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Jewish money ousts congresswoman { August 21 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42257-2002Aug20.html"McKinney, first elected in 1992, was an entrenched incumbent who until recently appeared virtually unbeatable in the heavily Democratic district. But her criticism of Israel, and particularly some of her public comments since the Sept. 11 attacks, helped to transform Tuesday's primary into almost a proxy battle for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Jewish donors and pro-Israel organizations from around the country poured money into Majette's campaign, while most of McKinney's contributions came from donors with Muslim or Arab American surnames who live outside the district. A similar pattern occurred in an earlier Democratic primary in Alabama, where Rep. Earl Hilliard, who was backed by Arab Americans, lost to Artur Davis, who had strong support from Jewish donors."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42257-2002Aug20.html
Barr, McKinney Lose In Georgia Primaries
By Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 21, 2002; Page A01
Two of the most polarizing members of Congress, Republican Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. and Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, were soundly defeated in primaries in Georgia last night, as large numbers of Republicans apparently crossed party lines to vote against McKinney while other Republicans rejected Barr for his equally conservative opponent.
In a battle of incumbents who were thrown into the same territory by congressional redistricting, Rep. John Linder easily defeated Barr, a vocal critic of President Bill Clinton and one of the House managers in the impeachment proceedings against Clinton. With 89 percent of the vote counted, Linder had 51,418 votes, or 68 percent of the ballots, to 25,515 votes for Barr (32 percent) in the 7th Congressional District race.
McKinney, who enraged Republicans and disillusioned some of her own supporters by suggesting that President Bush may have known in advance about the planned Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was defeated by former state court judge Denise Majette. With 75 percent of the vote in the 4th Congressional District counted, Majette had 55,029 votes (60 percent) to 37,016 votes for McKinney (40 percent).
Majette swamped McKinney in suburban Gwinnett County, where there was a heavy GOP crossover vote, but she was also carrying DeKalb County, a McKinney stronghold in previous elections.
Most of Gwinnett County is in the 7th Congressional District and, until redistricting, had been represented in Congress since 1992 by Linder. Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta, said Linder owed his victory to a strong showing on his home turf.
Barr, a former prosecutor, "trashed Linder in Gwinnett, and Gwinnett voters reacted by going almost 3 to 1 for Linder," Black said. "The jury went for the witness."
Black said that with her controversial comments, "McKinney just talked herself out of a congressional seat." He said McKinney "really polarized opinion in the district," allowing her opponent, who is also black, to put together an "unusual coalition" of white Republicans, white Democrats and enough black Democratic voters to prevail.
Primary elections in Georgia are "open," meaning that members of one party can vote in the primary of the other party. That appeared to be a major factor in the race between McKinney and Majette.
McKinney, first elected in 1992, was an entrenched incumbent who until recently appeared virtually unbeatable in the heavily Democratic district. But her criticism of Israel, and particularly some of her public comments since the Sept. 11 attacks, helped to transform Tuesday's primary into almost a proxy battle for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Jewish donors and pro-Israel organizations from around the country poured money into Majette's campaign, while most of McKinney's contributions came from donors with Muslim or Arab American surnames who live outside the district. A similar pattern occurred in an earlier Democratic primary in Alabama, where Rep. Earl Hilliard, who was backed by Arab Americans, lost to Artur Davis, who had strong support from Jewish donors.
The Barr-Linder contest was set up by the Democratic-controlled Georgia state legislature, which drew up a redistricting plan that put the Republicans in the same district in the north Atlanta suburbs, ensuring the elimination of one. It was not clear how much crossover voting affected the race, but Linder had polls suggesting he would win in part because of the votes of Democrats.
Barr, who was elected to Congress in 1994, and Linder have equally conservative voting records. But Barr was the more tempting target for Democrats who crossed over to vote in the GOP primary because of his high-profile role in the Clinton impeachment proceedings and his frequent television appearances as a spokesman for conservative causes.
Linder, a congressional insider who shuns the spotlight as much as Barr craves it, tried to turn Barr's prominence during the impeachment proceedings against him. "A significant part of this district has discovered that Clinton is no longer president and they want to move on," he said during the campaign.
In other Georgia voting, White House-backed Rep. Saxby Chambliss defeated two opponents in the GOP primary and will face freshman Democratic Sen. Max Cleland in November. Cleland was unopposed.
Former state senator Sonny Perdue won the three-way GOP race to challenge Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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