Why Barnes should be elected to Georgia's Governorship:

I've been following the campaign news via reading stolen newspapers and occasionally watching television programs through the windows of wealthy neighbors, and I came to this conclusion: We need former Governor Barnes to be our top guy again. Granted, in 2002, I was not fond of Barnes due to my displeasure at the state flag being messed around without real cause ( the flag then had been chosen in 1956; by 2000 it had been our flag for nearly 50 years and felt like a piece of history which could symbolize many things to people - my feelings were that it should stay as a reminder of that history - I think I will do a separate post on my feelings at that time). But Barnes overall was a guy who seemed dedicated at the time to improving our state. He still is. What most will probably overlook is that Georgia Democrats are still not really agents of the national party. They are far more conservative, fiscally and socially, then the guys in Washington. Georgia Democrats have been this way for many years which is why many switched to the Republican party when they felt that party was more conservative.

  But I think Barnes should win not just because he is a conservative Democrat (a seeming rare thing). He's more ethical than Deal, who before resigning to run for governor, was about to undergo a House ethics probe (see this link for details). Electing Deal, with a presumably full Republican Legislature, will make for yet another rubber stamp administration. Even under the long years of Democrat rule we did have dissent, as even though the Democrats were the majority, they were prone to factional breaks and contention between the Speaker and the Governor (see the Three Governor's Controversy and Tom Murphy ). Electing Barnes will mean electing a Democrat who will have to compromise with Republicans, who won't have a rubber-stamp legislature and who is guranteed to leave in four years. Even those against Barnes have to agree that he will be in no position to do as much harm as Deal will certainly be in. Besides, John Monds doesn't have a chance. (I know my friends are crying, "Say it so, Leo!" but I think it will be a long time before there's a Libertarian governor. Start small, Libertarians. Get a hold of a few towns and districts, introduce a little bit of legislation here and there, and one day the established parties will...assimilate and bastardize your ideas, just as they do with all third-parties.)