On second thought, Doug MacGinnitie may have a slim chance at secretary of state

Due to exceptional press releasing from secretary of state hopeful Brian Kemp, I may have mistakenly called the 2010 Georgia Secretary of State's race in July of 2009.

Whoops.

Kemp put up a good fundraising number, raising $267,170 in six months. And he's got a ton of endorsements. But Sandy Springs City Councilman Doug MacGinnitie raised $207,127. Throw in another $50,000 from a loan and he's got $223,674 in cash on hand to Kemp's $255,660.

Not exactly a landslide. So I called Mr. MacGinnitie:

Me: Let's see what I wrote about Brian Kemp. "Brian Kemp to crush all mere mortals in Georgia Secretary of State race."

MacGinnitie: Guess I need to be more than a mere mortal then.

Look, buddy, I handle the witty retorts around here.

MacGinnitie said he's been on the Sandy Springs City Council for about two years. He's a businessman and used to be a corporate lawyer, so he's dealt with the Secretary of State's Office quite a bit.

"It's kind of pathetic," he said, "but Ive always been interested in what the secretary of state does and it is my belief... that we need to do everything we can to make it easy for people to start up and grow a business, especially a small business in this state. And the secretary of state doesn't hold all the keys to that equation, but they hold a few of them. ... That's where all the jobs get created out of this kind of recession, is at the small business level."

What does he think about voter I.D.?

"I don't have any problem with it. I think that as long as it's easy to get an I.D. that it passes, kind of the common-sense test. You need an I.D. to buy beer. You need an I.D. to sign up your kid to go play soccer at the church."

Let the record also show that Peachtree City Democrat Gary George Horlacher is also in this race. He raised $169,625 the last six months, though $150,000 of it came from a loan, and he donated another $12,200 to the campaign himself.