Just got back from meeting with Jennifer Parker of the CrossRoads News.
I have to thank her for her time, I arrived uninvited and unexpected yet she made some time to speak me despite the two surprises, the first being my visit and the second being my interest in Ga-4.
Cross Roads News in Ga-4
Her small paper has been here for 15 years and she has seen a lot of things happen but there have been some surprises.
In 2008 she was surprised that Hank Johnson had run unopposed, this had not happened in her memory in the district. (As a Massachusetts republican I envy that). We both agreed that unopposed elections are a bad idea.
She like everyone who I’ve talked to cited the Economy as issue one. There has been slight improvement over the last month but its been an unpleasant surprise at how long things have been so bad.
She keeps the Holy Grail of Journalism the 1st Ammendment on her shelf
Speaking of surprises another surprise is the number of Republicans running for the nomination. Usually a republican runs and is soundly defeated, she is surprised that so many people are vying for the right to have that experience. She mentioned the possibility of the tea parties encouraging people to run. As a person who hosted thefirst candidates’ forum she had met with the candidates but thought none of them would be able to win in a district where President Obama drew his highest percentage of victory even higher than his home district.
She also doesn’t think that either of the democrats running against Mr. Johnson will be able to unseat him, she described it as highly unlikely.
It was an interesting conversation on a district she has covered for years but much more interesting than her take on the district is her paper itself The CrossRoads news. She opened this paper as the internet age was growing and has kept it afloat all these years through boom times and hard times. She works very hard and has made some very tough decisions to keep the paper going. She is an extraordinary woman.
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