Tension was the word going into yesterday evening’s debate between 4th District congressional candidates Cynthia McKinney and Hank Johnson. Neither candidate receiving a majority of the vote, a special run-off election was forced for August 8th. This was the first of two public debates to be held before the run-off election. And round 1 went to Hank Johnson.
Johnson, appearing comfortably stiff, read lines and repeated talking points in the characteristic fashion for which he has become known in Dekalb County. His nondescript delivery did the job in that the presentation wasn’t a disaster.
Cynthia McKinney’s delivery was the inverse. Again, in characteristic animated fashion, she smiled in the point counterpoint exchange with Johnson; highlighting Johnson’s apparently numerous ethical dilemmas around campaign support from Republicans and his financial relationship with companies that bury trash in Dekalb County. Johnson also kept the focus on ethical issues, questioning McKinney’s congressional vote attendance record. He also took issue with what he characterized as her dismal record of getting proposed legislation enacted in the congress. Ethics discussions can sometimes be indicative of what an elected official will do or how he/she will conduct him/herself in office. However, this case is different. Not because ethics don’t matter, but because the reason this run-off is even happening isn’t due to ethics at all.
The Anti-Candidate
Johnson’s primary attribute is that his initials aren’t C.A.M. In my travels and conversations, I’ve found that most Johnson supporters know little to nothing about his positions on the issues they care about. He is their choice because he is the anti-McKinney. And that is why McKinney lost this debate. She spent time pointing to Johnson’s ethics issues, and clearly there are some, but the attack was ineffective and nonsensical because Johnson’s support doesn’t come from a veneer of high ethical constitution. His supporters back him because he is not she. All that Hank needs to do is avoid a fatal shooting in the foot to win these debates. That being said, McKinney is clearly the more engaging and gifted orator and could easily wipe Johnson away by focusing not on him but herself. Highlighting her strengths and her record on the issues, the very things the AJC and other mass media, in their laser-like scrutiny of the congresswoman, never seem to get around to but the very reasons her constituents are so committed to her as the representative of the 4th district of Georgia is the strategy in which she will find success.
Without a doubt, the next and final debate will be toxic with Johnson attacking McKinney on who knows what issue of personality. There is nothing else he can do since she is clearly the most progressive member of Congress from Georgia; one of the most progressive in all of the US in fact. The congresswoman should forget Johnson’s ethical dilemmas; no one cares, and instead focus on how and why she is the worst nightmare of the anti-black, anti-gay, anti-choice right wing that supports Hank Johnson.
Hank Johnson is simply the latest in a series of right wing campaigns to remove the progressive voice of Cynthia McKinney from the US Congress. No one, including his supporters, knows or cares about Hank Johnson. And in a couple of weeks after McKinney wins the run-off, no one will even remember his name. The tactics of her debate strategy should reflect that.
