In the shadow of Barack Obama: two African American senatorial candidates in Georgia's 2004 elections: Republican Herman Cain and Democrat Denise Majette

The black political experience in all o fits totality or in terms o fits causal realities flows from the politics of race in America and its sundry manifestations in the American political process (Walton, 1997). V.O. Key writes 'In its grand outlines the politics of the South revolves around the position of the Negro. It is at times interpreted as a politics of cotton, as a politics of free trade, as a politics of agrarian poverty, or as a politics of planter and plutocrat. Although such interpretations have a superficial validity, in the last analysis the major peculiarities of southern politics go back to the Negro. Whatever phases of the southern political process one seeks to understand, sooner or later, the trail of inquiry leads to the Negro' (V.O. Key, Jr., 1997). Until Carol Moseley-Braun's nomination for the U.S. Senate in the State of Illinois, no black woman with major party backing had ever run for the U.S. Senate. Most Major party candidates have been white men. Chief among the problems limiting the electability of women as well as minorities is political incumbency (Tate, 1997). This paper sketches the checkered political landscape in Georgia during the past half century. Within this context, these writers explore the odyssey of two African American political candidates seeking their respective party's nomination as well as a seat in the U.S. Senate in Georgia's 2004 election.
Many will remember that, during the presidential election of 2004, incumbent President George W. Bush won reelection over Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry (D-Mass). Others will remember that African American [...]