The 2004 General Primary is now over. With the exception of a few runoffs two weeks from next Tuesday, the November General Election is the next big thing.

The Georgia Heritage Coalition’s ambitious political program, Georgia vs. Downtown Atlanta, which includes Ten Big Issues, got off to a modest start in the Primary. We were late formulating and promoting our program, and it was planted on less than fertile soil. Political Party Primaries have become hostile territory to real issues and important ideas. That helps explain the low voter turnout.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties are now tightly controlled by state leaders, and candidates who enter races on their own initiative with independent ideas are at a significant disadvantage. As Mike Crane, Southern Party Candidate for State Senate District 51, writes in an email, in most primary elections, “there is a ‘party man’ . . .and they have two major built-in advantages in the primary. The built-in vote of the party regulars go with the flow. [and] Money. The party man gets the party money.”

To be successful in primaries, independent candidates must have good ideas and vigorous campaigns which will peel off votes from some of the party regulars and lure non-party voters into primary voting booths.

Despite these inherent limitations, we had some success in the General Primary. Mac Collins, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Grant Brantley, our endorsee for the State Supreme Court, were both defeated. But Robert LaMutt, Republican candidate for Congress, 6th District, will be in a runoff. He is an appealing candidate with good ideas and has a very good chance of winning the runoff.

Several other GHC endorsed candidates are in runoffs, which will be held on Tuesday, August 9. They include

• Jeff Chapman, Republican, Senate Dist. 3;
  
• Nancy Schaefer, Republican, Senate Dist 50.