The closer Cynthia McKinney and Hank Johnson get to Tuesday’s runoff, the nastier the race seems to be getting.

At a community forum Thursday night in North DeKalb, the two candidates for the Fourth Congressional District again traded barbs in their efforts to secure crucial votes.

And for one of the first times publicly, Johnson took off the gloves. After McKinney accused him of being under the thumb of Republicans because of the money he has gotten from GOP-leaning donors, he struck back.

“I can accuse her of being under the control of terrorists, but I won’t” Johnson said, because of the money that her campaign has gotten from Muslim interests.
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Still angry over her striking a Capitol Hill police officer this spring, law enforcers inside and outside her suburban Atlanta district are sending money and endorsements to her opponent in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary runoff.

“What she did — if she gets away with this, it basically puts an imprimatur on hitting police officers,” says Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police.
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The national Fraternal Order of Police’s political action committee sent $1,000 to her opponent, Hank Johnson Jr., and plans to give the legal maximum, $5,000 for the runoff and $5,000 for the general election.

There’s nothing new about that police committee contributing to their friends in office or to their enemies’ enemies, Pasco says. But usually the giving is driven by legislative concerns, such as gun control and Social Security, according to its Web site.

But that’s not why the national Fraternal Order of Police is working against McKinney, or why the local one has endorsed Johnson. Nor is it why the sheriffs of all three counties in her district this week supported Johnson, too.
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The embattled incumbent bought cable television ads that are scheduled to air 1,175 times over a five-day period which began Thursday, according to public filings at the Comcast Spotlight Atlanta office.

The ads are running in four different coverage zones - DeKalb County, North DeKalb, West Gwinnett County and Rockdale County - and are evenly spread across seven networks: CNN, Lifetime, The Family Channel, TV One, BET, The History Channel and The Oxygen Network. McKinney’s campaign paid $9,578 for the ads.
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Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz said the ads probably won’t be much of a factor in winning voters.

“Personal contact is much more effective strategy,” Abramowitz said. “Television ads are not enough to get people motivated to get out and vote.”
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