My Sunday column

So, Dalton Mayor David Pennington flirted with the idea of running for governor. Too bad the recently announced candidacy of U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal spooked Pennington out of the game.
Georgia needs a good candidate with a minimum of ties to Washington and/or Atlanta politics in the race.
Was Pennington that guy? Maybe not, but stranger things have happened — like an untested, African-American senator from Illinois becoming president of the United States.
At the state level, I’m sick of the current crop of politicians.
Georgia needs a give ‘em hell type, someone who’s made his fortune doing things boldly and independently — a Southern-fried Jesse Ventura.
(Mr. Wrestling II comes to mind, but the aging grappler who used to thrill the state’s mat fans long ago moved to Hawaii.)
It would be nice if this White Knight hailed from our part of the state, but it’s not necessary.
What about Deal, the veteran congressman from Gainesville? Deal came to Congress a Democrat and switched parties after the Republicans’ strong national showing in the 1994 elections. Twelve years later, with that Republican wave clearly having crested, he’s ready to head back home.
I have never thought Deal showed much more than cursory interest in this part of the district. He knows where most of the votes are, east of the mountain. But Deal would vociferously dispute my view, as he did on a recent visit to town. The veteran congressman definitely has his loyal supporters here.
Deal has made his bones as a conservative. In probably his finest moment, he voted against the TARP legislation put forward by President Bush.
He would probably make a competent governor. It’s just that this state needs more than mere competence.
Georgia needs a leader, an innovator, and a fierce advocate for smaller government, freer markets, someone with the moral courage to battle a political system that sits engorged in Atlanta like a creature from an H.P. Lovecraft horror story.
We need Snake Plissken in an Armani suit. Or for you old-timers, John Wayne in a Brooks Brothers suit. But our political system doesn’t create many great leaders.
David Pennington isn’t Snake or the Duke, but he’s smart, focused, determined and unafraid of criticism.
That’s a starting place.
Maybe someone else with those qualities will step up.

• • •

The Daily Citizen staff scored big in the Georgia Associated Press Awards this year. We won 17 regular awards, including seven first places. We also received the Photo of the Year and Story of the Year. That doesn’t happen often.
Of course when a story like the bombing of the McCamy Law Firm occurs, your coverage of the event is sure to draw a lot of interest and scrutiny by peers in the industry. Doing things right when covering a breaking news story of that magnitude isn’t easy, but it’s the kind of challenge that keeps a lot of us in the business. Winning recognition as AP’s Story of the Year is very satisfying.
The newspaper industry, like a lot of other industries, is struggling through these tough economic times. We have not been immune to this in Dalton. Our staff isn’t as big as it once was and every dollar we spend is looked at closely.
Yet our readership — print and online — remains strong. That’s because of the efforts of the people in the newsroom. Many of them have their names attached to specific awards this year, but the entire newsroom staff has been a part of this process. They are Wes Chance, Victor Miller, Larry Fleming, Jamie Jones, Charles Oliver, Lara Hayes, Daryl Cole, Misty Watson, Matt Hamilton, Rachel Brown, Marty Kirkland, Adam Krohn and Mark Millican. Each one of these people had a hand in what was accomplished last year and/or what will be accomplished this year.
Most of them worked on the bombing story and they did a great job, but the true measure of their professionalism is the effort they make on a daily basis, whatever the story.
I owe them my thanks.