Charles Shiflett Column November 7, 2004

What A Difference A Decade Makes

It's been a decade, but seems like only yesterday… it was the evening of November 8, 1994 and I had just
won election to the Bartow County Board of Education. According to research, it was determined that I
possibly became the first Republican elected to local office in Bartow County since Reconstruction.

After the Bartow election results were finalized, I headed down to the Cobb Galleria to attend Newt Gingrich's
election night event. There was excitement in the air as incoming data clearly showed a Republican sweep
taking place nationwide. My friend Bob Barr took the platform to give his first ever victory speech.

The crowd swelled dramatically as party stalwarts poured in to celebrate the GOP's pick-up of most of
Georgia's congressional seats. The buzz increased as the TV monitors showed Democrat incumbent
congressmen going down to defeat across the nation in astonishing numbers.

I found myself standing at the side of the room for the next hour chatting with a young, fresh-faced Atlanta
radio talk show host named Sean Hannity. At the time, Sean was actually a little shy and seemed
appreciative of having someone to talk to. It soon became apparent to each of us that Newt Gingrich would
have a solid GOP majority in the U.S. House, making him the new Speaker. The Republican Revolution had
arrived.

In 1996, Bartow voters put two more Republicans on the county BOE and elected Republican Tom Moseley
as magistrate judge. Each election cycle since has seen an increase in the number of GOP office holders
locally and statewide, which brings us to 2004.

Bartow County and Georgia are now GOP strongholds. The most telling local race last Tuesday was that of
county land surveyor. This is an obscure office very few voters know anything about. With a Democrat
incumbent in place, this race was a true test of the GOP base vote in Bartow.

Neither candidate ran radio or newspaper ads. There were no direct mail pieces or campaign signs. Other
than family and friends of the candidates, voters looked at one thing when voting - who had the "D' and who
had the "R" after their names. Republican Dan Baker won a resounding victory.

All five members of the state legislature representing Bartow County are now Republican, as are both of our
congressmen. All local partisan offices are now held by the GOP, with the lone exception of Democrat district
attorney Joe Campbell, who was unopposed. Campbell's Cherokee Judicial Circuit also includes Gordon
County.

Once a token minority in the Georgia legislature, Republicans gained a majority in the state house for the
first time in over 125 years. They also increased their majority in the state senate. Republican Governor
Sonny Perdue and the new GOP legislative leaders will now be able to move pro-family legislation, tax
reform, and stiffer ethics measures out of committee and onto the floor for passage.

If the election Tuesday did one thing, it was to put an end to one political strategy. Bobby McMillan, Duron
Davis, Lester Tate, Ricky Crawford, Buddy Childers, and others campaigned as conservative Democrats.
Talk about gun rights and lower taxes; be against gay marriage; talk of support for pro-life and pro-family
issues. In other words, act like a Republican, but run as a Democrat.

Voters statewide rejected this deception. Zell Miller's retirement signals an exodus of the few remaining
conservative Democrats from state and national politics and it's doubtful more will be elected any time soon
as the party becomes dominated by leftwing interest groups.

For the last ten years, the Democrat Party in Georgia has consisted of a delicately held together coalition of
conservative rural whites and urban blacks. Republicans on Tuesday made inroads so deep into rural
traditional Democrat strongholds, that the state Democrat coalition is now permanently fractured.

Look for several Democrat legislators to switch parties before January, furthers cementing the new GOP
majority. Over the next couple of election cycles, the Democrat Party in Georgia will become primarily a party
of minorities and urban liberal whites.

The encouraging news for Republicans is that Georgia's rapidly expanding black middle class no longer
sees itself permanently attached to the Democrat Party. Tax reform and moral issues are important to these
voters and increasing numbers now see themselves as Republican.

Tuesday's results also bode poorly for Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Secretary of State Cathy Cox, both of who
campaigned for John Kerry and Denise Majette. Taylor and Cox each want to challenge Sonny Perdue in two
years. With a firmly entrenched GOP majority in the state legislature, a Democrat governor would be unable
to accomplish much.

As I look at the local, state, and national political landscapes redesigned by the voters Tuesday, all I can say
is: "What a difference a decade makes." I bet Sean Hannity would say that, too.