By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
You must admit that social media has been a mighty contributor to this 2016 political season.
In another way of saying this: look what we have done to ourselves.
We couldn’t get enough of Trump, or Bernie, and every so often, some of the other presidential candidates. So we turned inward, creating more bizarre buzzing for the political year.
You wonder if the previous standard political antics will soon be relegated to the scrap pile. And how social media will change future races.
Not that this political year is over. Far as that goes, it could heat up as the two parties come closer to officially choosing their standard bearers. Now, at least, there is mainly only one candidate for each party to focus on. To say the obvious, it could get very pointed in the next few months as these two positions battle one another.
Though neither of the two major parties have actually officially chosen their candidate yet, most observers feel that the die is cast for both the parties. Those “in the know” nationally do not expect that a Third Party candidacy could emerge.
Of course, those media flacks have been wrong for most of this political season, when it comes to the Republicans. They also have been wrong on the Democratic side, anticipating that Bernie Sanders would not still be around now.
The real trapped persons these days seem to be the Republican candidates for state and local offices. While they may not want to cozy up to Trump, they will still be on the ticket that he heads. Will enough Republicans just stay home and not vote so that the Democratic down-ballot nominees will win? Could happen!
Would some governorships, and possibly either both houses of the Congress, be at a major risk for Republicans? Could happen!
We can’t imagine these possibilities. But in this political year, what has happened did not get anticipated as it was.
Now a just-released poll shows that Trump and Clinton are neck-and-neck even in Georgia. Could it be that Georgia, with defection of voters away from Trump, might become a blue state in the presidential election? While it would be a significant national event, it would mean little as far as the immediate state election is concerned. One reason is that there are so few contested legislative races. Some 80 percent of the Georgia House and Senate have no opposition at all, much less competition from the other political party.
It will take a major Democratic thump in future years for Georgia to return to competitive legislative races. Of course, a Hillary victory in the presidential race might cause candidates for governor on the Republican side to squirm a little worried. Yet that would be a small worry for the GOP, at least for now.
All this is assuming Donald Trump would get a walloping from the Democrats in the presidential race. In reality, the presidential race will probably tighten by November.
With social media thicker than ever this political season, even the Democrats should not feel all too comfortable.
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