Meeting Jason Carter

Last Friday Democratic candidate for Georgia Governor Jason Carter came and spoke at Laura's American Politics class. Carter is President Jimmy Carter's grandson and currently a Georgia State Senator for District 42 which is in East Atlanta. The event was open to the public so I tagged along and as I was the husband of "Dr. Dean" I got to have a pretty good seat. He reminds me of John Edwards [I say that in the most positive way possible] and has certainly earned my vote on Tuesday.

And here's a view of a photo taken by the campaign:

I was hoping to get a chance to score an autograph from him and so I brought along a card of his Grandfather to sign. When I asked him if he would sign it he told me he hadn't seen one of these cards before so maybe I'll track down another copy and mail one to him.

I like the card and maybe one day when I run into President Carter down at the Piggly Wiggly maybe he can sign it too. It reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons which shows on of the treasures at the comic shop The Android's Dungeon was a photo of Sean Connery signed by Roger Moore.

Visiting Plains, GA

About 150 directly due south from Atlanta you'll find Plains, Georgia. Plains is a tiny little town of 750 people with one very very famous citizen, President Jimmy Carter. Main Street is little more than two city blocks and they are clearly still proud of their favorite son.

During the 1976 election the towns depot became Carter's Presidential Headquarters and it is still preserved the way it was during that election.

At Carter's former high school you can see Jimmy's Nobel Peace Prize that he was awarded in 2002.

This unofficial tribute to Jimmy was in front of a local gas station.

One of the shops on Plains' Main Street sells antiques and political buttons [many of them being of their own creations] and their large collection makes me want to visit Plains again with a little more time to go through their pins.

I did pick up a can of Billy Beer inspired by Jimmy's brother Billy Carter...It's a sealed empty can so I have my doubts about it's authenticity but it's a fun reminder of my visit to Plains.

Two pieces I'm pretty sure are original were a couple of Carter pins. First we have a "J.C." pin...you can come to your own conclusions you are supposed to draw from it.

I always enjoy the political pins that are produced by specific groups or organizations. Here we have the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union who supported Carter/Mondale in 1980.

This last one is a replica of probably the most famous Carter pin with "why not the best" across the top. It is in reference to the title of Carter's book written on why he should be President.