And then the few who did support here were vilified by the Zell Miller lovers. Go figure :shrug:
What happened was absolutely shameful and it happened with the full complicity of the Democratic Party.
I really wonder how this is going to play in the 2004 elections. People underestimate the harm this betrayal caused
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It did not help that some prominent Blacks, including NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, Democrat John Lewis of the neighboring Fifth District, former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and civil rights leader, distanced themselves from Ms. McKinney.
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The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton were among national leaders who went to Georgia to urge voters to participate in the 4th District election.
Min. Farrakhan spoke at three churches, held news conferences and talked about the need for Black politicians to be able to represent the interests of voters. He warned the undue influence of outside forces and lobbies erode democracy and can negate the will of voters.
http://www.finalcall.com/national/mckinney09-03-2002.htmThere's a great analysis of the whole affair here:
http://www.cpusa.org/article/articleview/514/1/8/Here's a snippet:
In the 2002 Democratic primary in DeKalb County, 116,544 Democratic ballots were cast and only 6,886 Republican ballots were case. If all the voters casting ballots were Democrats, it would mean that Democrats voted nearly 17 times more often than Republicans, which is highly unlikely.
In the 2000 Democratic Primary 54,861 ballots cast overall. In the 2002 Democratic Primary 116,544 ballots cast, which is a 100 percent increase.
In advance of the primary election day, Republicans telegraphed via media their intentions to intervene in the Democratic primary. There was no response from the State or National Democratic leadership.
As the McKinney campaign concludes, it is clear that she won the Democratic vote. The campaign states, "Republicans do not have the right to determine the outcome of a Democratic primary. Therefore, the outcome of this election is not only a travesty of justice and a perversion of the democratic process, but stands alongside the Florida 2000 debacle as just as illegitimate."
It is estimated that there were 25,000 crossover votes. Following the election, State Representative Tyrone Brooks of Atlanta, Rev. Joseph Lowery of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda, and Martin Luther King III, introduced legislation to end crossover voting. Rev. Lowery explained that the legislation was prompted by the McKinney primary in which "Republicans provided the margin which is unethical".