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When Ralph Reed decided to run for lieutenant governor in Georgia, he was widely seen as a shoo-in. The former executive director of the Christian Coalition and past chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, Reed had friends at every level of state and national politics.
Turns out he had one too many. His ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff are one reason he's in a dead heat against state Sen. Casey Cagle in Tuesday's GOP primary.
In 1981, Reed was working as an intern for the College Republicans National Committee. His boss was Abramoff, the newly elected chairman. Their friendship paid off handsomely for both over the years.
Then came the revelations of a massive pay-to-play scheme, engineered by Abramoff, to take advantage of his connections to GOP lawmakers and influence state and federal legislation. He enlisted Reed -- for fees totaling more than $4 million -- to mobilize Christian activists to oppose Indian casinos seeking to compete with those operated by Abramoff clients. Reed has denied wrongdoing.
Politically, Reed has paid a price. His fundraising has lagged, as have his opinion poll numbers. Cagle, once regarded as little more than a nuisance, is now seen by GOP operatives as a slight favorite over Reed.
Reed has been hammered repeatedly for his Abramoff ties. In one Cagle television commercial, a narrator accuses Reed of making "millions with convicted felon Jack Abramoff" and "selling out our values."
But Reed has hit back, running ads that question Cagle's ethical standards during his tenure in the state Senate. Reed adds, "As head of the Christian Coalition and Georgia Republican Party, I fought for our values."
Republican voters apparently aren't convinced. A new poll by Strategic Vision, a GOP firm not connected to the race, showed that 36 percent of Republicans viewed Reed favorably, while 49 percent gave him an unfavorable rating. That same survey showed Cagle with a statistically insignificant 42 to 41 percent edge.
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