SAVANNAH, Ga. March 31, 2014 — A balmy spring afternoon set the scene for a heated debate between the seven candidates vying for retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ seat in Savannah on Saturday, the fifth in a series of seven before Georgia’s May 20th Republican primary. Outside the doors of the venue, supporters of nearly every candidate gathered beneath a row of lyrical Spanish moss trees to greet incomers with fervent flashes of their campaign signs. The lazy Southern mise en scène belied an intense political battle being waged within the walls of the Savannah Arts Academy, one that could have important implications for the future of the U.S. Senate.
Among the combatants were three sitting congressmen—Reps. Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey, and Paul Broun—former Reebok and Dollar General CEO David Perdue, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, activist Derrick Grayson, and attorney Art Gardner. An eighth candidate, Korean businessman Eugene Yu, graced the stage for several previous debates but recently withdrew from the Senate race in order to challenge Democratic Rep. John Barrow in Georgia’s 12th district.
The sheer volume of candidates gunning for the open seat turns nearly every appearance into a stiff competition. Between thinly-veiled political jabs at each other (and some not so thinly-veiled), the motley crew of Senate hopefuls trumpeted in turn the strength and superiority of their Christian conservative values. With the exception of Gardner, who repeatedly emphasized his centrist stance on social issues, the Republican rivals spent much of their airtime dragging each other to the right—a phenomena indicative of the race as a whole.
Half of the popular Athens-based political radio duo Zoller & Bryant took to the moderator’s podium just before show time to whip up the relatively sparse crowd; Tim Bryant’s turn in the director’s chair immediately followed that of co-host Martha Zoller, who moderated the previous debate in Macon. As Bryant introduced each candidate that cat-walked across the stage, thunderous applause broke out for Jack Kingston, who is widely perceived to lead the group.
Kingston held the home field advantage this time around thanks to two decades of representing Georgia’s 1st, which includes Savannah and much of the coastal area. Indeed, his finest debate moments came when Bryant and members of the Georgia Republican Party lobbed him questions especially relevant to the Atlantic coast. Long after the auditorium had emptied, Kingston stood alongside a cluster of tee shirt-clad supporters for photos and handshakes while the other candidates drifted off uncelebrated.
Fellow front-runner David Perdue shined sans a stacked audience, inspiring more than his share of claps and whistles. In addition to touting his business credentials, Perdue harped on his humble Georgia upbringing and frequently cited his 87-year-old mother in an apparent effort to soften his Romney-esque image.
Trailing slightly in the polls is Paul Broun, the rosy-cheeked Tea Party favorite whose fiery Christian convictions have sparked a GOP soul search over how conservative is too conservative for races of a higher profile. A classic flag-pin politician, Broun delivered some of the same lines (verbatim) as he did in previous debates, but his good ol’ boy charisma still managed to rile up the room at key points throughout the evening.
Phil Gingrey of Marietta rounded out the trio of congressmen, claiming a spot on the very edge of the stage and largely avoiding the fray that seemed to engulf several of the other candidates. Karen Handel, the lone lady of the bunch whose wide name recognition can be attributed to a near-miss in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, scored points by criticizing the president and positioning herself as a traditional conservative.
The two grassroots candidates, Art Gardner and Derrick Grayson, each made provocative arguments in their own right during the debate and even received questions directly from Georgia GOP officials. At several points, the two underdogs clashed with each other, once prompting Gardner to respond to Grayson’s barbs by saying: “Rather than make a campaign speech about this or a self-serving, entertaining speech about this, I think I’ll answer the question.”
via Republican Senate candidates spar in fifth Georgia primary debate | Communities Digital News.
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