When they look at me, I think they see an excellent fit for the district in terms of ideology, background and geography."</p><p>Crawford says he will attempt to make the case that a partisan Republican is representing a bipartisan district. As for Gingrey's fund-raising success, heralded by national Republicans last year as a record among their freshmen, Crawford dismisses it as "a herd trying to protect its weakest members."</p><p>Although his party is cheering him on, Crawford's candidacy is clearly taking second-fiddle to Democratic efforts to unseat Republican Max Burns in eastern Georgia's 12th District. Even Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall's attempt to fend off a challenge from Republican Calder Clay in middle Georgia's 3rd District seems to be stirring more statewide interest.</p><p>Binford says the 11th District could be a seat that is always competitive when open but awfully tough to defeat an incumbent of either party. At least one former candidate seems to agree.</p><p>"The best opportunity for the Democratic pickup was in 2002," Darden said. "That does not mean to say the incumbent is not beatable, anybody can be beaten on a given day, but once there is an incumbent in there, that changes the dynamics, of course."</p><p>Crawford acknowledges he won't have the campaign money to match his foe or Kahn two years ago, but he reasons he can be a stronger candidate than Kahn, who once listed a liquor distributor among his business assets.</p><p>"Roger is a good fellow, he tried hard," Crawford said. "But there are also some things in his background that didn't serve him well. This is the rural South. It didn't get the name 'Bible Belt' for nothing."</p><p>Gingrey says he knows the pundits are expecting him to win the district by a larger margin than two years ago, but he won't get complacent. Democrats drew the district for themselves, he said, so the party's nominee can never be taken lightly.</p><p>"He's got a heartbeat and he's breathing, so therefore I take him seriously," Gingrey said.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865444)</p><p>HASH(0x28654ec)</p>

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