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Republican vote to oust mckinney Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/0802/09crossover.htmlhttp://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/0802/09crossover.html
[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 8/9/02 ]
'Crossover' voting push on to oust McKinney
By RHONDA COOK
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Some Republican voters have a strategy for defeating U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney that may feel like political treason: voting in the Democratic primary.
Georgia politics, from talk radio to cyberspace, is buzzing with talk of GOP-leaning 4th District voters "crossing over" in the Aug. 20 primary to vote for McKinney's Democratic challenger, Denise Majette. With polls showing a close race, an e-mail being circulated by a group called New Leadership for DeKalb estimates Republican voters can swing the vote to Majette if 3,000 to 5,000 vote a Democratic ballot.
It's going to feel odd for a staunch Republican like Phil Kent to vote for a Democrat, but Kent is planning to cast a ballot for Majette. Kent, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, said it will be the first time he has voted in the Democratic primary. Though there are three candidates running in the GOP's 4th District primary, Kent realizes a Republican is unlikely to win the heavily Democratic district. He says McKinney must go, no matter what.
"I was horrified when I landed in Cynthia McKinney's district," said Kent, who lives in north DeKalb. "I just made the decision [that] if I feel strongly about it, I'm going to make a change. She's probably one of the worst, out-of-control, left-wing people in Congress."
Kent can cross over because of Georgia's open-primary system. Voters do not register with a political party here, as they do in 29 states. So Georgians can choose to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary on Aug. 20 -- though not both. When a voter who typically votes in one primary strategically chooses to vote in the other, they are said to have "crossed over." Crossover voting is mostly seen in presidential primaries, experts say, and rarely is widely practiced or well-organized.
New Leadership for DeKalb is trying to make the 4th District an exception to that rule.
Mark Davis, a Gwinnett County Republican voter and one of the effort's leaders, said the organization has raised about $15,000 through www.goodbyecynthia.com.
It plans to set up a phone bank that will put out calls to about 15,000 Republican primary and other voters encouraging them to vote for Majette in the Democratic primary. The group also plans to send out 30,000 to 40,000 flyers in the district next week.
The numbers may make their task difficult. In the 2000 primary, just 8,689 votes were cast for the two Republicans running in the 4th District, though the DeKalb-centered district has been reconfigured a bit. McKinney, running unopposed, drew 40,629 votes in the Democratic primary that year.
McKinney, at a campaign stop Thursday, dismissed the crossover campaign, saying that Majette appeals to Republican voters because she is, in essence, a Republican. "She votes Republican. She gives her money to Republicans. Republicans are giving her money," McKinney said.
Voting a Democratic ballot has a downside for dedicated Republican voters -- it means they won't be able to choose among the GOP's candidates for governor, U.S. Senate or in other races. That's why some -- including McKinney's campaign manager -- dispute the notion of a large crossover vote.
"I don' believe that primary voters in either the Republican or Democratic Party will cross over," Bill Banks said. "The reason is you have two major [statewide] races in terms of the primary ... The primary voter ... is mainly concerned with winning that part of the primary."
But Norman Ornstein, congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said passionate opposition to McKinney has created an ideal climate for crossover voting. "It' a reflection of the degree that Cynthia McKinney has become a lightning rod," Ornstein said. Still, he suggested McKinney could overcome a strong crossover vote if she is able to energize her Democratic base -- as she has done in the past.
Crossover proponents explain their actions by noting, among other things, McKinney's controversial statements suggesting that the Bush administration might have known the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were coming and did nothing to stop them.
Also, last October, McKinney penned an apology to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani turned down the prince's offer of $10 million to help the families of Sept. 11 victims. Giuliani was offended by the prince's suggestion that the United States' pro-Israel policy helped cause the attacks.
Davis, a businessman whose father once ran for governor as a Republican, does not live in the 4th District but says he has clients there. He doesn't know if the crossover campaign will work but says it's worth the effort.
"I view [McKinney] as a traitor, and I'm ashamed to have her representing our state in Congress, whether it's my district or not," he said.
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