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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016
Opinions
“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press,
and that cannot be limited without being lost.
~ Thomas Jefferson ~
Georgia Press Association, first place, Best Editorial Page; first place, Best Serious Column
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Trump could knock
Isakson out of the Senate
Georgia voters
may have five
choices on ballot
Items from the political notebook as the
2016 presidential election is now less than
three months away:
• The conventions are over (thankfully)
and we can now look to the actual presi
dential election in November.
While every
one knows that
Democrat Hillary
Clinton and
Republican Donald
Trump will be on
the ballot, our
state may end up
with five presiden
tial candidates to
select from.
Libertarian Gary
Johnson will be on
the ballot. That was
determined long
ago. In addition, Green Party nominee
Jill Stein’s campaign has submitted the
required 7,500 signatures to gain a spot.
Those signatures are now being checked
by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office
to make sure those who signed met cer
tain requirements such as being a regis
tered voter and being a resident of the
state.
There is a chance a fifth candidate
could be on the presidential ballot in
Georgia. Independent candidate Rocky
De La Fuente submitted 14,000 signatures
by the deadline to the Secretary of State’s
office recently. De La Fuente has already
gained ballot access in other states. The
snag he may face in Georgia, however,
is that he didn’t meet the July 1 deadline
to submit the names of his presidential
elector candidates.
According to Richard Winger of Ballot
Access News, this could prevent De La
Fuente from being on Georgia’s ballot.
However, the candidate could make the
case that the elector filing deadline is
unconstitutional. Winger said Georgia is
only one of two states with the early filing
requirement for presidential electors. The
other state, Arizona, was challenged by
The Green Party. Arizona’s Secretary of
State decided not to challenge the issue
and The Green Party will be on that state’s
November ballot.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp,
however, has a history of trying to keep
candidates outside of the Democrats and
Republicans off the ballot so it will be
interesting to see if he tries to defend
the law, which many legal experts say is
indeed unconstitutional.
The Constitution Party fell short in its
bid to get on the Georgia ballot. While sev
eral thousand signatures were collected
by state party officials, they did not gain
the required 7,500.
• Georgia State Senator Josh McKoon,
in another item mentioned in the Aug.
1 edition of Ballot Access News, is set
to introduce a bill in 2017 to abolish the
mandatory petitions for indendent candi
dates. Georgia has a high state filing fee (3
percent of the annual salary of the office
being sought) so it is believed the law
would not cause the ballot to be crowded.
•The Gary Johnson/Bill Weld presi
dential ticket representing the Libertarian
Party is inching closer to the magical 15
percent polling needed to be included in
the national debates.
Johnson/Weld have benefited from
high negatives for both Hillary Clinton
and Donald Trump and have consistenly
polled in double digits for weeks. One
recent poll showed them as high as 13 per
cent. The Libertarian Party national cam
paign has received two one-hour prime
time Town Hall appearances on CNN
helping the candidate obtain much-need
ed exposure to voters.
In addition, Green Party nominee Jill
Stein has also had the highest polling
numbers of any presidential candidate for
that party. Stein has been as high as nine
percent nationally. She and her vice-pres
idential running mate, Ajamu Baraka of
Virginia, will be the feature of a CNN Town
Hall in coming days.
•Finally a note on the local political
scene: it’s good to have Billy Parks set to
return to his former seat on the Barrow
County Board of Commissioners. Parks
has always represented the people of
District 5 as well as all of Barrow County
in a positive manner. I haven’t always
agreed with him on some issues, but you
would be hard pressed to find a more
honest person than Billy Parks.
Winder resident Chris Bridges is editor
of the Barrow News-Journal. You can
reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.
com.
One year ago, the political experts
were sure of two things about Georgia
voters.
Number one, they would deliv
er the state’s electoral votes to the
Republican presidential nominee,
whoever that might be. Number two,
they would reelect Sen. Johnny
Isakson, who was raising a ton
of money, to a third term in
office.
Twelve months later, things
look very different.
Recent polls show Democrat
Hillary Clinton is either tied
or slightly ahead of Republican
Donald Trump. Some of the
poll analysts are starting to
nudge Georgia into the “Leans
Democratic” column.
