The race to become Georgia's newest senator is anyone's game. | AP, John Shinkle/POLITICO GOP's Georgia fear: Another Akin

One likely candidate called Todd Akin “partially right” about “legitimate rape.” Another said evolution and the Big Bang theory are “lies straight from the pit of hell.” A third accused the Obama administration of practicing “shakedown politics” after BP set aside $20 billion to compensate victims for damage from the Gulf oil spill.

The Republican primary for the open Senate seat in Georgia is shaping up to be a free-for-all, drawing interest from some of the most conservative members of the House and raising concerns that a race to the right could put in play what should be a safe seat. It comes as the party tries to head off the problem that cost it dearly in 2012: nominating candidates who say things so off-putting to mainstream voters that they blow the election.


Democrats acknowledge that Georgia’s rightward tilt gives Republicans the edge in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss. But they’re hopeful that a candidate in the mold of Missouri’s Akin or Indiana’s Richard Mourdock emerges from a bare-knuckled Southern brawl.

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Republican-minded business leaders in the state are clamoring for a more establishment-friendly alternative to enter the race.

National outside groups such as American Crossroads and the Club for Growth, meanwhile, are watching to see how the field shakes out before deciding if and how they get involved. It’s unlikely that any candidate will win a majority in the primary, in which case the top two finishers would square off in a runoff. The real fireworks might not start until then.

Facing the high probability of a serious primary challenge from the right, Chambliss announced last month he would not seek a third term next year. Within hours, the jockeying was under way.

Rep. Paul Broun, the only officially declared candidate, has a history of incendiary comments that could plague a statewide bid.

“All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell,” he told a church group last September. “And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior.”

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Rep. Phil Gingrey, a doctor seen as very likely to run, offered medical justification for Akin’s claim that the body has ways of preventing pregnancy after the trauma of rape.

“We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate,’” Gingrey said in January.

After initially claiming he was misconstrued, Gingrey has since said he deeply regrets the comments.

Mitt Romney carried Georgia with only 53 percent of the vote. As points of comparison, the Republican presidential candidate won both Indiana and Missouri — where GOP candidates blew Senate races — with 54 percent.

So while it’s clearly a tall order for Democrats, it’s not impossible.

Georgia’s large African-American community and growing Latino population give Democrats confidence that the state will become increasingly competitive over the next few years. That’s a big part of why Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has already passed on this Senate race, settings his sights on the Senate in 2016 or governor in 2018.

On the Republican side, everyone is watching the potentially formidable Rep. Tom Price. The former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee has promised to make a decision in May. But many, including a former adviser, say Price is reluctant to relinquish his perch in the House.

Price also earned the enmity of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal when he withdrew his endorsement ahead of the 2010 GOP primary to back former Secretary of State Karen Handel instead. Other members of the House delegation hope the bad blood will spur the governor to work against Price behind the scenes.

Handel is likely to run for Price’s House seat if he runs for Senate. If Price passes, chances are higher that Handel will throw her hat into the Senate race.

Rep. Jack Kingston is also almost certain to run. But some activists grumble that, as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, he is a symbol of spiraling federal spending. Rep. Austin Scott and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle also have not closed the door.

Public Policy Polling called the contest “a complete tossup” after a recent survey by the Democratic firm found seven possible candidates all polling under 20 percent.

The conventional wisdom in GOP circles, based on more than a dozen interviews with operatives in the state, is that Broun is the only contender who would give Democrats a chance to win the seat.

“There’s no way that national Republicans — at the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] or any other PAC — would let him claim the nomination because it would be devastating for the national Republican brand,” said James Richardson, a Republican who edits the Georgia Tipsheet blog. “I don’t think anyone apart from Broun would put the seat in jeopardy.”

Richardson, a vice president at Hynes Communications, predicted the race will come down to Broun capturing the far right and Kingston being the center-right candidate, with Price in the mix.

Broun recently claimed, incorrectly it turned out, that he was the first member of Congress to call the president a socialist.

That aside, he has tried to become more disciplined lately about staying on message.

In an interview, he repeated his core message of cutting spending and reining in the debt, and dismissed criticism from within his party about his past comments.

“I’m not concerned about that,” he said. “I’m going to take my message of what I’ve been doing here in Washington … What I have that they don’t have is name recognition with the grass-roots activists across the state because I’ve been working with them for many years in many sectors.”

Georgia has a history of not electing overly ideological Republicans statewide. The last truly ideological, moderate vs. conservative battle in a Republican Senate primary was in 1996. Johnny Isakson, who had supported abortion rights, lost that contest. But he came back and won a three-way Senate primary in 2004. Gov. Deal was a Democrat until 1995.

“Our nominees for governor have been center-right — they’re not moderate by any means. They’re center-right. They’re not the fringe,” said Georgia Republican political strategist Joel McElhannon. “If Paul Broun is our nominee, then suddenly I think the general election is in play.”

There’s some concern that Price, Kingston and Gingrey will all appeal to the same crowd — which could make Broun more formidable and get him a spot in the runoff.

Democrats so far have not recruited a top-tier candidate. Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow, perennially one of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s top targets, is taking a close look but will wait to see how the Republican field shakes out before making a decision.

At this point, some in the Republican establishment are seeking out someone fresh who could run as an outsider without ties to D.C.

“There are people that I talk to, particularly in the business community, that are not at the present time happy with the options out there,” said Eric Tannenblatt, a major GOP donor from Atlanta who was chief of staff to former Gov. Sonny Perdue. “If you have someone who is either a self-funder or has a lot of business support, they could be formidable.”

Tannenblatt floated state House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey as a potentially formidable candidate.

Martha Zoller, a conservative radio host who lost a House race last year, said that there’s a real desire among party activists to nominate someone who they know will win.

“The big loss in 2012 was not the presidency. The big loss was the Senate,” she said. “The way Republicans go after each other in these safe states, the fight is in the primary. And that’s where you rip each other to shreds.”