By Emily Pierce
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 13

Delegates: 92

Chairman: Gov. Roy Barnes

Hotel: Le Meridien Beverly Hills (310) 247-0400

1996 Election:
Dole – 47%
Clinton – 46%
Perot – 16%

The 92-member Georgia delegation's challenge will begin after the convention - when they go home to try to counteract the conventional wisdom that the Republican nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, will defeat Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore throughout the South.

Despite the recent trend that has put Republicans in eight of the state's 11 U.S. House seats, Georgia should not be out of reach for Gore, who hails from neighboring Tennessee. President Clinton, with Gore as his vice presidential running mate, lost Georgia to Republican Bob Dole in 1996 by just 47 percent to 46 percent. Four years earlier, Clinton edged Republican incumbent George Bush by 43.5 percent to 42.9 percent.

Georgia Democratic Party Chairman David Worley, who is a delegate to the national convention in Los Angeles, said party unity would help Gore carry his conservative-leaning state.

But it certainly will not be easy. Besides the 1992 race, the Democrats have won Georgia just twice since 1964, when Republican Barry Goldwater made it one of just six states that he carried over President Lyndon B. Johnson. And both of those Democratic wins, in 1976 and 1980, were by a native Georgian, former Gov. Jimmy Carter.

Carter - a "distinguished party leader" member of the Georgia delegation to this year's Democratic National Convention - won in 1976, restoring the Democrats to the White House after an eight-year absence.

But his presidency, troubled by economic and foreign policy crises, ended with his 1980 defeat by Republican Ronald Reagan, and left him stigmatized for years: It was not until the 1988 convention in his home town of Atlanta that Carter was paid tribute by his party.

Yet Carter's post-White House efforts as an international peacemaker, promoter of democracy and charitable benefactor have raised him high in public esteem. Often referred to as the nation's most popular and successful ex-president, Carter is sure to be greeted warmly at this year's Democratic convention in Los Angeles.

Seeking to emulate Carter's success in Georgia, Gore did get his campaign off on the right foot, easily defeating former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley in the state's March 7 primary and claiming 84 of its 92 delegates.

The state party began airing issue ads in July highlighting Gore's plans to reduce crime and beef up the quality of education, and will continue airing them throughout the election, said Worley - who as a 1990 Democratic House nominee came within 974 votes of unseating Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich.

Delegates interviewed by Congressional Quarterly also said that the popularity of first-term Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes - who is heading the delegation and Gore's campaign in the state - will help the party's ticket come Election Day.

Delegate John Barrow said Barnes, like Gore, has been tackling issues such as the suburban sprawl affecting much of the rapidly expanding metropolitan Atlanta area.

Both Gore and Barnes have been "taking quality of life issues that belong to Republicans who fled the city" and turning them into campaign issues for Democrats, Barrow said, adding, "Roy [Barnes] has been laying the groundwork for that kind of crossover appeal."

But Barnes' high profile in the Gore campaign will not necessarily be enough to win over Georgia voters, said delegate James Cherry, a lobbyist for the disabled who is himself a quadriplegic. To woo Southern voters, said Cherry, Gore "is going to have to spend some time down here" and show that "he's not under the control of another agenda," a reference to the liberal wing of the party.

Barnes also brings some campaign baggage to his role as Gore's helpmate. He has been feuding with a key Gore constituency - the Georgia teachers' unions - and state School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, who is a Republican, over Barnes' proposals to give financial bonuses to schools that improve test scores and punish, by mass firings in some cases, educators whose schools stagnate or decline.

Not a delegate to the national convention, but certain to be a hot topic of discussion in the Georgia contingent, is Zell Miller. The former two-term governor was appointed by Barnes July 24 as the interim successor to the late Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell, who had died six days earlier.

Miller, who enjoyed strong public approval ratings as governor and could give the Democratic ticket a boost, will run in a Nov. 7 special election to fill out the unexpired four years of Coverdell's term.

Gore has fewer worries about his appeal to Georgia's African-Americans, who make up 28 percent of the state's population, and to gay and lesbian activists.

Black delegate Linda Graham - who served as a state regional coordinator for Bradley, Gore's erstwhile rival for the Democratic presidential nomination - said the Clinton administration's record on civil rights will help Gore with blacks in the state.

"They have opened a lot of doors for minorities," she said of Clinton and Gore.

Similarly, delegate Annette Hatton, a lesbian activist, said Gore has done a "pretty good job" of reaching out to the gay and lesbian community. "He has to play it somewhat cautiously, but he seems open and interested" to the community's concerns, she said.

GEORGIA NOTABLES: Former President Jimmy Carter, a "distinguished party leader" delegate; Gov. Roy Barnes, the delegation chairman; Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor; Georgia Democratic Party Chairman David Worley; state Attorney General Thurbert Baker; state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin; state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond; state AFL-CIO President Richard Ray; Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell; former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson; former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden; Brett DeHart, the long-shot Democratic nominee against Republican Rep. Johnny Isakson in the 6th Congressional District; Columbus Mayor Bobby Peters; Stone Mountain Mayor Chuck Burris.