At first glance, Michael Coles is an unusual candidate, a self-made multimillionaire running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. He first made a political name for himself two years ago when he ran an aggressive, if doomed, campaign to unseat House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Coles aligns himself with the conservative wing of the Democratic party and is a close friend and ally of Gov. Zell Miller. He was tapped by Miller to head the state Democratic Party, a job he left when he announced his run for office. Like Miller, Coles takes a pragmatic view of government, judging issues based not on ideology but on what works and what doesn’t work. He is opposed in the Democratic primary by Jim Boyd, a perennial candidate who also has run for governor, the Public Service Commission and Congress. In 1992, Boyd filed to run for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Wyche Fowler but was barred from the ballot when his qualifying check bounced. Coles has indicated that in a general election challenge of Sen. Paul Coverdell, he would target what he calls Coverdell’s anti-environment and anti-education record. Coles has the tools to present Georgia voters with a real choice come November. |
