Is Jim Marshall The Next Democrat Defection?

Jim Marshall represents the 8th Congressional district in Georgia. He is a Democrat, although you wouldn't know that if you visited his web site. The only hint you get is from some videos he has posted in which the banner at the bottom identifies him as a Dem.

The reason I bring this up is because he voted against both the cap and trade and health care legislation put forth by his Democrat colleagues. The other reason is because there are now five challengers to his seat, all self-identified as Republicans, and none of them came from the normal political farm system.

[Diane]Vann is the fifth Republican to announce her run, and the primary is scheduled for July 20. Ken DeLoach and Valerie Meyers, both of Houston County, and Angela Hicks and Paul Rish of Bibb County also have announced runs for the seat.

That's right, these are real average citizens, just the type that organizations like GOOOH promote and the Tea Party members wish to see.

Diane Vann is a former veteran and now a registered nurse.

Ken DeLoach is an educator and an associate pastor.

Valerie Meyers is a technical writer and information technology business analyst. She did work for the Ron Paul campaign.

Angela Hicks is a small business owner.

Paul Rish is the President and CEO of his own company Rish Telecommunications Consulting and is Chairman of the Bibb County Republican Party.

I don't have any real beef with Jim. He is a distinguished Army veteran and is more conservative then a lot of the Republicans in Congress, and from what I know and can tell, he has done a good job of representing his district.

With that said, however, given the current climate in this country where a lot of folks want to see everybody in Washington sent packing, one of these Republican challengers could very well take the seat. There is still a tough primary season ahead, and Marshall has the money and the name recognition that comes with being an incumbent, but in a year in which the American electorate is growing increasingly fed up, that may serve more as a liability then an asset.

It will be interesting to see which one of these challengers comes out on top of the heap in the primary and then to see what sort of challenge they can mount against the incumbent.

Of course, if Jim Marshall switches parties all bets are off and no doubt he will return to Congress. By the way, Marshall is in one of those districts where you have to have (D) behind your name normally to get elected, so his voting record may not matter to most of the folks in his district. That is the case in my district, where they continue to send the Dem back to Washington even though I doubt very many of the people who vote for him could tell you one thing about his voting record.