I just got off the phone with State Rep Austin Scott, who is a GOP candidate for Governor. I’ve been hearing rumors about him planning to walk across this Great State, and several people I mentioned it to saw it as nothing more than a campaign stunt.
I see it as a realist trying to do what it takes to get his message to Georgians.
According to Rep Scott, the plan is that he will start walking around 7am every morning, walk for about 3-5 hours (roughly 10 miles), then head to the hotel, get cleaned up, and go out and shake hands and talk to the people in the areas he is walking in that day. At the conclusion of the day’s walk, he will record the GPS coordinates of his stopping point and go back to that spot the next morning to continue on. He expects it to take about 10 weeks to complete this 1,015 mile walk through 48 counties.
Rep Scott says that he will not falter in his State Rep duties while on this Walk, and that he knows of at least one time that he will have to go to the Capitol to vote for the next DOT Chairman. On that day and any days required by a special session of the General Assembly, should Governor Perdue decide one is needed, he will fulfill his duties as a State Representative before going back to his last stopping point on the Walk to continue on.
In preparation for this Walk, Rep Scott has been walking at least 10-15 miles at least 3 times a week for the past few weeks, and says he “didn’t skimp on the shoes I bought”, naming what I assume to be a high quality pair of hiking boots.
The “Walk of Georgia” starts in 12 hours, tomorrow morning at 7am, in Chickamauga, up in my old stomping grounds of Northwest GA, and will eventually conclude at the State Capitol. The list of cities Scott plans to walk through is this:
- Chickamauga
- Rome
- Columbus
- Bainbridge
- Thomasville
- Valdosta
- Waycross
- Nahunta
- Brunswick
- Savannah
- Augusta
- Washington
- Athens
- Toccoa
- Clayton
- Dahlonega
- Cumming
- Alpharetta
- Roswell
I’ve done my own calculation of the projected path, independent of any info from Rep Scott’s campaign other than the above list of cities, and I can verify that this path does, in fact, put him walking through 48 of Georgia’s 159 counties.
If Rep Scott is in SWGA on a weekend, I’m thinking about joining him for a few miles, and I urge each of you to do so as well if he is in your general area. As I noted when I interviewed him a little over a month ago, he really does seem like an open, honest, and straightforward guy.
You can keep track of Scott’s progress via the website he set up for this walk, WalkingWithAustin.com. Because I find this concept interesting (indeed, apparently it has only been done once before – by a guy that went on to occupy the Governor’s Mansion), you’ll probably also see an occasional update here on SWGAPolitics.com as well.
To those who argue that this is a campaign stunt, I ask this: So what?
This may indeed be what some would term a “stunt”, but Scott is behind in the polls and lacks the name recognition of Oxendine or Handel. There’s not a thing wrong with this one actually as this “stunt” also happens to put him directly into contact with the people who will be voting for him.
For the record, I’m leaning more towards Monds in the general election, and if I vote in the gubernatorial primary, I’m not sure who I’m voting for. So far, Scott does seem pretty straight forward and I like this tack of getting out and meeting the people.
I’m the same. Monds would have to do something very stupid for me to not vote for him in November, and I don’t see that happening. I’ve been completely honest with every candidate I’ve talked to about that.
As far as July goes, I’m looking for the most liberty loving candidate I can find. Right now, it appears that there are only a couple of the GOP candidates that actually fit that bill, and Scott is one of them.
Scott has good experience and reputation to match. I would have no trouble voting for someone like him in the primary.
Name recognition is an issue with Scott. But, heck, the same is true of Monds. Don’t know him from a sack of salt. That is not “bad” mind you since neither is on the “do not vote” list. However, to win, either will have to be more known–in a positive way.
The worst that should come out of a walking tour–properly done mind you–is a pair of sore dawgs.
[...] I noted when I first posted about State Rep Austin Scott’s Walk of Georgia, I’ve been checking in with its site, [...]
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