At the end of “Rocky,” after Sylvester Stallone’s star character and nemesis Apollo Creed have battered and bloodied each other round after round in a boxing match, Creed tells his rival, “Ain’t gonna be no rematch.”
“Don’t want one,” Rocky responds.
Tom Graves and Lee Hawkins don’t have that luxury – the two will face off for the fourth time in four months in the Aug. 10 Republican primary runoff for Georgia’s 9th District congressional seat.
Graves landed blows in May’s special election and June’s special runoff to replace former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, who is running for governor. Graves took nearly half the votes in the primary earlier this month and is seeking a knockout in the runoff.
“From our perspective, we’re doing the same thing we’ve done in the previous three elections,” Graves said Friday.
Hawkins isn’t pulling any punches.
He has criticized Graves for voting against a federal ban of so-called “crush videos,” Internet clips in which women in stiletto heals stomp kittens and puppies to death. He also issued statements attacking Graves for casting one of four votes against a bill that adds layers to a national background check of convicted child predators.
“I think his moral compass points in a different direction than the 9th District of Georgia,” said Hawkins, a dentist from Gainesville and a former state senator. “I don’t think there’s any political ideology that would go against protecting the innocent like small children and small animals.”
Graves punched back, saying he cast the votes because both bills would add to federal powers not listed in the U.S. Constitution. Crush videos already are prohibited by animal cruelty laws in all states, he said.
He said he sticks to his small-government ideology, “not bringing my finger up in the wind to see which way the wind is blowing.”
Graves said the attacks are nothing new.
“He (Hawkins) has based all of his campaigning on negative campaigns,” the freshman representative said.
“I don’t think it’s negative when you’re talking about the truth,” Hawkins jabbed back.
Carl Cavalli, a professor of political science at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, said Graves should expect opponents to go after his voting record, even though he’s only been in office a few weeks.
“Graves is in an odd position of being an incumbent without any of the benefits of being an incumbent,” Cavalli said.
Tom Hunter, a professor of political science at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, said Hawkins is a heavy underdog. Hunter said Hawkins likely will find fewer campaign donors in his corner.
“It’s going to be very difficult for him to win the runoff,” he said. “I think it will be really, really tough to get any sort of fundraising and support.”
But that doesn’t mean he expects Hawkins to go quietly. If put in Hawkins’ shoes, Hunter said, he would drive home the point that more than half of Republican voters still were not satisfied with Graves in the primary.