We're pretty sure now that Dr. Paul Broun Jr. of Athens is our congressman. There's little doubt the Democrats helped put him in, and some Jim Whitehead supporters say they did it because they think he'll be easier for a Democrat to beat next year than Mr. Whitehead, but that's just post-election wound licking.

Mr. Whitehead's supporters also say the Dems won't like Dr. Broun when they really get to know him, and of that, there's little doubt. He's a gun totin' conservative who wants to enforce the law against illegal immigrants (imagine that) and stop the big spending in Washington. At least that's what he says now. We'll see if he comes down with Potomac Fever like the rest of them and forgets which way is South.

HE RAN THIS UP THE FLAGPOLE: An example of Democrats who helped put Dr. Broun over the top is Pete McCommons, the editor of Flagpole.com, a free alternative news weekly in the Athens area.

In the July 11 issue Mr. McCommons wrote that Mr. Whitehead was "clearly the worst candidate" and that "Whitehead probably made a fine county commissioner, debating what size tires to run on county dump trucks, but since then he's been over his head."

He wrote some other things that I won't repeat here because I don't believe in kicking a man when he's down - not that Mr. Whitehead has any reason to be down about anything. As some man in the crowd at the post-election gathering shouted during Mr. Whitehead's speech, "Whitehead, you're a big winner, no matter what!"

Anyway, Mr. McCommons also wrote that even though Dr. Broun is a conservative Republican, he's at least from around Athens and will sit down with you and discuss the issues and admit he doesn't have all the answers.

"I don't see any choice but to vote for Paul Broun," he said. "I can't go the route of electing a buffoon in hopes of un-electing him. Congress is full of them already, and they continue to be re-elected."

COMEBACK CONTINUES: Dr. Broun was certainly riding high after Tuesday's runoff victory, another success after turning his life around many years ago.

"I made some bad decisions early in life and I found Christ in 1986 and found that stability that comes from no other source," he told the Athens Banner-Herald last week.

Dr. Broun had been married four times, though he's been married to wife Nicki for 22 years. He said he also declared bankruptcy in 1982.

IS A RETURN TO TOBACCO ROAD JUST AROUND THE CORNER? Augusta-area Republicans who campaigned for Mr. Whitehead in hopes of keeping some congressional representation here say Augusta is in a world of hurt now.

Four years ago, it had two congressmen, 12th District Republican Max Burns and 9th District Republican Charlie Norwood. Yes, I know Mr. Burns wasn't from Augusta, but he was just down the road in Sylvania, which is politically more like Augusta than Athens. And those congressmen have galvanizing influence over state representatives and senators to get things done in a district. It might not happen overnight, but the projects and the state and federal money to do them eventually will go to Athens and Savannah, where 12th District Democratic congressman John Barrow now lives. And the Richmond and Columbia County delegations don't have the clout to stop it.

USE IT OR LOSE IT: Use Gilbert Manor housing project property or lose MCG was the warning state Rep. Barry Fleming gave Augusta-area chiefs at the end of a two-hour powwow at Augusta Technical College last week. Well, maybe not in those exact words, but the message was clear

"Next year, we could be looking at $20 million to expand MCG, and it could be in Athens," Mr. Fleming said. "And every time we try to fight the fight to bring that money back to Augusta, and they can ask us, 'Have you taken care of that expansion problem down there in Augusta yet?' and we say, 'No, it hasn't been taken care of.' That $20 million is going to start heading other places. And once that path gets worn with money leaving Augusta, it's going to be easier to travel in the future, and it's going to be too late."

"What's the big holdup?" you ask. Answer: Some Augusta commissioners who are worried about losing a potential 279 votes in Gilbert Manor.

The Augusta Housing Authority and MCG have been working for years for a way to relocate the residents. During Mayor Bob Young's tenure, the authority proposed seeking a grant that could have brought $20 million to the effort, but Augusta Commissioners Betty Beard, Willie Mays and Marion Williams torpedoed it.

The authority also worked two years on a mixed-use development off Deans Bridge Road that could have expedited the relocation. Commissioners knew about the project well more than a year ago but scuttled it at the last minute because nearby residents didn't want it in the neighborhood.

SLIPPING FROM PRESIDENT TO PATIENT: MCG President Dan Rahn came to the Augusta Tech meeting on crutches, the victim of a complete avulsion of his left quadriceps from its insertion on the superior aspect of the patella. (I plagarized that from Dr. Rahn's account of his injury, "President Reflects on Journey from North Carolina Mountains to MCG Health System.")

Here are excerpts of that extremely well-written, entertaining and medically correct event:

"This was to be the year, the year I finally took some time away from the office and relaxed. My wife, Lana, and I had planned three weeks of vacation over the months of June and July; this was the first of those weeks, and we were spending it at our home in the mountains.

"I thought I was relaxing, but apparently I was driving Lana nuts. At breakfast, she told me exactly that: 'Dan, you're driving me nuts.' She wondered why I couldn't simply sit down and hold still. I explained patiently, for the 1,000th time, that - for people like me - being in motion was relaxing. So she sat down to paint (her hobby), and I got up to trim weeds, spread mulch and cut up dead limbs (my hobby).

"An hour later, deep into my relaxation, I slipped on some wet leaves in the woods next to our house, heard a pop in my left knee, felt faint and eased myself to the ground. I called for Lana and, trying to maintain my state of relaxation, told her I needed an ambulance.

"I knew something was seriously wrong. I could see my femoral condyles, parts of the knee joint usually hidden by the kneecap. I couldn't straighten my leg, and I couldn't stand. But I'm an incorrigible optimist. I convinced myself I had probably simply dislocated my patella."

He had not, and after a 40-minute wait for an ambulance and a ride out of the woods over rough terrain near the Nantahala National Forest in Highlands, N.C., he was taken to the Highlands/Cashiers Hospital, then brought back to MCG in a helicopter.

"Under different circumstances, this would have been quite an enjoyable ride over the North Carolina mountains," he wrote.

He had surgery at MCG. Where else?

Read all about it, including seven lessons he learned on that journey. Just go to MCG's Web site and click on "Beeper."

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.