A Web site, complete with a petition, has been set up in the effort to get Wyc Orr to run.
Orr is a former state legislator who ran unsuccessfully for Congress several years ago.
In urging Orr to run, the Web site declares "Georgia Democrats need someone with your military experience, intensity to fight for justice, and the ability to bring our Democratic core voters to the polls."
"...I had not given it too much thought until the last week or so when they stepped up their encouragement."
Wyc Orr
> Orr said Tuesday morning he is doing nothing to "encourage" or "discourage" the campaign while not committing himself to running or not running at this time. "Frankly, I had not given it too much thought until the last week or so when they stepped up their encouragement."
Orr says he believes the "draft Wyc" movement is an outgrowth of some of the speeches he's been making to Democratic Party groups in recent months, as well as his newspaper columns and radio commentaries. He also said he's flattered that someone would go to as much trouble as they have to encourage him to run.
Despite the political trends in Georgia of the past few years, and the backlash over the immigration bill notwithstanding, Orr said he feels a Democrat will stand a real chance of unseating Chambliss next year. But,he was quick to add, "I think it's going to have to be a Democrat who speaks with a new voice, going to have to be a voice of confidence, and one that draws on the great past and the heritage of the Democratic Party."
Orr went on to specifically mention the fact that - under Democratic leadership - Georgia became the envy of the states around it, moving ahead of them to become the center of economic prosperity in the South, with the highest per capita income in the Southeast, "as the Southeast is traditionally defined." Georgia, he said, "has truly leaped forward among the other states, and that's, in part, because of moderate, business friendly, progressive Democratic Party leadership."
One Democrat has already announced plans to seek the post, former WSB-TV reporter Dale Cardwell. DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones is also expected to get into the race.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/6/88431