Kasim Reed has a good chance of becoming the next mayor of Atlanta

Looking at the numbers – Mary Norwood 45%, Kasim Reed 37% and Lisa Borders 14% - it is safe to assume that Kasim Reed has a pretty good chance of replacing Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. Based on her performance in several debates, I have to wonder about Norwood’s intellectual capacity. She doesn’t come off as the brightest bulb in the fixture. Anyway, if Reed gets a little over 80% of Borders/others votes and maintains his count, it’s game time.

I hope he’s prepared to spend some money right to cross the finish line. Norwood did a great job with her commercials. Even though I was bothered by the fact that the commercials seemed like negative attacks against the Franklin administration, Norwood came off as a likeable candidate concerned about the issues confronting. She should never have participated in a debate. It was like Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric. She also messed up with the last ad denouncing Republicans. What was up with that? She made it sound like Republicans have some kind of contagious disease. That was a bad move.

If Norwood runs some positive ads, keeps hugging people, and doesn’t open her mouth she has a better chance of winning on Dec. 1. Of course, if I were Kasim Reed I would publicly ask for a debate.

Norwood and Reed in runoff Dec. 1 by Eric Stirgus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta has one more month and one more election to go before it chooses the city's next mayor: Councilwoman Mary Norwood and former state Sen. Kasim Reed will face each other in a runoff Dec. 1.

With 100 percent of the vote counted, Norwood led the race with 45 percent. She maintained a comfortable margin throughout the vote counting Tuesday night but was unable to muster the 50 percent required to put the race away. Reed finished a strong second, with 37 percent, and City Council President Lisa Borders faded to a distant third with 14 percent in the eight-way race.

"I will hit the ground running," a smiling Norwood vowed late Tuesday night, addressing a buoyant crowd at the Varsity, the unusual site of her election-night gathering. "I feel wonderful. We are 10 points ahead. I think that's a great place for anyone to be." (Norwood wound up seven points ahead, although she was 10 points up when she made that statement.)

Reed emerged to greet supporters at the Hyatt Regency at 11:15 p.m., saying that Norwood had run her best race, and that the trajectory of his campaign showed that he was on the road to be the next mayor. Read the full story at ajc.com (Staff writers Ernie Suggs and Steve Visser contributed to this report)

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