It appears eminent that Republican State School Superintendent John Barge is planning to endorse the Democratic nominee to succeed him in the office, Valarie Wilson.
Reports begin emerging this morning that the GOPer was planning to join her, and “additional members of the education community,” for what’s been dubbed a “special announcement” tomorrow. That, of course, is generally a synonym for endorsement.
For all intents and purposes, it’s the final nail in the coffin of Barge’s Republican credibility. He abandoned running for re-election to mount a primary challenge to Governor Nathan Deal and could only muster 11 percent of the vote, despite having run and won statewide in 2010. So dismal was Barge’s showing that former Dalton Mayor David Pennington, a neophyte to a statewide campaign, bested him by over 30,000 votes in the primary.
His campaign will, however, live in infamy for infamous declaring Barge to be running for “Govenor” the day he announced.
Barge narrowly squeaked by in the 2010 primary for the open superintendent’s post over Richard Woods, who is the party’s standard bearer for the position this time around. The latter opposes the controversial Common Core education standards; Barge does not.
It’s presumable that this, and other issues, will be the grounds for Barge “crossing party lines” to support Wilson. The centerpiece of his reasoning for challenging Deal was education, too. Polls have shown Woods and Wilson are locked in a closer race than other down ballot contests, especially given that it’s an open seat and neither candidate is familiar to a larger audience.
That said, given Barge’s apparent standing with Republicans these days, one has to wonder how many, if any, voters will be persuaded by the coveted John Barge endorsement.
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