Georgia gubernatorial election, 2006

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The 2006 Georgia Gubernatorial Election was held on November 7, 2006. The primary election was held on July 18. Governor Sonny Perdue was re-elected to his second term; he is the first Republican Governor of Georgia since the end of Reconstruction. Currently Republicans control both houses of the General Assembly. During 2005 Perdue's approval rating fluctuated between the high fifties and low sixties; as of September 2006 his ratings sat at 63 percent approval. [1]

Contents

[edit] Candidates

Incumbent Republican Sonny Perdue faced Democrat Mark Taylor and Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes in the November general election. Independent John Dashler withdrew from the race, unable to collect the 40,000 signatures needed to go on the ballot.

[edit] Democratic Party

[edit] Libertarian Party

  • Garrett Michael Hayes

[edit] Republican Party

  • Sonny Perdue - Proclaimed winner with only 12 percent of the precincts reporting.

[edit] Former Candidates

[edit] Democrats

  • Bill Bolton - defeated by Taylor in the Democratic primary
  • Cathy Cox - defeated by Taylor in the Democratic primary
  • Mac McCarley - defeated by Taylor in the Democratic primary

[edit] Republicans

  • Ray McBerry - defeated by Perdue in the Republican primary

[edit] Independents

  • John Dashler - withdrew after failing to collect 40,000 signatures

[edit] Election results

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2006 gubernatorial election, Georgia
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Sonny Perdue (incumbent) 1,229,724 57.9 +6.5
Democratic Mark Taylor 811,049 38.2 -8.0
Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes 81,412 3.8 +1.5
Majority 418,675 19.7 +14.5
Turnout 2,122,185
Republican hold Swing

[edit] Opinion Polls

[edit] General Election

Source Date Taylor (D) Perdue (R) Hayes (L)
Strategic Vision Nov. 1, 2006 36% 52% 5%
Strategic Vision Oct. 25, 2006 32% 51% 9%
Strategic Vision Sept. 27, 2006 39% 51% 4%
Zogby/WSJ Sept. 11, 2006 34.9% 47.4% 8.1%
Zogby/WSJ August 28, 2006 40.7% 51.3%
Strategic Vision August 23, 2006 41% 54%
Rasmussen August 4, 2006 39% 53%
Zogby/WSJ July 24, 2006 39.3% 52.1%
Strategic Vision June 28, 2006 44% 50%
Zogby/WSJ June 21, 2006 40% 48.6%
Strategic Vision May 10, 2006 39% 51%
Rasmussen May 6, 2006 36% 51%
Rasmussen March 26, 2006 41% 51%
Strategic Vision March 8, 2006 33% 57%
Rasmussen Feb 16, 2006 33% 53%
Strategic Vision Jan 25, 2006 36% 57%
Strategic Vision Dec 7, 2005 38% 55%
Strategic Vision Oct 26, 2005 37% 55%
Strategic Vision Aug 4, 2005 40% 52%
Strategic Vision May 13, 2005 42% 50%
Strategic Vision Feb 11, 2005 44% 50%

[edit] Primary election

Perdue defeated his challenger, Ray McBerry, with 88 percent of the vote to 12 percent, with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Taylor defeated his challengers, Cathy Cox, Bill Bolton, and Mac McCarley, with 51.7 percent of the vote to Cox's 44 percent with Bolton and McCarley each receiving two percent of the vote, also with 97 percent of precincts reporting.

[edit] Campaign issues

[edit] Education

  • The HOPE Scholarship program and its stability and continued solvency are recurring issues in Georgia politics. Citing budget constraints, Perdue signed Republican-sponsored legislation in recent years that significantly cut the benefits conferred by the program. Cox and Taylor have both severely criticized the governor for these actions, and both point to the fact that Perdue voted against the legislation creating the program as a state senator in 1993. Perdue backed an amendment to the state constitution that would have shifted the allocation of the lottery funds that support the program, but the legislation was defeated [2]. The scholarship program is likely to be a major point of confrontation between Perdue and his opponents.
On April 19, 2006, Cox charged that Taylor had not sponsored the HOPE scholarship legislation in 1993, as he claims. Taylor apparently sponsored a companion bill that did not pass, although he supported the bill that did pass. The incident portended a strongly negative campaign for the Democratic nomination.
  • College Tuition may also be an issue. During Perdue's first term, Georgia's universities substantially increased tuition fees. It is possible that Taylor will attack Perdue for failing to stop the tuition increases, although the extent to which Perdue was responsible for the increases is unclear.
  • School funding is a common issue in many areas. Perdue successfully backed legislation that requires Georgia schools to spend at least 65% of their budgets "in the classroom". Although Democrats have charged that some school programs, such as music classes, do not fit the definition of "in the classroom", it is likely that the legislation will have a beneficial impact on Perdue's campaign.

[edit] Health Care

  • Peachcare, a state program providing medical care for needy children and families, has already emerged as a point of contention between Perdue and his challengers. Perdue approved a cut in the program during his administration. Taylor, a strong supporter of the program, has been particularly vocal in attacking Perdue and advocating significant expansion of the program.
  • Medicaid may appear as a significant issue in the election, as Perdue made Medicaid reform a priority during his first term. Democrats were critical of the governor's reform proposal he presented to federal officials.

[edit] Immigration

The problem presented by illegal immigrants emerged during Georgia's 2006 legislative session as an issue likely to have a large impact on the gubernatorial campaign. Perdue signed legislation restricting the ability of illegal immigrants to access state resources, including health care and public education. Taylor has so far yet to join many Democratic groups in vocally opposing the legislation, perhaps because public sentiment regarding the issue has been strongly polarized, particularly in the wake of the contentious national debate over illegal immigrants in the United States.

[edit] Voting

  • Voter identification legislation signed by Perdue requiring photo identification for voting while expanding absentee voting opportunities will have a substantial impact on the campaign. Democrats have strongly denounced the legislation as discriminatory against the poor and elderly, while Republicans have attempted to alleviate such concerns by providing access to photo identification for those not possessing it. While the candidates have not focused on the issue, the legislation is likely to change the course of the campaign, as both sides work to improve turnout via absentee voting.
  • Paper ballots are a major concern of Taylor supporters, who feel that Cox made a mistake when she brought electronic voting to Georgia as Secretary of State.

[edit] Campaign developments

[edit] Fundraising

Perdue currently has more resources on hand than Taylor. As of the March 31 filing, Perdue reported that he had in excess of $8 million on hand, while Taylor had $4.1 million in reserve. Perdue had the added advantage of facing a weak opponent in Ray McBerry in the primary election, while Cox and Taylor engaged in a bitter struggle for the Democratic nomination. Hayes, the Libertarian candidate, reported less than $1,000 on hand and is unlikely to play a significant role in the campaign, though the September 11 Zogby poll has him with a surprising 8.1 percent of polled voters.

[edit] Political advertisements

A minor controversy developed during the primary campaign over an ad created by Georgians for Truth, a group founded by several prominent Democratic fundraisers. The ad criticized Perdue for allegedly failing to pay his taxes for several years before becoming governor, allegations that had been made in the 2002 campaign as well. Cox and Taylor, for reasons that are not clear, requested that the group not run the ad, prompting the Democratic party chairman, Bobby Kahn, to rebuke strongly the group's members.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Georgia 2006 Elections

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