Word: mckinney
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Surprising some key political analysts who expected her to cinch Georgia's primary election, Cynthia McKinney is now facing a run-off. The controversial Democratic Congresswoman from Atlanta eked out a win against former Dekalb County commissioner Hank Johnson, but fell short of a majority...
...Controversy has surrounded McKinney before. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, she sparked outrage when she challenged the popular decision by New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to refuse $10 million in relief funds from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal because he linked the attacks to U.S. support for Israel. She wrote to the prince, apologized for Giuliani's rebuff and said she could use his money to help African-Americans. Fomenting more ill will, she later suggested that the Bush Administration may have had advance knowledge about the attacks. This energized pro-Israel activists, long critical of McKinney...
...political climate has since shifted in McKinney's favor. Redistricting in 2004 strengthened McKinney's standing by removing some of her antagonistic white constituency. And anti-Bush sentiment is high. Crossover voting in Georgia's open primary (which helped defeat McKinney in 2002) is likely to be smaller than usual because of a heated Republican fight for lieutenant governor between former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and Georgia Senator Casey Cagle. Plus, it's tough to defeat an incumbent...
...primary battle against Hank Johnson, an African-American former county commissioner, and John Coyne, a white businessman, McKinney is taking a low profile, which she successfully employed in 2004. "Can Cynthia McKinney be weird enough to lose that seat?" said one D.C. Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous. It would "take a lot of weirdness." The strategist added: "She has created this sense that she is a victim of persecution and that creates an identification between her and a lot of people in her district...
...McKinney's campaign website says she has brought home the proverbial bacon with an itemized list indicating hundreds of millions of federal dollars she has helped bring to Georgia since first elected in 1992. "She is a very, very smart woman," with "very strong and good political instincts," said Matt Towery, Georgia Republican pollster and former state representative. "Anyone who thinks Cynthia McKinney is stupid or crazy doesn't know the term crazy like a fox." Towery noted that McKinney has not been running ads in her campaign: "She knows this go-round that if she stays quiet, keeps...