Those same polls also show
that the senate race is much
closer than expected, with Isakson
only leading Democrat Jim Barksdale
by single digits and below the 50 per
cent support level that is a warning
sign for incumbents.
Isakson was ahead of Barksdale by
48-42 percent in an Atlanta Journal-
Constitution poll. SurveyUSA had
Isakson leading by 48-39 percent and
Landmark/Rosetta Stone showed
Isakson ahead 46-41 percent.
The senator is one of the best-
known names in state politics and has
support from prominent Democrats
like U.S. Rep. David Scott, former gov
ernor Roy Barnes, and former senator
Sam Nunn.
“I’ve always voted for
Johnny Isakson,” Scott said. “He’s my
friend. He’s my partner, and I always
look out for my partners.”
But Isakson was expected to be pil
ing up a bigger lead by now. Barksdale
entered the race unknown to probably
99 percent of Georgia’s voters. He
hasn’t brought in many contributions,
although he has been able to put $3
million in personal funds into the
campaign.
The last time Isakson ran for
reelection in 2010, he had a cred
ible Democratic opponent in Mike
Thurmond, a good campaigner with
a decent record as the state’s labor
commissioner. Isakson clobbered
Thurmond by a 58-39 percent margin.
If Isakson could beat someone like
Thurmond by 19 points, he should be
20 or 25 points ahead of an opponent
who’s never run for office before — but
he’s not, and the race is getting closer
as the campaign progresses.
The only factor that really explains
Isakson’s wobbly position is the
presence of Trump at the top of the
Republican ticket.
Trump’s erratic behavior since the
national conventions and his high
unfavorable numbers are dragging
down Republican incumbents every
where.
New Hampshire is a good example.
Going into the conventions, Clinton
had been holding a three or four point
lead over Trump, while Republican
Sen. Kelly Ayotte held a small lead
over Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan
in the Senate race.
As the Trump campaign implod
ed, however, a new poll last week
showed Clinton expanding her New
Hampshire lead over Trump to 17
points, while Hassan pushed out to
a 10-point lead over Ayotte, a Trump
supporter.
Similar dynamics are probably
at play here in Georgia, especially
among independents who might nor
mally vote for a Republican but are
turned off by Trump’s antics.
Isakson is a smart enough politi
cian to know that
Trump can be poison
to down-ballot candi
dates. When they have
been asked about pres
idential endorsements
this year, Isakson and
his spokespeople have
always been careful
to say that the senator
will “support the tick
et” in November, but
they won’t say Trump’s
name.
That strategy was evi
dent during a recent campaign swing
in Cobb County, where Isakson was
asked by a local reporter if he had
endorsed Trump yet.
This was his answer: “I think it’s
important to be for your ticket. If you’re
an elected Republican, I think you
have an obligation to be for your tick
et. That doesn’t mean you’re blindly
for your ticket, but it means you’re
supportive of your ticket and you’re
supportive of your party.”
Nowhere in that thicket of verbiage
will you find the words “Donald” or
“Trump.”
Isakson does have health issues to
deal with as he runs for a third term.
He is nearly 72 and disclosed last
year that he had been suffering from
Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative
disorder of the central nervous sys
tem, since 2013
With enough money — Isakson has
raised more than $6 million — and
an obscure opponent, those kinds of
issues can usually be overcome.
But when you’ve got a train wreck
like Donald Trump at the top of your
ticket dragging everybody down, that
can make things a lot tougher.
Tom Crawford is editor of The
Georgia Report, an internet news ser
vice at gareport.com that reports on
state government and politics. He can
be reached at tcrawford@gareport.
com.
The Barrow News-Journal
Winder, Barrow County, Ga.
www.BarrowJoumal.com
Mike Buffington
Scott Buffington
Co-Publisher
Co-Publisher
Chris Bridges
Editor
Jessica Brown
Photographer
Susan Treadwell
Advertising
Sharon Hogan
Office & Reporter
Also covering beats are Alex Pace and Scott Thompson
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Reflecting on a year
without Bailey
As some of you long-time readers might
recall, at the end of July 2015 I had to say good
bye to my Golden Retriever. Bailey was my
faithful friend for 12 great years, and I still miss
her every day. This year has had its ups and
downs as I’ve coped to life without her.
