Six More Years

Georgia has suffered from a deficiency of clout on Capitol Hill for more than a decade, mostly due to lack of legislative longevity on the part of those it has sent there.

Marietta Daily Journal — Feb 19, 2009

The retirement of veteran Sen. Sam Nunn in 1996 and the resignation of House Speaker Newt Gingrich a few years later have left the state vulnerable.

That’s not to say Georgia has not been well represented there. Its two current senators, Saxby Chambliss (R-Moultrie) and Johnny Isakson (R-East Cobb) have done a better job than most would have expected considering their very junior status on Capitol Hill, where everything hinges on seniority.

Georgia voters took a big step toward correcting that when they voted in November to send Chambliss back for a second term. And they’ll have another opportunity to reinforce that direction next year, in light of Tuesday’s announcement by- Isakson that he will seek a second term.

“In 2004, you all gave me a great privilege to represent the state of Georgia as a U.S. Senator, and I’m reapplying for the job,” he said at a press conference at the state Capitol. “We have a great

state, great people and it is an honor and privilege to serve you. I’m looking forward to doing the remaining work for the people of Georgia this session and being re-elected in 2010.”

There’s clearly a political advantage to being the first announced candidate in a race. For one, it gives that person more time to raise funds. And it also can serve to deter others from running, knowing that they would have a real race on their hands.

Isakson also has the advantages of being one of Georgia’s best-known and best-respected political commodities, courtesy of decades spent working as a state representative and later as a state senator, followed by a tour as chairman of the State Board of Education and lately as a U.S. Senator. And unlike many of those in politics, he has hefty experience in the business world as well. He’s headed one of the largest real estate firms in the Southeast (Northside Realty) as well as being a banker and serving on numerous corporate boards.

Moreover, Isakson is a rarity in these polarizing times, a politician with the personal skills to reach across the aisle to craft compromises when appropriate. Exhibit A was the way he - as a freshman legislator - persuaded the Senate to vote unanimously in favor of his proposal to provide a tax credit of up to $15,000 on the purchase of a home within 12 months of the passage of the president’s stimulus bill. To its eternal shame, the U.S. House deleted that provision from the final bill, preferring to stuff the $787 billion measure with pork rather than stimulus. But Isakson’s point was made, and it served as a reminder of what could yet be accomplished if he is given another six years in Washington.

Senior Cobb Superior Court Judge Conley Ingram, a former justice of the state Supreme Court, put it well at a rally for Isakson on Tuesday when he said he thinks Isakson is the most genuine politician he knows.

“I just like him,” he said. “He’s a good friend and you can count on him, good times and bad. I f you had to have a tag line, it would be, ‘You can count on him,’ ” he said.

Yes, the people of Georgia can count on Isakson - and we hope he can count on the people of Georgia.