Cynthia McKinney back and running for her old congressional seat

By Jeffry Scott

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is preparing to run for her old 4th Congressional district seat on the Green Party ticket.

McKinney was defeated by 4th district incumbent Hank Johnson in 2006 after serving six terms in Congress and has kept a low profile since returning to Atlanta from the San Francisco area where she moved in 2007.

Since February she has made a few public appearances in her old district but stayed low key with her plans. She filed paperwork April 2 with the Federal Elections Commission declaring her intention to run.

Tracked down at her mother’s home Thursday by a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McKinney declined to comment and ordered the reporter off the property.

Last week she was recruiting volunteers to collect the 18,860 signatures of registered voters she’ll need by August 6 to get on the newly redrawn 4th district ballot, according the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

A lightning-rod political figure, McKinney, 55, was defeated in 2006 by  Johnson after a much-publicized run-in with a U.S. Capitol police officer and her accusations that the Bush administration may have known beforehand about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

MORE