TODAY IN GEORGIA – AT 9:40 A.M. ET:  There's the now-famous special Congressional election today in Georgia, to replace Tom Price, who resigned his seat to become secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump Cabinet.

 The seat is traditionally Republican – it was once held by Newt Gingrich – but Dems see the chance for an upset, and have poured millions of dollars, most of it from out of the district – to flip the seat.  It's now the most expensive Congressional race in history.  If the Dems succeed, they will bill the race as a referendum on Donald Trump, and will say that this is one of the most important elections in world history.  Maybe even beyond world history.  Maybe even beyond humanity.  The most important in the Universe.  If the Dems lose they will blame Russia.  From Fox: 

ATLANTA –  With campaign spending expected to top $50 million, the race to fill the suburban Atlanta congressional district, vacated when Tom Price was named Health and Human Services Secretary, is the most expensive in U.S. history. Both candidates in the 6th District are calling on heavy hitters with Georgia roots to get out the vote on Tuesday.

“It’s time to be knocking on those doors. It’s time to be making those calls. It’s time to be sending those emails,” Secretary Price told supporters at a weekend rally for Republican Karen Handel. “It’s time to be making certain that you are asking every single individual that you see within the 6th District, ‘Have you voted?’”

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, also stumped for Handel over the weekend, while Democrat Jon Ossoff enlisted the support of Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon.

“With this election, it would indicate that people are prepared to change,” Lewis said at a weekend campaign event. “I think that many people will see the handwriting on the wall.”

The Real Clear Politics Average of polls shows Ossoff with a slight lead of 49.6 percent to Handel’s 47 percent in a district that normally favors establishment Republicans.

COMMENT:   They're voting now.  Oh, Ossoff isn't voting as he doesn't even live in his own district.  But, why worry about a little thing like that?

Ossoff is a lightweight, but has some charisma, and all that Democratic money.  Karen Handel is a solid candidate, but with no particular magic.  Ossoff has already been caught lying on his resumé.

My sense is that Ossoff  may pull it out, and he'll then become a symbol of an imagined Democratic resurgence.  Don't buy it.  Special elections rarely symbolize anything but the special conditions under which they're held.

June 20,  2017