Bailey was the best dog a girl could ask for.
She was the sweetest soul
who would greet you with
a smile and wagging tail at
the door when you came
home. She’d let you hug
her while you cried your
eyes out after a failed rela
tionship. She’d make you
laugh with the way she’d
eat popsicles. You’d be so
overcome with happiness
when you saw her pranc
ing around in the fresh
snow (a very rare treat for
us all here in Georgia).
When I said goodbye to
absolutely shattered. She was with me for over
half of my entire life. Suddenly she was just
gone. The entire month after it happened I was
a completely inconsolable wreck. I cried myself
to sleep every night. I couldn’t look at photos
of her or see her empty bed in the living room.
As I got ready for my classes in August I told
myself I’d put all my energy into overloading
myself with tough courses and focus on mak
ing straight A’s just so I could avoid the pain
of grieving. Was it the healthiest solution? I
couldn’t tell you that, but I did make those
straight A’s.
The problem occurred after I finished those
classes, though. I was suddenly back to feeling
the pain from the past July. I didn’t have the
intense work load of college in the summer
so I couldn’t shut it out of my mind anymore.
This summer forced me to really grieve Bailey’s
passing, and I am not sure I will ever be okay
with it.
I was forced to reflect on the year without see
ing her every day, but despite the heartbreak
of her loss I did find comfort in other aspects.
Losing Bailey showed me who my true friends
were. When I announced that she had crossed
Rainbow Bridge, I remember the friends who
expressed their condolences. I bonded with
a few friends that I wasn’t very close with, and
I even had an acquaintance — practically a
stranger — tell me I could talk to her any time
about it. On the flip side, I saw some of my
“closest” friends who never asked if I was okay.
Sometimes hardships can be very telling, and I
am thankful to know who will be there for me
in the future.
Losing Bailey also taught me about loss and
tough decisions. In my adult life, I had never
been in a situation where I had to make a
decision of this magnitude. It’s difficult to see
your dog in pain and know that you have to be
selfless and let her go. I wished I didn’t have to
say goodbye, but it would have been wrong for
me to keep her alive and suffering. Now I know
I do have it inside of me to do what is right even
though it’s heartbreaking.
I learned that we all grieve at different paces.
It’s okay to still be grieving a year later. It’s okay
to give yourself distractions just so you can
get through the day. There’s nothing wrong
with you. We all go through it in our own way.
Losing a friend, loved one or pet is unbearable.
(And to those who say it’s not the same, to pet
owners our pets are family.) Take the time you
need to grieve because there is no set timeline
to recovery.
For me, my biggest issue was forgiving
myself. I struggled with my decision to let her
go because I felt like I killed her. It’s taken me
over a year to accept the fact that I had to do
what was right for her even though it meant
losing her.
Finally, losing Bailey initially closed off my
heart. For years I swore when the day came
that I lost Bailey I would always keep my heart
open for another dog because it’d be selfish for
me to not give another dog my love. For awhile
after she died though, I was completely closed
off and wanted nothing to do with another dog.
My fear was that I’d always compare it to her
and become upset when they weren’t her. After
a few months I felt miserable not having a dog
in my life. I started opening my heart, and in
April Ruger entered my life. I broke down in
tears when I saw him and instantly fell in love.
It’s okay to close your heart while you heal, as
long as you can find the strength to open it up
again.
It’s been a tough year of soul searching and
grieving, but for the first time in a long time I
feel at peace. Though Bailey hasn’t physically
been here with me in a year, she’s still teaching
me why dogs are angels. Her death has taught
me more about life, love, loss, and heartbreak
and for that, I am thankful. Though I will always
wish that she were still here with me, I am at
peace.
Winder resident Jessica Brown is the staff
photographer for the Barrow News-Journal.
You can reach her at picsbyjessical@gmail.
com.
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