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March 27, 2004
Party Switchers
Oh no, they are at it again!. This time it is Rep. Ann Purcell of the Savannah area. My parting words to her would be don't let the door hit you on the way out. Purcell has basically found herself in the district of Republican Rep. Ron Stephens, who has likewise found himself in the old Purcell district, thanks to redistricting.
Purcell once represented a solidly Democratic district while Stephens had a solidly Republican one. To Ron Stephens credit, he is not switching parties, even though it will be hard to win in a district that Al Gore carried in 2000 with over 70% of the vote.
Party switching already rubs people the wrong way. But think about it from another angle. Local parties, state parties, unions, interest groups and many other interested parties spend thousands of dollars and hours electing candidates who have pledged to vote like a (D) or an (R) once they get into office. In many cases, such as state Sen. Rooney Bowen (DR - Tifton) we are working with extremely flawed candidates. If we had our choice, we would have found better candidates to represent our message. But we don't. So we're pouring our hearts into a candidate and cause that we have a hard time thinking about with a straight face.
When a lot of these guys get elected, it's not themselves that got elected, as you often hear party switchers say "I'm the same old guy" or "down in my area we vote for the person not the party." No, it's the hard work that campaign coordinators, volunteers and underpaid party workers did. I have to think that there must also be some remorse on the switched-to side...they did all that work (in the case of Bowen) to elect a Republican and they got the worst possible Republican (who was previously the worst Democrat) they could.
I'm sure Purcell is just the beginning. You're about to find out which people would rather stay in the legislature than stick to any principles they might have had, though in the case of Purcell probably lost long ago. I bid Purcell and her ilk farewell.
Posted by Chris at March 27, 2004 04:55 PM
Comments
Let us not forget, when Sonny Perdue jumped ships he was rewarded handsomely. In four short years he went from one of the top D's in the state, to THE top R, and of course the first R governor since Reconstruction. Or is Zell the top R in GA?
Posted by: David A. Curtis at March 28, 2004 01:44 PM
Very sad, I know Purcell's husband, he's a great Oncologist in Savannah and works wonders for many of the less-fortunate in South GA. Too bad his wife cannot follow the same path.
Posted by: Tim Cairl at March 29, 2004 10:29 AM
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