Following up on Leeds

You talk to Dems around this state, and very few of them are in the mood to give Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Kahn what you might call a rousing send-off. This is a cruel game, politics. And when it comes to Kahn and Mark Taylor, the two of them might as well be Captain Bligh and his first mate, set adrift in a lifeboat while the rest of the crew beats it hard to starboard or port or wherever, as long as it’s the opposite direction.

Here’s how things now stand in the post-Kahn era: Mike Berlon, chair of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party, has officially announced his intention to seek the chairmanship. State Sen. Doug Stoner, D-Smyrna, is taking the holidays to consider his options and is not ruling out a run.

Democratic Party Secretary Steve Leeds will have to weigh his duties as a helpmate to candidates running for national office — a passion of his and something he’s been doing for years and does well — but as it stands now he may run again for the chairmanship.

Kahn beat Leeds three years ago.

Beat him badly.

“As George W. Bush would say, ‘I got thumped,’” admits the Atlanta commercial real estate attorney, who wants to help start building the party up again from the grassroots.