tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11518947.post115834865071575072..comments2014-09-23T09:23:13.060-04:00Comments on Blue Heart of Dixie: Cathy's RevengeJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245908805367806676noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11518947.post-1158562746417877242006-09-18T02:59:00.000-04:002006-09-18T02:59:00.000-04:00The extent of Mark's campaign against Cathy was to...The extent of Mark's campaign against Cathy was to use her own words against her after (not before) she launched the first negative attack against him. She was ambiguous at best in her support for the lottery back in 1992 (you can't conclusively show any evidence that she was actually for it or the Cox campaign would have offered it) and she had used settlement money to advance her own image in the eyes of the public.<BR/><BR/>Most of Mark's supporters (myself included) supported both candidates as late as 2004 but began to notice that everything Cathy Cox did was for herself while at least somewhat of Mark's political involvement was to benefit the Democratic Party's interests and not just his own.<BR/><BR/>One perfect example is what they did with their old campaign accounts. Taylor had about $1 million of which he donated almost all of it to go toward state Senate campaigns in 2004. Thanks to that money, we were able to defeat Don Cheeks, Randy Hall and Ginger Collins. Even though we lost seats that year, we can't pretend like it couldn't have been worse, and we could easily have 18 or 19 seats in the Senate right now instead of 22.<BR/><BR/>Now what did Cathy do with her Secretary of State money? Now, granted, it was only about $300,000, but instead of donating it say to the House Democrats (who overwhelmingly supported her) she refunded it to the donors (many of whom are millionaires and could have easily just written her another $5k check to her governor's race) and they turned around and contributed about $175,000 of it back to her in the form of Governor contributions.<BR/><BR/>She can run for office again, and that's fine with me if she wants to take a shot at it. But much of her support was entirely because she was a woman, and that goes for early poll support (Taylor was already above 50% in the polls once he started his only positive TV campaign in April and May) as well as financial and grassroots support. And a lot of those backers, even high profile ones like prominent female legislators have now gotten a dose of her personality and will be a lot less likely to get behind her in the future. If she's facing another woman who has shown herself to be at least somewhat selfless, I'd say you could forget it.<BR/><BR/>Mark, while concerned about his own race, has weekly meetings where he engages the other statewide candidates and legislative leaders about their races and asks for advice on his own. He is truly a party leader, and a lot of folks who backed Cathy Cox who aren't related to her have warmed up to him. I hope he becomes governor because he will take a very serious interest in the fortunes of Democrats in this state and not just his own profile as he continues to reach for higher and higher office.<BR/><BR/>That's all I've got to say on that.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00905731340820089772noreply@blogger.com