Atlanta, GA – Jimmy Carter Hits The Campaign Trail With Grandson

    19

    Former President Jimmy Carter and  his grandson Jason Carter talk to Atlanta voters Saturday, May 8, 2010 in Atlanta. Jason Carter is running for the Georgia State Senate. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)Atlanta, GA – Most candidates for the state Legislature would love to campaign door-to-door with a former president, but Jason Carter wanted to keep his famous grandfather away for a while.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The grandson of Jimmy Carter wanted to do it on his own, without relying on his famous family name, even though grandma and grandpa have been asking for months to get out on the trail with him. The younger Carter finally relented with a special election for a vacant state Senate seat just days away — and there were Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, handing out fliers and shaking hands Saturday with surprised residents in a tree-lined Atlanta neighborhood.

    “Oh my gosh, President Carter I can’t believe you’re on my front lawn,” Christine Marsteller said as Jimmy Carter slowly made his way up to her yard sale.

    Yes, Marsteller said, absolutely she would vote for Jason Carter on Tuesday.

    “Don’t forget, it’s very important,” the 85-year-old Carter said, pecking the 29-year-old Emory University researcher on the cheek with the politician’s practiced ease.

    Jason Carter said he didn’t take his grandparents up on their offer sooner because he wanted to prove he could do the hard work on his own. After all, with the Carter name comes high expectations for success.

    “I can’t be trading on my family name,” the 34-year-old lawyer said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This is not a campaign of entitlement. We’ve got to earn this on our own.”

    Still, in a special election where turnout will be key, he is rolling out the political royalty to rally voters. He is facing a Democrat, a Libertarian and an independent.

    If he wins, Carter would become the first in his family to be elected to political office since his grandfather won the presidency in 1976.

    Jimmy Carter served two terms in the Georgia Senate before becoming the state’s governor in 1971.

    The heavily Democratic district covers portions of Atlanta and Decatur in DeKalb County and has a large Jewish population, which has resurrected some touchy questions about Jimmy Carter’s strained relationship with the community.

    Jimmy Carter outraged many Jews with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” by comparing Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa.

    In a sign that emotions on the issue still run high, a flier has circulated in recent days in one Jewish neighborhood that purported to show a Jason Carter donor with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Jason Carter called the anonymous flier “ridiculous and completely false.”

    And there have been some questions about the timing of Jimmy Carter’s apology at the end of last year for any words or deeds that may have upset the Jewish community. The open letter came soon after Jason Carter announced he would seek the state Senate seat.

    Jason Carter said the Al Het — or prayer offered on Yom Kippur — had been in the works long before he ever decided to run for office.

    Carter’s main opponent, Democrat Tom Stubbs, is a 53-year-old lawyer from Decatur with a long history of civic involvement. Stubbs calls Carter “a nice young man” but suggested he hasn’t paid his dues.

    “I’m a strong believer that you sweep the floor before you run the store. I guess we’ll see if the voters agree with that,” Stubbs said.

    Carter isn’t taking anything for granted, although the name clearly helps.

    On a recent weekday he visited the Mack Love Senior Center and interrupted a penny canasta game to introduce himself. The elderly women seem more interested in their cards until one asks, “any relation to Jimmy Carter?”

    “Yes, he’s my grandfather,” Jason answers.

    Suddenly, he has their full attention.

    Questions ensue about his uncle Billy and his great-grandmother Lillian, both deceased, and Jimmy Carter’s weekly Sunday school classes in Plains, Ga.

    “He seems like a very nice young man,” 96-year-old Katherine Shaw gushes afterward.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    19 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Just wondering
    Just wondering
    13 years ago

    Didn’t Jimmy Carter and his wife have just one daughter, Amy Carter?
    Is this her son? And who is this young man’s father?

    Yisroel HaKohen
    Yisroel HaKohen
    13 years ago

    One Carter in Politics is all the world can tolerate. We don’t need another idiot and fool like Jimmy running for office. Please keep another Carter from entering public office. We don’t need more trouble. If you remember Jimmy’s brother Billy who worked for the Lybians and the terrible job Jimmy did. He was the worst president America ever had until Obama came to office. The Carter name is a liability not a plus. No wonder he didn’t want to let his incompetent and racist grandfather help him run for office. I say no more Carters! Ever! Jimmy Carter will have to answer to G-d for what he has done to the Jewish People. We don’t need more like him.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    He’s going to loose by far they are both big time anti semites

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Voters – Remember what Carter said and did to Israel. He’s a Palestinian.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Enough of these multi-generational politicians. We have had enough, lets get some new blood.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    i am pretty sure you r wrong…. ck it out, i am pretty sure carter has a son who is a govenor somewhere who wants nothing to do with his father

    Now it makes sence
    Now it makes sence
    13 years ago

    Carters seem to be up for sale again. He will probably have the same arab money backing him. He should be ashaimed of his grandfathers campain against Israel and for the terrorists. Al chait … yeah right.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Let junior carter stay in the family peanut farming business, and leave politics to people with good genes.

    another anti-obama
    another anti-obama
    13 years ago

    As they say there is a huge billboard with the picture of carter thinking aloud and says:“at least I am not the worst president anymore”

    cool masmid
    cool masmid
    13 years ago

    What a waste of taxpayer money. This guy was a dismal faliure during his entire term, and he’s running around the rest of his life with a security detail and a motorcade. Look in the picture you’ll noice the two government suv’s and agents in the picture.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    we don’t need another Carter his Grandfather did enough damage and still does.
    Lets hope they don’t vote him in.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Let him start by sweeping the floor or farming peanuts.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “Jason Carter said the Al Het — or prayer offered on Yom Kippur — had been in the works long before he ever decided to run for office.”

    And long before he wrote that anti semitic book, too, I’m sure.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    with the Carter name comes high expectations for success.

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!

    Mentch
    Mentch
    13 years ago

    We don’t need any more Carters in elective office. I remember Jimmie Carter’s obscene brother, Billie Carter. After American Jews criticized Billie Carter for doing business with Libya, Billie responsed with a nasty comment about American Jews. Not one of Carter’s so-called Jewish advisors rebuked Billie Carter for his despicable remark. Even Jimmie Carter’s rebuke was relatively mild. Carter was a failure, pertaining to the Iran hostage crisis. If Carter had reacted immediately, the hostages might have been rescued sooner. By the time that Carter mounted a rescue in April, 1980, it was too little too late; the rescue mission was a failure and a fiasco. It was that failure which cost Carter a second term. If the hostages had been successfully rescued, there is no doubt that Carter would have defeated Reagan in 1980.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Jason knows the zaida is an idiot,the old fool forced himself on the poor kid