By Maynard Eaton / Staff

John Oxendine, the charismatic and often controversial Georgia Insurance Commissioner and Republican gubernatorial frontrunner, is actively courting the black vote to strengthen his candidacy.  He launched his bold bid to break the traditional Democratic lock on the black electorate at the 12th Annual Legislative Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

Oxendine told the several hundred successful entrepreneurs and business executives in the Hyatt Regency ballroom that he intends to aggressively compete for their support because there is no gubernatorial candidate that has had more experience helping small minority entrepreneurs.

“I look forward to those of you who are Republicans voting for me in the Republican primary and those of you who do vote in the other primary, I’d love to have your vote in the General Election as the Republican nominee for governor,” he said to the receptive audience.

Following his brief address, Oxendine told The Beacon that he fully expects to win the support of many of the blacks in attendance and others like them across the state because it’s about business.  “Business people are business people first,” he opined. “I believe a lot of people will choose how they vote based on business decisions. The Republican Party is more posed to bring jobs to Georgia, to keep taxes low, and on the gospel social issues I think the Republican Party is stronger than the Democratic Party. It’s a natural fit.”

While Democratic gubernatorial frontrunners former Gov. Roy Barnes and Attorney General Thurbert Baker surprisingly didn’t attend the event, Oxendine proved to be the star attraction, working the audience like a polished and prime time politician that he purports to be.

“He presented his case and he asked for the vote, too,” said political consultant Lance Robertson. “ ‘Republican or Democrat, I want your vote,’ he said.  He’s smart; he’s working hard and he’s not taking us for granted.  The other candidates — shame on them.”

“He’s come to bat for me in a lot of situations,” added former MARTA Board member and insurance businessman Mychal Walker. “He understands the problems that minorities have to deal with. He will earn a healthy slice of the minority vote.”

“He shouldn’t take for granted that he won’t get any votes from this business group,” said Michael Russell, CEO of H.J. Russell & Company. “I applaud him for showing up, because that does matter.”

While Barnes has raised more than $2.5 million for his campaign war chest, Oxendine tops the Republican hopefuls with $3 million raised and $2.2 million cash on hand.  He says money and name recognition make him a formidable candidate.

“The advantage that I have and the advantage of Roy Barnes is that we are also well known,” he said. “A lot of my Republican opponents, as some of his Democratic opponents, are going to have to spend a lot of money introducing themselves to the public and then get their message out. The money I will have to spend on introducing myself will be much more limited and I will be able to concentrate on getting my message out. And we do lead substantially in money anyway which just makes our spending power even greater.”