Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Oxendine Out of Lt. Governor Race (Georgia)
WXIA-Atlanta News 11 ^ | 3/19/05

Posted on 03/19/2005 8:48:23 AM PST by LdSentinal

ATLANTA (AP) -- The first man in the 2006 lieutenant governor’s race is now the first man out of it.

State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, a Republican who said last May he’d seek the state’s No. 2 job, announced Friday that he’ll run for his current post instead.

In a letter to Gov. Sonny Perdue, Oxendine said he’d rather remain insurance and fire commissioner because the lieutenant governor’s job has become “ineffectual.”

But the commissioner also may have been sizing up his chances. Two other Republicans—state Sen. Casey Cagle and well-known activist Ralph Reed—have since joined the race.

Oxendine insisted he wasn’t afraid of losing—he’d raised more than $500,000 already, he said—but said he simply decided he didn’t want to be lieutenant governor.

“I feel very good about being elected, but I didn’t feel good about being able to do a lot of good for Georgia,” he said later. “I wouldn’t be able to make a difference.”

The current lieutenant governor, Democrat Mark Taylor, is leaving the post next year to seek the governor’s office. Taylor presides over the Senate, but since Republicans took control of that chamber in 2003, they have stripped much of his power.

The only Democrat who has announced plans to run for lieutenant governor is former state Sen. Greg Hecht, who left the Senate for an unsuccessful 2002 bid for Congress.

Oxendine said Friday he wasn’t ruling out future plans for higher office.

“It’s no secret. People have asked me if I’d like to be governor, and I said, ‘Of course I’d be interested,”’ he said. “I think there’s no one outside the current governor who is more qualified.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: cagle; georgia; ltgovernor; oxendine; perdue; ralphreed; stateinsurance

1 posted on 03/19/2005 8:48:24 AM PST by LdSentinal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: LdSentinal

Bookmarking, holding my ammo on this opportunistic sleaze.


2 posted on 03/19/2005 8:55:49 AM PST by Crawdad (The following statement is false. The preceding statement is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson