Mayor Franklin Believes Atlanta Will Rise Above Race in Mayoral Campaign

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin on Wednesday congratulated the two top candidates who advanced Tuesday night to a run-off election in their battle to succeed her.

And she predicted what might happen if the candidates -- Mary Norwood, a white woman, and Kasim Reed, a black man -- find themselves embroiled in issues of race during the run-off campaign.

"Well, I'll tell you, I did vote for Kasim Reed yesterday," Mayor Franklin said, "and I'm glad that he's had many other people to vote for him."

As for Norwood -- the mayor has denounced her as unqualified to lead -- the mayor was magnanimous.

"There's no question she did well, she almost won without a run-off. So there's no question that she was able to capture the imagination of people. A lot of the work that she's done over the last eight years, meetings with community groups and going out to communities, paid off for her."

Mayor Franklin said she has not had a chance, yet, to study the voting patterns from Tuesday's general election. But she said she is aware that Norwood did better in black precincts than Reed did in white precincts.

That does not mean, she insisted, that race will be a deciding factor in the December 1 run-off election; and even if it does become an issue, she said, the city will, ultimately, rise above it.

"I think there's been a lot read into the shifting demographics, and the shifting changes, in Atlanta. Atlanta's always found a way to come together... we always find a way to come together. We have some tough battles. And our success as a city is that we seem to overcome our differences, find a common purpose, and move forward."

Reed and Norwood once again condemned those who would try to reduce their political battle to one of black and white.

"I welcome this competition," Reed said, "we're going to have a high-road debate. And I hope that we can avoid these kinds of attempts to divide our city."

"I am focused on what citizens care about," Norwood said, meaning they care about the candidates' platforms and skills, not their race. "And whatever comes at me, I will deal with. And then I will continue to focus on what our citizens care about."

Wednesday night, Mayor Franklin was at the Carter Center accepting the James Weldon Johnson Institute Humanitarian Award, and she spoke of the debt she and the city owe her predecessors in office, black and white -- as if she were speaking to her successor.

"Ivan Allen...testified for the Civil Rights bill when he was a sitting mayor, and it was very unpopular. [William] Hartsfield...reached out to African Americans for his election almost 60, 70 years ago."

She also singled out Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young.

"These men, and many women, really formed the foundation that makes our city great, and, I believe, form the model that we can build on, into the new century, the 21st century."