By Larry Peterson
U.S. Rep. John Barrow has sent some voters campaign mailings saying he’s working “hand in hand” with President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, the Savannah Democrat also sent materials – apparently to other voters – proclaiming he’s “stood up to … the Democrats in Washington.”

Barrow also is running a radio ad featuring an endorsement by Obama on radio stations that target mostly black audiences.

The first mailing has a cover with a picture of the Democratic president next to a headline, “NOW more than ever … .”

“John Barrow,” it says, “is working hand in hand with President Obama to create jobs and turn the economy around … .”

The other mailing has a headline that proclaims the 12th Congressional District lawmaker as “not another rubber stamp …”

It says he “stood up to (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Washington.” It also notes his vote against Obama’s energy bill and “the Wall Street bail-out.”

Although he has voted for Pelosi three times, Barrow won’t say whether he’d vote to re-elect her as Speaker next year.

Polls indicate the Californian is the most unpopular leader in Congress. Dozens of House Democrats in tough races have balked at endorsing her.

The radio ad, which the president made for Barrow in 2008, has run on – among other stations – E93, which describes itself as “Savannah’s hip hop and R&B leader.”

Tom Krause, a spokesman for Ray McKinney, Barrow’s Republican opponent, said the mailing featuring Obama went mostly to Democrats.

And the “rubber stamp” one went mainly to residents of rural areas and independents, Krause said.

“John is a smart politician,” said McKinney, nuclear power project manager from Vidalia. “He knows what the polls say just as well as I do.

“He’s been playing the middle for a long time. Now he’s playing both sides. Our hope is that both sides know they’re being played.”

Barrow spokeswoman Jane Brodsky didn’t deny that the mailings and the radio commercial targeted specific audiences.

But Brodsky defended them, saying they show Barrow is independent and above party politics.

“This not about party or ideology,” Brodsky said. “It is about doing what is best for the people Congressman Barrow represents.

“That means working with the president to get jobs at the Savannah harbor … and new energy and housing renovation projects.”

And it means voting against Obama and Pelosi when he disagrees with them on matters such as energy and the national health care bill, she said.

Asked about the radio message, White House spokesman Adam Abrams said Obama “has said many times there is an important election coming up, and he hopes Americans will vote for Democrats for Congress – including John Barrow … .”

University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock said Barrow’s approach could be risky.

“It lets the Republicans portray him as two-faced,” Bullock said. “They can run ads asking, ‘Who is the real John Barrow?’”

But Bullock also said Barrow’s willingness to send multiple messages may show he believes he is “in pretty good shape” for re-election.

He said Barrow’s posture contrasts with that of Democrats such as Macon Rep. Jim Marshall, widely considered in danger of losing.

Bullock said Marshall “is running from both Obama and Pelosi as fast as he can.”

Drop by to meet Ray and other Republican Candidates for Georgia!

2-Dairy Queen -Soperton at 7:00 am
3939 E. Main
Soperton, Ga.
912-529-5050

3-Nanna’s Kitchen-Wrightsville- Arrive 7:40 am
130 E. Elm Street
Wrightsville, Ga. 31096
478-864-2625

4-GA Downtown Farmer’s Market- Sandersville-Arrive 8:40 am
141 W. Haynes St.
Sandersville, Ga. 31082
478-552-2525

5-Heritage Day (Civil War Reenactment) – Milledgeville- Arrive 9:50 am
1534 Irwinton Rd.
478-452-2112

6-Gurley’s Supermarket- Warrenton- Arrive 12:30 pm
441 Legion Dr.
Warrenton, Ga
706-465-3037

7-Louisville-Arrive at 2 pm
221 Peachtree Street.

