Hershel Walker already the favorite in Georgia Senate race

 Savannah Morning News:

The current conversation around Georgia’s political hot stove is about Herschel Walker and whether he will run for U.S. Senate.

Notice the discussion isn’t about whether he can win the seat.

More:UGA icon Herschel Walker could be planning a run for U.S. Senate. Here's what we know.

Because he can and will defeat Sen. Raphael Warnock should he choose to challenge in 2022.

Walker is an icon who will draw votes from disengaged voters — Black and white, left-leaning and right-leaning — on his name alone. Every Georgian alive during Walker's days with the Bulldogs has an affinity for him. Even the Tech fans. Some will cast their ballots for him for what they consider overdue payback for Georgia's most recent national championship.

With former President Donald Trump lead blocking for him, Walker will ignite the Trump base. The Trumpists include the tens of thousands of Republicans in northwest Georgia who stayed home for the 2020 runoff because of Trump's rigged election claims. Those voters handed victory to Raphael Warnock, who won by a narrow 93,000-vote margin despite unprecedented Democratic turnout for a runoff.

Walker has all but announced his candidacy in a very Trumpian way — via Twitter. He posted a short video last week of him revving the engine of his car, the vehicle’s Georgia license plate clearly visible. Walker tells viewers, “I’m getting ready and we can run with the big dogs.” The post is titled “Georgia on my mind.”
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Once Walker launches his campaign, the debate will shift to whether he is qualified — not from a legal standpoint, as his establishing residency in Georgia is a simple process, but from an experience-and-decision-making outlook.

On this question, too, the answer is yes, he is qualified.

That’s partly because there is no minimum standard to hold high elected office anymore. Trump was president. Marjorie Taylor Greene is in the U.S. House. Al Franken was a U.S. senator. There's no electability litmus test anymore.

Another reason Walker can be considered credible is his gravitas. His is a magnetic personality, and his excellence as an athlete and a business owner commands respect. He’s not a political grenade tosser who will stick a hob-nailed boot in his own mouth, and he’ll attract national attention simply by virtue of being an African-American Republican.
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Walker comes across as an intelligent person who can be trusted.  He is clearly more rational than Sen. Warnock who is a radical Democrat.  I think Walker can become a national figure.  BTW, Sen. Tom Scott is an African-American Republican.