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Mckinney ousted Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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McKinney Ousted in Ga. Primary
Wed Aug 21,12:33 AM ET
ATLANTA (AP) - Five-term Rep. Cynthia McKinney ( news, bio, voting record), who stunned even fellow Democrats by criticizing the Bush administration after Sept. 11, was ousted in Georgia's primary Tuesday by a political unknown. Republican Bob Barr of Georgia was also bounced out of Congress by a fellow incumbent.
McKinney lost to Denise Majette, a Yale-educated former judge who had never run a statewide campaign before. With 68 percent of precincts reporting, Majette had 39,926 votes, or 61 percent; McKinney had 25,283 votes, or 39 percent.
Even before she won, the diminutive Majette was dancing at campaign headquarters. Standing on a platform so she could see over the podium, she told supporters: "I may only be 5-foot-1, but tonight I am 10 feet tall."
Barr, the strident maverick who led the House impeachment of President Clinton ( news - web sites), lost to soft-spoken Rep. John Linder ( news, bio, voting record). With 82 percent of precincts reporting, Rep. John Linder had 47,352 votes, or 67 percent. Barr had 23,307 votes, or 33 percent.
"We're just here this evening to congratulate John Linder for having run a very good race," he said. "We go into the fall race very much a united party."
Barr and McKinney became the seventh and eighth House incumbents ousted in a primary this year. The breakdown includes six Democrats and two Republicans.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Wyoming businessman Eli Bebout won the GOP primary to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Jim Geringer. He will face Democrat Dave Freudenthal, a former federal prosecutor, this fall.
In other Georgia voting, White House-backed Rep. Saxby Chambliss ( news, bio, voting record) defeated two opponents in the GOP primary and will face freshman Democratic Sen. Max Cleland ( news, bio, voting record) in November. Cleland was unopposed.
Former state Sen. Sonny Perdue ( news, bio, voting record) won the three-way GOP race to challenge Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat.
With 79 percent of precincts reporting, Perdue had 52 percent of the vote, state schools superintendent Linda Schrenko had 28 percent and former Cobb County commissioner Bill Byrne had 21 percent.
Barr and Linder had offered voters in the 7th District a stark choice in style, if not substance. Both men back tax cuts, gun rights and a ban on abortion, but their approaches could not be more different.
The blunt-spoken Barr, 53, was sent to Congress during the GOP landslide in 1994. He was the first to call for Clinton's impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair and later polished his maverick image by questioning the Bush administration's expanded law enforcement efforts to combat terrorism.
Linder, 59, a former fund-raiser for Newt Gingrich, is a quiet policy wonk who told voters the most effective lawmakers don't show up on talk shows every night — a clear dig at his opponent.
Barr was urged by party officials to seek re-election elsewhere but chose to run in a district that included much of Linder's old territory.
The real fireworks were in the 4th District, where McKinney accused Majette of opposing affirmative action and "selling out" to Republicans. Both are black women and liberals, but Majette is considered more moderate.
McKinney — who has never been shy about expressing her views — drew criticism after she suggested the Bush administration ignored warnings about Sept. 11 and saying the president's friends in big business have benefited from the war on terrorism.
McKinney, a single mother and former college professor first elected to Congress in 1992, also said she would have accepted a Saudi prince's $10 million check for Sept. 11 victims. The check was rejected by New York officials after the prince suggested U.S. policies toward the Mideast were partly to blame for the attacks.
Middle East politics played an unlikely role in the race. McKinney drew campaign financing from out of state, including money from pro-Arab groups, while Jewish groups helped fund Majette's campaign.
The race echoed the Alabama primary this year that cost Democratic Rep. Earl Hilliard ( news, bio, voting record) his job. Hilliard received support from Arab groups after supporting a Palestinian state, while his young opponent had the backing of pro-Israel groups.
The 47-year-old McKinney and the 46-year-old Majette are both black and the incumbent had expected to draw most of the black vote. But Majette attracted support from Republicans, who are allowed to vote in the Democratic race under the state's open primary.
Congressmen already ousted this year include Democrats Hilliard, Gary Condit of California, Frank Mascara of Pennsylvania and Tom Sawyer of Ohio. Rep. Lynn Rivers ( news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., Mascara and GOP Rep. Brian Kerns ( news, bio, voting record) of Indiana all lost to fellow incumbents in primary races forced by redistricting.
Also in Wyoming, freshman GOP Sen. Mike Enzi easily won his primary and will face Democrat Joyce Corcoran this fall. Political newcomer Ron Akin won the Democratic nomination to challenge four-term GOP Rep. Barbara Cubin ( news, bio, voting record).
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On the Net:
Secretaries of state: http://www.sos.state.ga.us and http://soswy.state.wy.us
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