8-Waynesboro-Arrive at 3 pm

9-Brown’s Country Kitchen-Sylvania- Arrive at 4:45 pm
4263 Savannah Hwy
Sylvania
912-857-3112

10-Scare on the Square- Statesboro- Arrive at Approximately 5:15 pm

11-Savannah -Arrive Approximately 7:15
645 Indian St.
Savannah

Johnson Square
Bull St. and E. St. Julian St.
Savannah, GA

Candidates attending include:

Gubernatorial Nominee Nathan Deal
Sam Olens, Nominee for Attorney General
Gary Black, Nominee for Commissioner of Agriculture
John Barge, Nominee for State School Superintendent
Tim Echols, Nominee for Public Service Commissioner
Congressman Jack Kingston
Ray McKinney, Nominee for Georgia’s Twelfth Congressional District

735 Levi Kennedy Road,
Reidsville, GA Tattnall County

We simply must send Ray McKinney to Washington.

This key House race has flown under the national radar for some reason. But in Georgia’s 12th, the grass-roots favorite McKinney has a great shot at unseating the entrenched incumbent — and possibly swinging the House of Representatives back to a coalition of Republican conservatives who respect the Constitution, understand that government has gotten way too big, and know that Washington’s role in job creation is to lower taxes, reduce regulations and then just get the heck out of the way.

Ray McKinney doesn’t merely understand the American dream; he’s lived it. An Effingham County native, McKinney worked his way from forklift operator to skilled craftsman and machinist — and to the vice president’s seat at a nuclear and chemical servicing company.

Indeed, when asked for the best case for supporting him, McKinney — a down-to-earth regular guy who also happens to have the brains for the nuclear energy business — says simply, “I get it.” Then he whips out a pen and paper to demonstrate how he gets it — showing in diagram form how American capitalism works, and how the country’s current leadership not only doesn’t get it, but has actively been thwarting it.

He’s absolutely right. The Democratic leadership is hostile to the very businesses that create jobs, and McKinney notes that their failure to extend the Bush tax cuts will add $250 a month to a family of six’s tax burden next year.

The Democrat answer is meager tax breaks for businesses that hire new employees. As McKinney argues, what business is going to take on the expense of a new employee in return for a minimal tax break? A business will hire when it has work; it will have work when it has demand for goods or services and the resources to provide them to customers.

The Democrats’ government-centric approach has been an unalloyed disaster: Even after the much-vaunted “stimulus” bill of 2009, unemployment is still nesting at about 10 percent — closer to 20 percent in some rural Georgia counties. It’s just that now, thanks to the Democratic leadership, we have another trillion dollars in debt our children will have to pay off.

It’s pretty basic stuff. But the current crop of Democrats in Washington just doesn’t get it.

Ray McKinney gets it.

So much so that he recently released a 19-page jobs plan designed to stop the bleeding, especially in Georgia — where, he notes, the economy shed some 50,000 jobs from June 2009 to June 2010, more than any other state other than California.

When will the totally unacceptable status quo be laid at the Democrats’ feet?

Ray McKinney also won’t be under any pressure to support Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strong-armed, job-killing, freedom-strangling policies. Even when the incumbent, John Barrow, does vote the 12th District’s values — although he’s got an American Conservative Union lifetime rating of an abysmal 36.20 out of 100, mind you — he has to go against the grain of his party to do it. Moreover, many suspect he only does it when the coast is clear — when his vote won’t swing the decision. The Confederate Powderworks could have learned a thing or two from him about keeping one’s powder dry.

Why send a representative to Congress who needs cover to do the right thing — especially when doing the right thing just may save this country? It’s anyone guess how long the dollar can hold out — or how long the taxpayer can survive — with this Congress’ unprecedented budget-busting policies. Mr. Obama’s health-care law is already spiking insurance costs, and has nearly half the states rebelling against it. Next session, he wants a congressional green light to police all carbon emissions — an Orwellian and unparalleled attack on individual freedoms.

It’s clear, too, what this administration would do on immigration with a compliant Congress: Our southern border will remain an untamed frontier where life is cheap and the laws are expendable. Can amnesty be far behind?

How will John Barrow vote on these things? He won’t even say whether he supports Nancy Pelosi for Speaker.

Well, the 12th District sure doesn’t. And neither does Ray McKinney.

Send Ray McKinney to Congress. It will be the most important thing you do this election.

4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Crossroads Cafe
113 S. Main Street
Swainsboro, GA

SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY JORDAN AUDITORIUM
3219 COLLEGE STREET
Savannah, GA