BARR VS. LINDER: GREAT REPUBLICAN TRAIN WRECK

When Laura Bush invited Bob Barr and John Linder each to bring a guest to
the First Lady's Luncheon last month, Congressman Barr appeared with
Georgia Right to Life President Caryl Swift on his arm. Linder showed up
with Libertarian talk-radio host Neal Boortz.

Barr and Linder's choices of escorts for the exclusive White House affair
may be telling symbols of the campaigns of the ultra-conservative titans,
who are pitted against each other for the honor of representing the newly
configured 7th Congressional District.

Georgia has never seen such a mean primary battle, between two well-known
Republican incumbents, whose stands on most issues are almost identical.

The Barr vs. Linder battle for the hearts and souls of metro Atlanta's
northernmost suburbs has gained national press attention, and for good reason.

Barr is the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard
right wing of American politics. Linder is a former lieutenant to
ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich and a foremost advocate of a national sales tax
and -- get this -- repeal of the Constitutional amendment creating the
income tax. He is beloved by millionaires everywhere, though passage of the
sales tax and repeal of the income tax are about as likely as the sun
rising in the west.

The Libertarian Party has crashed this supposedly Republicans-only soiree
on the side of Linder, hence the appearance of Boortz at the congressman's
side.

The Libertarians say they are prepared to spend $100,000 to help beat Barr
because of his get-tough drug enforcement rhetoric. Libertarians favor
legalization of some drugs. Does that mean Linder also wants to legalize drugs?

Welllllll, not exactly. He just wants the Libertarians' help. So he hedges
his answers on the drug questions. Likes to talk about the medicinal uses
of marijuana.

Linder also won't say exactly how he stands on the Northern Arc, a
controversial highway that will run across the district. No ifs, ands or
buts for Barr on this issue; he favors the highway.

And Linder is oh-so careful not to be too specific on water problems, which
are red-hot topics in both the Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona areas of the
7th. Barr, on the other hand, is way out front on the complicated policies
of the Tri-State Water Compact. He chairs a congressional subcommittee
dealing with the water battles of Georgia and Alabama and Florida.

Barr makes the Bush White House a little nervous. He won't stay completely
hitched. He has raised serious concerns about the administration's efforts
to invade privacy and curb certain civil liberties in the battle against
terrorism. His criticism has been so harsh at times that he has received
praise, probably unwelcome, from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Linder, on the other hand, has been a good soldier on every Bush item.

Barr describes Linder as "a follower" and himself as "a doer." To many
observers, that description sounds about right and may account, in part,
for the feeling that Linder is slightly ahead. He sticks to the
tried-and-true conservative agenda, keeps his head down on controversial
local issues and plays to the hilt the part of good soldier for the
Republican cause.

By contrast, Barr, 53, is a high-profile maverick. He battled the late Paul
Coverdell unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate.
He beat Democrat Buddy Darden to become a congressman, and then initiated
the impeachment move against President Clinton. Before that, he was a
hard-charging, headline-making federal prosecutor who seemingly set out to
fill the federal prison system with drug offenders. And long, long before
that, Barr was an analyst in the CIA.

Though he has gained the reputation of a good-time guy in Washington,
Linder, 59, appears the model of the strait-laced, no-nonsense lawmaker at
home. Before entering national politics, he was a dentist and later a
financial adviser. He also was a hard-working, though under-achieving,
Republican member of the state House.

What do Republican insiders think of this contest?

"It's too close to call," says Pat Gartland, southeastern director of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "The chamber likes both of them."

Georgia GOP Chair Ralph Reed was unavailable to comment on the battle,
though Barr backed Reed (and Linder didn't) in his bid to become GOP chairman.

And what do Gov. Roy Barnes and the Democratic brain trust think? They
won't say. They just smile with satisfaction at what they have done --
constructed a congressional district that will, for the time being, end the
political career of one of Georgia's two most visible and influential
Republican lawmakers. And Georgia Republicans are too dumb to figure out
how to avoid such a catastrophe. At least that's what the King and his
Democratic court believe.