EURweb |
ATLANTA MAYORAL RACE TIGHTENS: Can Mary Norwood win big enough to avoid runoff?
Can presumed front-runner Councilwoman Mary Norwood win the majority of votes Tuesday and become the city’s first white mayor since 1974?
If not, who will compete against her in the Dec. 1 runoff?
Two polls released last week show Norwood with more than 40 percent of the vote. They also show former state lawmaker Kasim Reed has surpassed City Council President Lisa Borders, for the first time, in the race for second to possibly compete against Norwood in a runoff. Borders campaign spokeswoman Liz Flowers said internal polling shows the council president is still in second.
Attorney Jesse Spikes, who has loaned his campaign $321,000, is hoping voters will ignore polls showing him in single digits and focus on factors such as his education, which includes being a Rhodes scholar. Meanwhile, there’s no telling what impact candidates Tiffany Brown, Peter Brownlowe, Kyle Keyser and Duke Lewis will have on the race.
Longtime political consultant Beth Schapiro believes the key to the election is what percentage of African-Americans will support Norwood. The polls suggest at least 20 percent of black voters support Norwood. About 51 percent of Atlanta voters identify themselves as African-American. The polls suggest Norwood has as much as 70 percent support among white voters, who make up about 37 percent of the city’s electorate.
Taking to the airwaves
Borders unveiled a new TV spot Tuesday aimed at female voters, who make up 54 percent of the city’s electorate, and plans to premier another ad Thursday. Reed premiered a radio ad Wednesday with Brooke Jackson-Edmond, the daughter of the late Mayor Maynard Jackson, who was Atlanta’s first black mayor and considered the godfather of city politics until his death in 2003. Norwood unveiled her first two radio ads last week on urban-oriented stations in which citizens praise the candidate’s work ethic and commitment.
Each campaign says it will canvass across the city for votes in the final six days, which includes having supporters waving campaign signs, offering voters rides to the polls, mobile billboards and messages on Facebook and Twitter. Schapiro expects more back and forth between Borders and Reed as well as those two coming after Norwood.
“Put on your mud guards,” Schapiro said. “It’s going to be flying.”
Get MORE of this Atlanta Journal-Constitution story by Eric Stirgus, HERE.
Click for the latest Obama - Political headlines
Share and Bookmark |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
.jpg)
