Campaign Crisis

My humble little drive for Congressional office took an unexpected hit last week, following the results of the Georgia primaries. Back when I 'announced' my candidacy in April, I think Cathy Woolard was the only declared candidate at the time. Others followed, including previously-ousted Rep Cynthia McKinney.

The consequences of McKinney's presence didn't strike me until about a month back, as I realized that she might stand an actual chance of winning the Democratic nomination. Since Republican nominees in my district have about as much chance of winning in November as a high school baseball team in the World Series, the Democratic primary is virtually the real election.

But a lot of people really dislike McKinney, and that could possibly tip the scales just enough in the Republican's favor. So I decided that if McKinney won in July, I wouldn't pursue my candidacy any further. I didn't want to play Nader in this situation.

To my surprise, McKinney not only won the Democratic primary, but she managed to do so without a runoff. She got 51% of the votes, while the other 5 candidates, together, received only 49%. As was pointed out by one observer, she received roughly the same number of votes as she did when she lost in the last November election. A lot of people may detest her, but she does have a loyal fanbase out there. Enough of one, in fact, that McKinney only had to run a very low-key campaign, and was barely even seen or heard in the northern half of the district. One columnist wrote that McKinney does well when people don't see or hear her.

Unfortunately, this left me high and dry. I was only hoping to pull a percentage point or two, but I don't want those points to be the ones that allow McKinney to win. I was a candidate without a race.

Then the lightbulb went off. The house I'm moving into is in District 13, and not my registered District 4. It's not nearly as compact as the Fourth, but it has one major advantage for someone in my situation: it's an uncontested race. The incumbent Democrat had no primary opposition, and has no Republican opposition on the ballot in November. With an incumbent guaranteed to win, there's a greater likelihood of voters 'throwing away' their votes on me. Granted, I don't know as many people in the Thirteenth, and my t-shirts still say the Fourth, but it still seems the best fix.

So remember, if you're a Georgian, vote Loren Collins this November for U.S. Congress, District 13.

I'm Back!

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus, but I took a break from blogging during the last few weeks before the bar exam. Between studying and moving out of my apartment, a lot of time was consumed, and blogging was an activity that could afford to be cut for a while.

But now that's over. The bar exam was on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and I felt better walking out than I did walking in. Unfortunately, results won't be released until late October, so I have three months of waiting ahead.

Right now, I'm moving into my grandmother's old house, where my brother has been living for the past year. I don't have a job yet, but after 20 years of school, I feel like taking a break before settling into 40 years of work. If I'm fortunate, I'll be able to find a job within driving distance of here, and save myself the trouble of moving again in the near future.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy life. I'll catch some movies I haven't seen yet (I'm assuredly the only comics fan who hasn't seen Spider-Man 2), read some material that's piled up, and maybe write some of my own. I hope to do some eBay selling, so I'll have less to move the next time 'round. I have a fledgling campaign to run. And I can blog more.

Spider-Man 2.1

I still haven't yet seen Spider-Man 2, but if it's half as cool as the Spider-Man 2 Lego Film, I believe I'll be happy.

My 2004 Comics, Year-to-Date

It's Free Comic Book Day, so now is as appropriate a time as any to check and see how much I have spent thus far this year on non-free comic books. Thanks to the inspiration of Augie De Blieck, I've been keeping an Excel spreadsheet listing all of comic purchases for this year.

In the first half of 2004, I have spent just a smidgen over $300 on comic books. This money bought 187 comics, 6 trade paperbacks or graphic novels, and 1 hardcover. This averages out to $11.66 a week on comics. The cover price of these books total a little over $540, so you can see how big a fan I am of a good deal.

$210 were spent at my home comic shop, Odin's Cosmic Bookshelf, where I have my pull list. $52 were spent on a Mile High Comics online sale earlier this month. I spent roughly $20 at the comic shop at the J&J Flea Market outside Athens, and the rest was frittered away at other locations.

And since I bothered to keep track of the companies that printed each book, I bought 87 DC publications, 42 Marvel, 27 First (a big run of "Jon Sable: Freelance"), 11 Wildstorm, and 6 Vertigo. All other companies were represented by fewer than 5 purchases.

Burning Your Bridges

The Southern Baptist Convention is expressing some clear displeasure at the Bush camp's efforts to use church rosters as part of its campaign. They maintain, and rightly in my opinion, that politics should stay out of the church.

I'm beginning to wonder exactly who exactly who are Bush's core constituency. He's alienated himself from small-government conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and now he's ticking off the religious right. Who's going to be left come November?

If Only Studying Law Was This Funny

Rock, Paper, Saddam

All Scammed Out?

My correspondence with Dr. Emeka Felix of Nigeria may be at its end. At least it lasted two months, and I got a fictional trip to Africa out of it. I've now put my last batch of e-mails online, now color-coded for your convenience, and including a couple of e-mails from the Central Bank of Nigeria itself (or a reasonable facsimile thereof).

I'll give Dr. Felix another try in a day or two. In the meantime, I'll let my alter ego enjoy his time in Tanzania.