Tomorrow's The Day For Georgia Democrats To Get Off Their Butts And Vote For Jon Ossoff

Looks like he has solid nerd support

Democrats missed a chance last week to take a House seat in a special election, but this week, things are looking hopeful for the second of four special elections to replace Republicans who left to join the Trump cabinet. In Georgia's sixth district, Democrat Jon Ossoff is currently leading a pack of 18 candidates in an open primary, where if no one wins 50 percent plus one vote tomorrow, the top two candidates regardless of party will have a run-off in June. In the most recent poll, released Friday, Ossoff is at 45%, scary close to an outright win, which would be awfully efficient, wouldn't it? Ossoff's closest competitor, Republican Karen Handel (remember her? she broke that breast cancer foundation), gets 17 percent. If the two go to a runoff, it's likely that gap will narrow a lot with no other candidates to split the vote. Seriously, Georgia Democrats, get out there, win this one tomorrow, and make Donald Trump very angry. Trump is already under the impression that Ossoff isn't running as a Democrat -- Trump wants people to think Ossoff is the Dishonest Media's candidate:

Sure, maybe he is, to an extent, thanks in part to people like Rachel Maddow pointing out that while the former representative for the sixth district, Tom Price, handily won reelection, Donald Trump only won there by two percentage points, possibly making the suburban Atlanta district ripe for the metaphorical plucking. All the attention has given Ossoff a huge fundraising lead and an $8 million campaign fund, and it certainly hasn't helped the various Republicans in the race that a Republican superPAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, blew a million dollars to run a cheaply made ad mocking Ossoff for having -- gasp! -- appeared in a Star Wars parody video when he was in college. The ad mostly garnered ridicule for the people running it, and Ossoff now happily embraces the nerd side, appearing in campaign photos with little kids in Star Wars masks and having toy lightsaber duels with 8-year-olds at campaign events, which makes for a nice lede in this   New Yorker profile.

Unlike the election in Kansas, national Democrats are actually spending money in Georgia to support Ossoff, who's also getting support from some big national names, like a DCCC ad running in Atlanta featuring Morehouse college alum Samuel Jackson saying "We have to channel the great vengeance and furious anger we have for this Administration into votes at the ballot box," because that was one of the few radio-friendly lines from Pulp Fiction. (Sorry, no "I have HAD it with these motherfucking Republicans on this Motherfucking ballot!") The New Yorker piece frets, just a little, that all the celebrity attention could backfire if it makes voters perceive Ossoff as a carpetbagger, but he's been focusing primarily on local issues -- and local Dems' anger at Trump -- so that seems unlikely? We'd like to think there's no such thing as anti-Samuel Jackson backlash anywhere.

The leading Republican, Karen Handel, may sound familiar to Wonkers: She's the former head of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, who tried to get the breast-cancer charity to disassociate itself from Planned Parenthood, and instead resigned under pressure from the Komen Foundation and has since been trying to build a political career as a professional victim of Planned Parenthood. Handel even wrote a book about the struggles of losing her job as a highly paid foundation president and becoming a highly paid rightwing celebrity, titled Planned Bullyhood, GET IT? Needless to say, her narrative of victimhood at the hands of the Abortionplex may make her an appealing Republican candidate, or at least a contender for a regular gig on Fox News (depending on how nice her legs are).

Are Republicans worried? Maybe a little -- they're doing their best to suggest that despite his lead in the polls, Ossoff is actually in big trouble, since with eight million bucks, he should somehow be doing better than 45 percent in an 18-way race, at least according to GOP strategist Brian Robinson:  

“The bad news for him is that he had $8 million,” Robinson said. “No one in this race has come anywhere near the resources that he has, and he only has 45 percent. That’s bad news for any Democrat going into a runoff in a Republican-friendly, long-term Republican-held district.”

Hmmm... if that's supposed to be a Jedi Mind Trick, it doesn't seem especially convincing. Still, it would be awfully nice if enough Dems in the 6th district could show up to give Ossoff an outright win. As Luke Skywalker always said, "Make it so."

And while you're at it, you can help out too, by sending the proton torpedoes of democracy Ossoff needs to take on the Republicans -- yes, we mean money -- to his ActBlue fundraising page. He's the candidate you're looking for, something something Destiny.

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[ New Yorker / Jon Ossof ActBlue donation page / WSB-TV ]