WASHINGTON — The quest to define Michelle Nunn’s political persona began in earnest Tuesday as she made her formal entry into Georgia’s U.S. Senate race.
The Democrat and daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn cast herself as a bridge-builder in an introductory interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. By midday Tuesday, in an interview with Channel 2 Action News, she was casting off as “spurious” the Republican charge that she was just another liberal ally of D.C. Democrats.
Nunn’s entry solidified Georgia’s Senate race as one that will be nationally watched and hard-fought for the next 15 months. The immediate task for Nunn, a political newcomer and CEO of the Points of Light volunteer service nonprofit, is to introduce herself to voters – before Republicans do it for her.
“It’s a blank slate, but both parties have a pen,” said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the Cook Political Report, who handicapped the race as leaning Republican Tuesday and said she could see it becoming a tossup by next fall.
Nunn will tour Georgia with her husband and two children in August. Georgia Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson said he encouraged her to talk a lot about her philanthropic background, building Hands on Atlanta into a powerhouse and then merging it with Points of Light, which was started by President George H.W. Bush.
Nunn spokesman Zac Petkanas, a former Reid aide, replied: “These kinds of blind partisan attacks are not only inaccurate but exactly what’s wrong with Washington.” He added that Points of Light “has been recognized for its transparency, accountability and fiscal stewardship, receiving the highest rating from Charity Navigator — America’s leading independent charity evaluator.”
“She does have a great political family name, but more than half the voters in Georgia have never voted for a Nunn,” said Georgia Republican strategist Joel McElhannon. “It’s not like there’s this big Nunn political machine out there that’s ready to go.”
McElhannon also predicted that, as a political neophyte, Michelle Nunn “is bound to make a number of mistakes.”
Patrick Mayer, 35, a Marietta Republican, said the Nunn name has lost its power over the years and that he expects the “Obama machine” to make the race competitive but not enough to tip the balance.
“In the end, it breaks down to political demographics,” Mayer said. The Georgia moderate vote “for the last decade has been swinging Republican. And the next … 14 months isn’t really going to change that much.”
via Nunn’s entry into Senate race kicks off tug-of-war to define her | www.myajc.com.
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