Phillip Swicegood: “…What I’m seeing so far is a bit of a clown show.”
The GOP U.S. Senate candidates are taking heat from prominent Republicans, with a leader in right-wing radio calling the primary a “clown show” in a new column in the Monroe County/Macon Reporter. The column criticizes MAGA extremist Mike Collins and failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley for their latest round of infighting in this “combustible” primary and questions their ability to compete against the “seasoned, well-spoken Jon Ossoff”.
For months, Collins has labeled Dooley an untested “experiment” with “no rationale for his candidacy,” while Dooley calls Collins a “no-show, grandstanding Congressman.”
Monroe County/Macon Reporter: SWICE AS GOOD: Do any Georgia Republicans want to beat Ossoff?
Phillip Swicegood | September 24, 2025
- Last Thursday, Republican Congressman and current senatorial candidate Mike Collins blasted 58 congressional Democrats for voting against a House resolution to honor the life of Charlie Kirk. Except, Congressman Mike Collins didn’t vote for the resolution either.
- While this is not the sort of mistake that can end a campaign, it can raise questions about the competency of a candidate and the team surrounding him.
- Mike Collins deleted the social media posts, but not before the Dooley campaign caught the mistake. Just when Dooley’s milquetoast campaign seemed stalled, Collins handed him fresh juice just days before a crucial fundraising deadline.
- For context, I have been critical of Derek Dooley in the past and plan to continue until I am proven wrong.
- After all, the man’s only claim to fame is being Tennessee’s worst football coach in at least 50 years. He admits he hasn’t voted in “at least 20 years” and only decided to move back to Georgia and run for Senate after his coaching career flamed out.
- Without an unexplainable vote of confidence from Brian Kemp, Dooley wouldn’t even be in this race.
- Two weeks ago, Dooley held a fundraiser at Idle Hour that was described to me by three different people in the room as “boring, forgettable, and unimpressive.”
- When I pressed further, each said Dooley delivered a memorized stump speech but struggled to answer questions off the cuff.
- “This guy can’t be our best option,” said a friend of mine in the room.
- If Dooley is this bad in a small setting of handpicked Republican donors who are presumably on his team, how is he going to look on a debate stage against a seasoned, well-spoken Jon Ossoff?
- […] what I’m seeing so far is a bit of a clown show.