It's Official

Cox throws hat in ring for governor

Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox announced Monday that she will run for governor in 2006, ending months of speculation.

Cox's move sets up a Democratic primary clash between two of the state party's highest-ranking elected officials: Cox and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor. The winner presumably will face Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Shortly after filing paperwork Monday allowing her to begin raising campaign money, Cox took aim at Perdue. In an interview, she accused the governor of waging "unproductive, wasteful and divisive" political battles. She cited Perdue's efforts to get rural Democrats to switch to the Republican Party, rather than finding issues to unite lawmakers.

"I want to devote my energy to trying to build consensus in getting both Republicans and Democrats to buy into productive solutions for the problems Georgians are dealing with," Cox said.

...

Cox, 46, is a lawyer from Bainbridge who served in the state House from 1993 to 1997. She represented several southwest Georgia counties in a seat once held by her late father. Cox was elected secretary of state in 1998 and engineered a high-profile modernization of the state's election system. Though some activists say she has ignored potential security vulnerabilities of electronic voting machines, polls have shown that most Georgians find the equipment accurate and easy to use. Cox's second term expires in 2007.

It really doesn't matter if either Cox or Taylor win the gubernatorial nomination, Governor Purdue has burned a lot of bridges in his two years in office, making his job vulnerable, even in an increasingly Republican South. Who knows. Purdue was the first Republican governor in 130 years, maybe he will do enough damage to the state GOP that he'll become the last in as many years.