RALPH REED AND THE FLAGGERS

OK, this is odd. Tom Baxter and Jim Galloway, political bloggers for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, have a theory as to why Ralph Reed lost his race to be the GOP's candidate for lieutenant governor yesterday: in part, because he isn't considered a friend to the Stars and Bars. The "flaggers" don't like him.

Here are Baxter and Galloway on Sunday, before the votes were cast, talking about the influence of the race for governor on Reed's campaign for L.G.:

...The cause of Confederate enthusiasts has been picked up this year by Ray McBerry, who is [incumbent Sonny] Perdue’s opponent in the Republican [gubernatorial] primary.

McBerry may be no more than an annoying buzz to the sitting governor. If he picks up 10,000 votes tomorrow, Perdue can swat him down with 300,000.

But 10,000 votes, even 2,000 ballots, could mean the world in the GOP race for lieutenant governor.

And flaggers don’t remember Reed as a friend. McBerry says most of his troops will choose Cagle for lieutenant governor....

Rusty Henderson of Dublin, a sometime lobbyist, is the closest thing that flaggers have to an ambassador at the state Capitol.

He explained: Reed is viewed as a leader of that wing of the national GOP that has emphasized the need to broaden the party’s appeal among African-Americans and Hispanics.

Most would consider this both noble and practical.

But flaggers, Henderson said, argue that Confederate symbolism has been unfairly sacrificed to the Republican cause of diversity, and that Reed ... has been part of this....

Here are Baxter and Galloway today, reviewing yesterday's vote totals:

...here are the starkest numbers to emerge from the Republican primary: Ray McBerry got 48,113 in the governor’s race against Sonny Perdue, and Ralph Reed lost to Casey Cagle by 49,126 votes.

By no means does that say the flaggers, whose cause McBerry represents, elected Cagle. It does indicate Reed got into the kind of cross-issue stew that poisoned [Governor] Roy Barnes [a non-flagger who was defeated in 2002].

Back in ’02, it was the flaggers plus the teachers plus the county sheriffs who defeated Barnes in many South Georgia counties. This year, it was the flaggers plus the disaffected churchgoers who hurt Reed in the same areas....

Is this accurate? I have no idea. But all this is written by two guys who surely know a hell of a lot more about Georgia politics than I do. If they say Reed lost in large measure because he's seen as not sufficiently deferential to the Confederacy, that's disturbing.