I met Michelle Nunn the first time in the late 1980s when she was helping to launch Hands on Atlanta. She helped transition the hundreds of volunteers for the Democratic National Convention, held in Atlanta in 1988, to pro-bono work around the community. Over the years, I read about her but never saw her again until she decided to run for U.S. Senate.
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I’ve known her father for years and respect him.
Soon after her announcement for Senate, she and I talked on Georgia’s Morning News with Zoller and Bryant. It’s difficult to tell what her values are from this interview and she didn’t take a stand on issues.
She’s raised money, sent out emails and held big-dollar fundraisers. Her appearances have been cloaked in secrecy and have been little covered.
Her statements have been little questioned or challenged. There’s not an email communication where she’s said she was a Democrat. That’s all fine in the post-partisan world she lives in, but these are primaries.
Her opponents, Todd Robinson of Columbus, Steen Miles of Atlanta and Branko Radulovacki of Atlanta are traveling the state, appearing at events and being questioned by voters. Where is Michelle Nunn?
She will raise the money and she’ll do well in the primary, and will probably win the primary. In the SurveyUSA poll, she’s at 48 percent. But how will she do when she has to face a seasoned GOP nominee who has been challenged in a Republican Primary by the press, the voters and the Democrat attack machine?
Regardless of what you think about the GOP, and I don’t buy into the “toss-up” designation by Charlie Cook last week, this is still a red state. Not to say Republicans need to act a little more like Republicans from time to time, but that’s a discussion for another day. The only people who are in the “toss up” camp are Washington, D.C. talking heads who haven’t seen the campaigns on the ground.
Make no mistake, this election is about who can win in 2020, not who can win in 2014.
David Perdue has been out there telling folks what he thinks, making mistakes, winning people over and gaining ground. Rep, Jack Kingston has been doing the same. Rep. Paul Broun and Rep. Phil Gingrey are out there, too. Karen Handel has been crossing the state campaigning hard in public. Art Gardner and Derrick Grayson have continued their quixotic quest to change the party.
The point is, the GOP field is out there where they can be questioned by the faithful, followed by the Democrat trackers and challenged by the press on both sides of the spectrum. They are running. What is Michelle Nunn doing?
We’ll have primaries in May and runoffs in July and then, finally, we’ll hear Michelle Nunn, or will we? Think about it.