Less than 24

hours after a convincing win in the Republican primary, state school superintendent

candidate Kathy Cox was back on the road in her Volkswagen, continuing

her campaign strategy of just getting out there and meeting people.

"I guess

this proves that grass roots [campaigning] works," she said, speaking

on her cell phone from her car Wednesday afternoon. "I've been on

the road all over this state the past eight months, and it paid off."

The payoff

was a whopping 72.1 percent of the vote, with 97 percent of precincts

reporting as of Thursday morning, according to the Secretary of State's

Web site. Cox gathered 334,923 votes to Mitchell Kaye's 129,409.

Another impressive

aspect of the final tally was the fact that Cox beat Kaye in all 159 Georgia

counties, including a 2-1 margin in Kaye's home base of Cobb County, where

he has served as a state senator for the past 10 years.

Cox, who has

15 years of experience as a teacher in Fayette County, has served as a

state representative for the 105th District the past four years. She credits

the support of educators and parents across the state for much of her

success in the primary.

"I've

also heard from a lot of former students," she said. "When you

think about it, I've probably taught over 2,500 students in the past 15

years."

Aside from

being obviously "thrilled" about her win, Cox derived a great

deal of satisfaction from running what she said was a clean campaign.

She also won

despite being apparently outspent by her opponent. While exact disclosure

records were not available at press time, Cox said that she has spent

about $90,000 so far, a surprisingly low number for a statewide campaign

with several different media markets. "I have a lot of volunteers

who have worked very hard," she said.

"This

was an issue-driven election," she said, adding that she was able

to capitalize on knowing what the problems and believing that the answers

are to be found at the local level, not in Atlanta.

Cox was the

first-ever candidate in a Republican primary for this seat to secure an

endorsement from the Georgia Association of Educators, one of the largest

groups of educators in the state.

She said that

her message, which includes the need for local control of education in

Georgia and for schools to be centers of education rather than social

services centers, is resonating with voters all over the state. Also,

her emphasis on giving high school graduates more options in the vocational

and technical arena is proving very popular with people she has met, she

said.

She now looks

for to squaring off against the winner of the Democratic runoff between

Barbara Christmas and Joe Martin. She expects to get a big boost from

the state Republican Party and also appreciates the support she has gotten

from Kaye, who called her Tuesday night to congratulate her.

"He was

very cordial and very supportive," she said. "He will support

the Republican candidates up and down the ticket."

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