Just When You Thought It Was Finally Over: Folks, we’ve got an election on our hands. Still. But don’t despair - it’s a good thing, because it means we Georgians have a chance to swap out the old broken-parts Bushite senator, Saxby Chambliss, who’s been representing us in Washington for six years. His Democratic challenger, Jim Martin, is a good man whose presence in the U.S. Senate would do a lot more for this state and this nation than having Chambliss back there would.

The key for both of them, though, is turning people back out to the polls for the Dec. 2 runoff election. And here in Athens, as in many towns statewide, early voting has already begun. If you were registered to vote in the Nov. 4 general election this year - and whether or not you actually did vote - you can vote in advance at the ACC Board of Elections office downtown on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Wednesday, Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving. After that, your only chance is when the polls at the various neighborhood polling places open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the day of the runoff election, Tuesday, Dec. 2.

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That’s Not All: Just about as important is the runoff in the race for state Public Service Commission. There, Jim Powell - the selfsame guy who Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel tried to get thrown off the ballot over a residency dispute (the courts finally found her wrong) - is making a strong run against the one-time Democratic PSC member now running as a Republican, Lauren “Bubba” McDonald. McDonald is basically a friend of the utility companies that have to wrangle with the PSC over consumer protections (or the lack thereof) and environmental regulations. Powell, on the other hand, is a retired Department of Energy official with knowledge of alternative energy sources that would probably come in handy in these times of whacked-out energy markets and global ecological threats related to our continued use of fossil fuels. City Dope says vote for Jim Powell: it’s an easy call to make, but you’ve just got to get back out to the polls.

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One More: Also on the runoff ballot, voters will see the race for Georgia Court of Appeals. In that one, two candidates are left standing after the seven-person free-for-all of the general election. Those two are criminal defense lawyer Mike Sheffield of Lawrenceville and Sara Doyle, a young Atlanta lawyer focusing on civil litigation and education law. For what it’s worth, the Flagpole pick in the general election, state legislator Michael Meyer von Bremen of Albany, didn’t make it to the runoff - but he and Doyle were among the four listed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month as perfectly good candidates for the job.

This time around, City Dope is going with Sara Doyle, an intelligent and successful attorney who’s already won accolades in her short career. Mike Sheffield doesn’t appear to be too bad of a guy, but despite this being a nonpartisan race, there are some disconcerting notes in his campaign history: According to the Fulton County Daily Report, in a 2004 appeals court race Sheffield “took positions against gay marriage and in favor of capital punishment on his campaign Web site.” He also was the only candidate in that ’04 race to answer a questionnaire from the Christian Coalition of Georgia (saying he agreed with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the cases that the questionnaire asked about), and this year he answered the questionnaire from the Georgia Christian Alliance, signaling in advance how he might decide on issues important to that group. One last note - again from the Daily Report, which notes: “And he received the early endorsement of J. Randolph ’Randy’ Evans, general counsel to the state Republican Party, who has described Sheffield as a ’good, reliable conservative.’” All that is reason enough to vote for Doyle.

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And a Look Back: All things considered, it will be interesting to see not only who wins these runoffs, but also how big the early-voting turnout is this time around. Looking back to the November election - er, the September-October-November election - it’s tough not to be tickled by the political turnabout that’s taken place this year. After all, it was the Republicans at the state capitol who decided to extend walk-in absentee voting to 45 days before the election. Republicans have always been fans of absentee voting in general, since it tends to go their way. But they failed to foresee the advantages that the long walk-in period would confer to Democrats and the Obama campaign this year.

That’s why you may have recently read in the AJC that state Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson recently called early voting a “mistake” and suggested it may need to be curtailed. “I think what we’re seeing now is the ability to have time to go out there and pick up homeless people, and carry them to the polls, and register cats,” he told the AJC. Right. Cats.

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Athens’ Own Moment of Zen: Johnson’s brilliant comments might have made more news last week if it hadn’t been for our own Congressman Paul Broun, Jr. and his anti-Marxist, anti-Hitler, anti-Obama crusade. If you need to catch up, please reference Prof. Jim Cobb’s excellent Comment in this issue, as well as the Nov. 13 episode of the “The Daily Show,” just in case you missed it.

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In Other News, Which Does Exist: Despite the runoff election, we can all take comfort that the whole votin’ thing will soon be departing from the news cycle, opening up opportunities for discussion of other, you know, important issues that need airing. In that regard, thanks are due to the crew at the Athens Banner-Herald, who in their recent reporting have not only reminded us that the proposed bio-defense lab is still hanging out there as a matter of vital public interest for Athens, but also have also uncovered distinct deficiencies in UGA’s protocol for reporting lab safety incidents to the appropriate folks in the community. It’s all food for thought, that’s for sure.

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Along Those Lines: Also unresolved at press time in the world of public affairs is the matter of whether Troy Davis will live or die at the hands of the state of Georgia. His death penalty case having now bounced from court to court to court, the prospects still aren’t good. But here’s a word of thanks for the local resident who displayed a message of support for Davis, as seen in this week’s photo. City Dope just hopes that if the Davis case does re-enter the news cycle this week, perhaps the news will be good.

Ben Emanuel

Send your city dope to ben@flagpole.com.