On the stump in Oconee Co.

Incumbent Congressman Paul Broun of Athens is working just as hard in his re-election campaign as he did in his winning bid for the 10th district, just ten months ago. Broun upset the Republican establishment candidate then and he plans to do the same in the July 15th primary against Barry Fleming of Columbia County. According to Paul Broun, there’s nothing more down-home than barbecue: “I like barbecue pork, barbecue goat, barbecue coon, barbecue deer. So I just like barbecue.”
And that’s good, because the Congressman is eating a lot of it lately. On this day, the 61-year-old Athens physician is on the stump in Oconee County. He’s taking his old-fashioned, 1950's-style, grassroots campaign all across the 10th District, one of Georgia’s most conservative. Broun’s campaign is relying more on lots of yard signs, rather than on expensive media ads. And he puts his energy into meeting people one-on-one, like Joy Haley of Hartwell. They’re chatting about the foremost topic on everybody’s mind -- the high cost of fuel: Broun: “It’s crazy that we’ve got a spaceship sitting on the surface of Mars and we’re drilling for ice on Mars but we can’t drill for oil in America. Haley: But if you look at the time frame, it seems like we should have been trying to tap into our own resources and supplies, we’re running behind. Broun: We’re a whole lot behind.”
This was Joy Haley’s first chance to meet the Congressman. Later, while eating her pork sandwich and corn on the cob, she stopped to explain why she liked what she heard:
“He seems very genuine and down to earth, and in touch with the people. And that’s a good thing, because sometimes it’s easy to get jaded.”
Broun won his seat in a special election after the death of Congressman Charlie Norwood, when voter turnout was very low. Broun’s made a name for himself as an extremely conservative Republican, using a four-way test for every vote he casts: Is it moral, constitutional, necessary and affordable? Ron Clements, the host for this barbecue, wholeheartedly agrees: “I think Congressman Broun has gone back to the grassroots of the Constitution. And we the people of the United States should go back and look at the Constitution our forefathers left us with because they were right.” Clements is a retired Air Force fighter pilot who’s known Paul Broun for a long time. He says that even Broun’s more controversial stances can be supported by a strict constructionist view. For example, Broun sided with Democrats on a bill to stop arresting patients who use medical marijuana in states where it’s legal. Broun based his vote on the constitutional principle of state’s rights. Nevertheless, Broun has strong appeal to evangelical Christians, but he doesn’t want to be defined by that group, or anyone else:
“It’s a campaign of what do you want? Status quo, politics as usual, or do you want someone who will represent the people’s interest for positive change. And that’s what I’m all about.”
Broun calls himself the People’s Congressman. He takes his message door-to-door and shakes lots of hands because he’s convinced it will work one more time: Broun: “Ya’ll please vote for me. I appreciate your votes. I don’t want to take a vote for granted. I always want to ask, you know, so... (Man’s voice fades out) Yeah, I know…”     Click here for more GPB News coverage of local and national politics.