I just wanted to note that about a week ago, the Regina Thomas act blue page was under $5,000, and now she is at $35,713.00 $36,039.00. The campaign web page is here.
This is because the incumbent in the district, Bush Blue Dog John Barrow, is one of the major proponents of the FISA capitulation, and he has ardently advocated for telco immunity, and taken lots of telco money to boot.
Georgia’s 12th district has its primary on July 15. John Barrow is white in a district where 70% of the primary voters are black, and State Senator Regina Thomas is black, so knocking him off in the primary is possible, though it won’t be easy.
Barrow currently has $1,311,478 cash on hand, 55% of it from PACS, so the amount that Thomas has may not be enough.
The good news is that Barack Obama’s endorsement of Barrow has increased interest in Thomas:
In an effort to control my enthusiasm, I asked Thomas about the depressing news that Barack Obama endorsed Barrow and recorded a radio ad, which caused outrage this week on many blogs. Thomas would have none of it. “That’s the best thing that happened to me!” she countered. “People are angry about this! Here’s a man who has not served his district, and Obama is messing in our local businesss. I’m getting emails from Illinois, Pennsylvania, even Taiwan! A man in his 80’s with a small retirement was sending a check to Obama each month, and now he’s sending it to me. The response is incredible,” she said.
I asked if there were any polls. “We haven’t had the money for a poll, but Barrow took a poll and he didn’t like the results, because he got Obama to make the ad. He refuses to show up for debates, and is sending surrogates who look like me. But people aren’t fooled, they see right through it. Why is he afraid to debate me?” she asked.
(emphasis mine)
Things seem to be trending her way, and there are still 3 weeks to the primary, so check her out.