Isakson Launches 2010 Campaign

Still a year and a half out from the election day when voters will decide whether to send him back to Washington, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson kicked off his re-election campaign tour through Georgia with a stop in Albany Wednesday.

By J.D. Sumner, Albany Herald — Feb 19, 2009

After watching his colleague narrowly survive a challenge from a Democratic underdog last year, Isakson kicked off his campaign in earnest to get his platform out early and often.

Isakson made campaign stops in Columbus, Augusta and Albany Wednesday touting his work on energy independence and calling for his co-workers in Congress to fix the cause of our current economic sickness, not just the symptoms.

“I’m spending every waking hour I can in Washington and here trying to do those things where we in government can be a catalyst for the private sector to return to the type of prosperity we saw in the years before,” he said.

With Georgia Power’s pulverized coal-burning power plant, Plant Mitchell, serving as his backdrop, Isakson renewed a popular rallying cry during the 2008 presidential campaigns of energy independence, calling Georgia Power’s attempt to convert Mitchell from a coal-burning facility to one that would burn 1 million tons of wood chips a year the right step toward building a domestic energy program.

“By Georgia Power’s work in the sustainable forest initiative, we’re going to see money come to growers all over this part of Georgia who will be growing the fuel for Georgia Power to burn for you to have electricity,” Isakson said.

Martin Matheny, spokesperson for the state’s Democratic Party, said that several people have expressed interest in running against Isakson, but that he would let them make the announcement on their own time.

“We have had several people raise the issue of running, but its still early,” Matheny said. “We’re not going to let Johnny Isakson dictate our timeline.”

UGA Political Science Professor Charles Bullock, who is currently teaching at Oxford University in England, said Wednesday that challenging Isakson, who he said is often viewed in political circles as the more formidable of Georgia’s Senate delegation, will be a challenge that Democratic Party leaders may all but concede by 2010.

In an e-mail from Oxford, Bullock wrote, “Ultimately the Democrats will field a challenger to Johnny, but after the defeat dealt Jim Martin in the December runoff, the standardbearer will be less experienced, less well-funded, and less successful.

“In 2010, Democrats won’t have Obama on the ticket, and the traditional swing away from the president’s party will likely occur. All of this means that a Democrat who thinks strategically will not take on Isakson who is generally considered more formidable than Chambliss.”

Georgia Power has made the application for the conversion to the Public Service Commission and expects a decision by mid-March, Plant Mitchell Plant Manager Ronnie Walston said.