5 Republicans vie for tough task of unseating Barrow | www.myajc.com

The five Republicans seeking to oust Barrow in the fall — Rick Allen, Delvis Dutton, John Stone, Diane Vann and Eugene Yu — envision riding a national wave against the new health care law and a midterm election turnout favoring the GOP. Outside money and attention are likely to pour in again for Georgia’s only swing seat in the U.S. House.

But at this point some of his Republicans constituents see Barrow as entrenched and tolerable for his party-crossing ways and attention to the district. A recent Tuesday, in which he honored “Barrow’s Bookworms” at three schools and worked the room at the Kiwanis Club, was typical.

“Barrow will be hard to beat because he’s got the best constituent services I’ve ever seen,” said Blake Tillery, the Republican chairman of the Toombs County Commission, who said Barrow sometimes shows up at lightly attended commission meetings. “The man’s everywhere.”

But Allen senses an anti-incumbent vibe on the campaign trail, proven by the recent entries of Yu and Dutton in the race.

“People saw Barrow as being vulnerable,” Allen said, “and they saw an opportunity to jump in and try to win a primary and go after him.”

For starters, all the candidates vow to debate Barrow. It would seem obvious for any challenger, except that the 2012 nominee — former state Rep. Lee Anderson — declined to let the Harvard Law-trained incumbent run rhetorical rings around him.

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