Georgia Reconnaisance

I'm here visiting my family in Atlanta for a week, taking time to take the political temperature here in the South. Steve actually seemed to think that Andrew Young has a shot at Zell Miller's Senate seat next year. Young can certainly claim foreign policy credentials, but as former Ambassador to the UN, they're the kind that are more likely to hurt than help down here. They've got a road named after him, but then, they also have the Carter Center, and he couldn't get elected dogcatcher.

I'll actually be visiting the Carter Center on Sunday. We already have a pretty good idea of what the ex-President wants us to think of his legacy. I may or may not eat beforehand.

Also, I've seen only Dean lawnsigns and bumperstickers since I've been here. Not many, to be sure, but none for anyone else. Barring disaster, President Bush has exactly zero chance of losing this state to Dean. I'm the black sheep of the family, a lifelong Republican courtesy of the man from Plains. Everyone else, Mom, Dad, Ellen, and Steve, voted for Clinton twice and Gore last time. The dinnertime conversation last night was about the Democratic candidates, and their discontent with the fact that Dean is being conceded the nomination so early.

And they'll all vote for the President if Dean is nominated. We had bagels and lox for breakfast, and the little aluminum foil tops to the cream cheese containers would make perfect yarmulkes for the Jewish Dean supporters.