Friday, August 23, 2002
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Friday, August 23, 2002 |
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Cox crushes Kaye, looks to November By MONROE
ROARK
Less than 24 hours after a convincing win in the Republican primary, state school superintendent candidate Kathy Cox was back on the road in her Volkswagen, continuing her campaign strategy of just getting out there and meeting people. "I guess this proves that grass roots [campaigning] works," she said, speaking on her cell phone from her car Wednesday afternoon. "I've been on the road all over this state the past eight months, and it paid off." The payoff was a whopping 72.1 percent of the vote, with 97 percent of precincts reporting as of Thursday morning, according to the Secretary of State's Web site. Cox gathered 334,923 votes to Mitchell Kaye's 129,409. Another impressive aspect of the final tally was the fact that Cox beat Kaye in all 159 Georgia counties, including a 2-1 margin in Kaye's home base of Cobb County, where he has served as a state senator for the past 10 years. Cox, who has 15 years of experience as a teacher in Fayette County, has served as a state representative for the 105th District the past four years. She credits the support of educators and parents across the state for much of her success in the primary. "I've also heard from a lot of former students," she said. "When you think about it, I've probably taught over 2,500 students in the past 15 years." Aside from being obviously "thrilled" about her win, Cox derived a great deal of satisfaction from running what she said was a clean campaign. She also won despite being apparently outspent by her opponent. While exact disclosure records were not available at press time, Cox said that she has spent about $90,000 so far, a surprisingly low number for a statewide campaign with several different media markets. "I have a lot of volunteers who have worked very hard," she said. "This was an issue-driven election," she said, adding that she was able to capitalize on knowing what the problems and believing that the answers are to be found at the local level, not in Atlanta. Cox was the first-ever candidate in a Republican primary for this seat to secure an endorsement from the Georgia Association of Educators, one of the largest groups of educators in the state. She said that her message, which includes the need for local control of education in Georgia and for schools to be centers of education rather than social services centers, is resonating with voters all over the state. Also, her emphasis on giving high school graduates more options in the vocational and technical arena is proving very popular with people she has met, she said. She now looks for to squaring off against the winner of the Democratic runoff between Barbara Christmas and Joe Martin. She expects to get a big boost from the state Republican Party and also appreciates the support she has gotten from Kaye, who called her Tuesday night to congratulate her. "He was very cordial and very supportive," she said. "He will support the Republican candidates up and down the ticket."
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