Maybe you know him instead by one of his nicknames. Greedy Reedy. Bite-the-Hand-of-God. Yeah, you know him: the wretched, stinking albatross tied about his party's neck.

According to Reed, everyone should know him. "As they say in Texas, this ain't my first rodeo," Reed told the Atlanta Business Journal on December 16, 2005. "When it comes to attracting businesses ... and [preventing] base closures, who would you rather have? Somebody that nobody knows outside of Georgia? I will be a fuel down the ballot that will be driving voters to the ballot box."

Well, yeah, Reed will be driving voters to the ballot box -- to vote against Sonny Perdue at the top of the ticket -- according to the latest poll by conservative pollster Matt Towery. Reed represents an eight-point drag on a Perdue/Reed ticket according to Towery, who polled 500 likely Republican voters on March 14-17, 2006. Of those polled 18 percent said they'd be more likely to vote for Perdue if Reed were on the ticket; yet an even greater number -- 26 percent -- said that Reed's presence would make them less likely to vote for Perdue.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the difference could be significant to the outcome of the governor's race, which is tightening.

The difference could be crucial. Reed has argued that he represent's the state GOP's best chance for turning out the base in November. But Towery said Reed's weakness is that he frightens the independents who are essential to the creation of winning majorities in Georgia. In a head-to-head match-up among Republican voters, Reed leads with 24 percent to [his lieutenant gubernatorial opponent Casey] Cagle's 17 percent. Which leaves 59 percent undecided. That's a large number, given Reed's past prominence in the party, first as head of the Christian Coalition, then as chairman of the state Republican Party.

But according to the Washington Times, Towery's poll is great news for Reed. Ralph Z. Hallow's implausible and unsupported story is headlined "Reed Survives Abramoff Ties." Hallow's hollow halo-polisher begins:

The Jack Abramoff scandal has not dealt the fatal blow to Ralph Reed's electoral ambitions that some predicted, a new poll of Georgia Republican primary voters indicates.
    Nor is Mr. Reed, once a close Abramoff friend and former director of the Christian Coalition, suffering significant loss of support among evangelical Christians...

The Washington Times quoted Towery for the downright silly proposition -- backed by exactly no evidence, and flying in the face of common sense -- that Reed has no name recognition, and that this is a key advantage to him now.

Former chairman of the Georgia GOP and southeast regional chairman of President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, Mr. Reed was once a Time magazine cover boy, but the new poll shows he is still unknown to Georgia voters -- and that may work to his advantage.
    "Nobody knows Reed right now, so Abramoff is not doing him much harm among Republicans," says Mr. Towery, former campaign chairman for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a fellow Georgia Republican.

The story from this Washington-D.C. based conservative paper is especially ridiculous, since Towery has previously been cited in a national newswire story for the proposition that Reed enjoys wide name recognition. On January 11, 2006, Bloomberg News stated:

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll last month showed Cagle and Reed would perform about equally well against the Democrats in the November election. The poll was conducted by Zogby International before Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiring to corrupt public officials.

For Reed, who once seemed invincible, with broad support in his party and wide name recognition, that isn't good news, said Towery, who now publishes Insider Advantage, a guide to politics.

More to the point is a December 20, 2005, editorial in the Athens (Georgia) Banner-Herald, which stated:

Ralph Reed, contender for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Georgia, has a lot going for him. His work years ago with the Christian Coalition, followed up with a national role in Republican politics, has left him with more than enough name recognition, the most valuable of commodities for a politician... But Reed's name recognition and a compelling campaign platform are being overmatched by a more basic issue -- character.

And Bill Ferguson, a columnist for the Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, pointed out on October 28, 2005, that Reed may win, despite his tarnished image, largely because "no one else with any name recognition is running against him":

Reed, erstwhile head of the Christian Coalition who once graced the cover of Time magazine with a caption that said "The Right Hand Of God," currently is up to his armpits in trouble over his association with seedy Washington power broker Jack Abramoff. Abramoff has become the poster boy for the rampant corruption in the lobbying industry and is currently being investigated for a number of crimes. Reed, who did a lot of business with the man during his very lucrative foray into the lobbying business, is getting dragged down with him.

Even if Reed himself never is charged with a crime, his close friendship and intimate business association with a man like Abramoff is sure to tarnish his squeaky clean image. The thing about being a beacon of moral clarity (an image Reed has carefully cultivated) is that you look especially foolish when the bubble bursts and you're left with hypocrisy all over your face.

Reed may very well still be elected to the largely ceremonial position of lieutenant governor in Georgia -- largely because no one else with any name recognition is running against him and he has the official blessing of the Republican Party and all the money that goes along with it.

Hallow previously gushed in a Times puff piece that Reed sees the Lieutenant Governor's race as a crucial step in a possible path to the White House. Reed declined to be interviewed in the story, but let shadowy surrogates make the case for his candidacy:

Georgia's Republican governor, Sonny Perdue, if re-elected in 2006, would leave office in early 2011 under state term limits.
    "That's why Ralph has to make the move now; otherwise, he could be 64 years old and still waiting for the right opening," a Republican official and Reed associate said. "Some political operatives are content to be the political teachers, to show people how to run their campaigns -- others, like Reed, have been there and done that. They itch to be the candidate, to hold the office."
    The Georgia governorship has already proved a steppingstone for one president -- Democrat Jimmy Carter. And in Georgia, a governor has muscle.
    "The governor is more powerful than in Texas," said a Georgia Republican official, who asked not be named. And Republicans "don't have anybody" as a top-tier successor to Mr. Perdue, the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction.

Can Reed still win this race, despite his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which are sure to be played up in the news and here at Talk to Action for months to come? Sure, he can win: he's got more than enough name recognition, money, organizing talent, troop strength, and media savvy.

The real question now is whether the Georgia Republican Party wants to gamble with its own political future by refusing to untie the albatross around its neck. Will Reed's candidacy drive voters to the polls -- just so they can vote against a Perdue/Reed ticket? As Reed says, there's only one final poll that counts: that's the one on election day. And there's only one sure thing -- that the Abramoff scandal will keep growing, and keep stinking up the ballot box. So let's hope and pray that Reed's name remains on the ballot.

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