You've heard the expression featured in the title of this article. It may have more significance in the current political scene in Georgia than you have been led to believe.

As an old campaigner, I know when there seems to be no overwhelming movement to a majority you need to create some momentum. One way is to develop your own poll which shows a tremendous lead, playing to the old motivational factor, imitation.

Another to to start rolling out the endorsements you've been holding back to make the appearance of a stampede toward support for your candidate.

The Perdue campaign has learned some of these lessons well, After all, they're credentialed graduates of the GOP "Smile School" where many years ago I helped instruct and develop manuals leading to the first victories since Reconstruction by Georgia Republicans. Included was the development of the first Republican statewide precinct organization that has served as a basis for continued incremental growth to domination of the tallies on election day.

Our work was so effective a number of Democrats realized they couldn't win being identified with the left, so they moved their affections to the Republicans who accomodated them by moving more in the direction from whence the new arrivals came.

Let's examine some of the latest applications to the curriculum. One poll with decided Republican bias pops up showing Sonny Perdue with a twenty point lead over Mark Taylor. Nice try, but other polls narrow the Perdue lead to considerably less. More importantly, they show the incumbent governor polling slightly less than a majority.

There are some factors to be be considered. First, the Taylor campaign has been slow to stabilize the Democratic base. Anyone who believes that base will remain around 35% come November hasn't looked at the historical internal data from recent Georgia campaigns.

Additionally, there is a wild card that hasn't been completely revealed in the race this year. The Libertarian candidate, Mike Hayes, continues to move up in the numbers, having reached 8% in the latest Zogby poll. That's about 5% higher than the Libertarians historically collect.

The big question is will this momentum continue? Ten or twelve percent by the Libertarians could throw his race into a tizzy. A lot depends on turnout in this off-year election. Such a showing could amount to upwards of 200,000 votes.

Then we look at the strategy of significant endorsements. The teachers union, always a powerful force, has endorsed Mark Taylor. In 2002 they were one of the factors credited with the Perdue upset of Roy Barnes. If they hold their loyalty at the polls, they can influence another 100,000 to 150,000 votes.

Another group that supported Perdue with somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 votes four years ago, the heritage groups who prefer to be known as the Constitutional conservatives have come out in opposition to Perdue without specifically endorsing an opponent. If they didn't vote at all, called voting with your feet, Perdue would lose the margin of victory he had over Barnes.

Lest anyone think this group can be dismissed, they are the ones who walked with their feet from the flag referendum that Perdue and the Republicans rigged to exclude the 1956 flag resulting in only 15% of the registered voters approving the flag they preferred to substitute for the flag they refused to allow the people to vote on, despite promises to the contrary.

This arbitrary effort to skirt around the "consent of the governed" resulted in a Mason Dixon poll showing 79% of the voters, 4 out of 5, believed they had been denied a fair vote.

In fairness it should be mentioned among the latest endorsements is the National Rifle Association which has endorsed Perdue. They endorsed Barnes four years ago. They have about 85,000 members in Georgia and are another group generally thought to influence 100,000 to 150,000 votes.

There are some other gun groups that often work in tandem with the NRA that have not endorsed Perdue meaning the gun vote my be somewhat skewed in November. Taylor does have support among individual gun owners.

When you total it up at this early juncture you can reasonably come to the conclusion that the race for governor is far from over, despite claims to the contrary.

When you remove as many of the combined total of 300,000-400,000 votes that Perdue had four years ago that he most likely doesn't have now (teachers and heritage conservatives) and offset this figure by a pick up from gun owners of say 100,000 votes, the Perdue campaign is still looking at perhaps 250,000 votes they had four years ago they don't appear to have now.

Keep in mind with these votes Perdue defeated Barnes by 105,000 votes.

Much can happen between now and November 7th. The Perdue land scams are having an effect. Ethics, or the lack thereof, could be a bigger factor than many believe. As more and more word of the heavy contributions and influence in the Perdue campaign by the Atlanta elite become more obvious, what appears to be an early lead by Perdue could diminish. If he stays under a majority, he is vulnerable.

Now, a word to the wise. If you put your bets on the polls, any of them, you're in jeopardy. Remember, Roy was the double digit winner of the pollsters in 2002. The real polls proved them wrong by about 15%, does that figure ring a bell?

It ain't over til it's over. Has anyone seen the fat lady yet?

Lying Fat Lady singing way too early