GA's Peachy Keen On Incumbents

All of the primaried GA incumbents came out of their races unscathed tonight, despite the fact that some of the races had a few twists and turns.

The White House race has played a big role in two primaries involving Dem Reps. John Lewis (D-05) and John Barrow (D-12).

Lewis faced minister Markel Hutchins (D) and state Rep. Mable Thomas (D), and defeated them handily. Hutchins and Thomas’ bids were fueled by Lewis' early support of Hillary Clinton. Both challengers also echoed Barack Obama's apparent call for a change in the leadership in the African-American community. They argued that while Lewis played a key role in the civil rights movement, it's time for new leaders to take the stage. But Lewis far outraised his challengers, and despite some lingering bad feelings over his early HRC endorsement, he coasted today.

Meanwhile, in the Savannah-based 12th District, Barrow fought off a feisty, yet underfunded, challenge to his left by African-American state Sen. Regina Thomas (D), 76-24%. On the surface, Thomas had a big base -- the District is 41% African-American; it's even higher in the universe of Democratic primary voters. But Obama came out and surprisingly endorsed the white moderate Barrow. That appeared to take the life out of Thomas' campaign. She raised just a fraction of what Barrow has spent on the contest, and couldn’t seem to get any traction.

Barrow will face ex-Rep. Burns (R) aide John Stone (R) in the general, and despite previous Barrow challengers, his candidacy doesn’t excite too many GOPers. Stone hasn’t been able to raise much – he had just $8K CoH at the end of Jul. -- and considering the expected huge African-American turnout for Obama in this CD, any hopes for a GOP win here are muted.

Finally, in the Athens-centered 10th District, Rep. Paul Broun (R) defeated state Rep. Barry Fleming (R) 78-22%, and has cemented his position in the CD after winning the seat just a year ago in a special election. In ‘07, he won a divisive race that split the district between voters in Athens and those in Augusta, with Athens winning out. This year, the geographical divide came back, but the race wasn’t even close.

Fleming represented the Augusta portion of the district in this contest, and he ran a very credible campaign. He outraised and outspent Broun, and attacked him on his “out-of-touch” record that skewed libertarian. He also attacked him for his previous marriages and his bankruptcy.

Despite all of this, Broun continued to release poll after poll that showed him garnering no less than 70%. In the end, they proved correct. He faces no opposition in the fall in this deep red CD.

(TIM SAHD)