John Barrow
Democratic candidates for Georgia's 12th Congressional Seat are Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., and Regina Thomas, shown during a debate Tuesday, July 2, 2008 in Atlanta. Georgia voters will vote Tuesday in the state's primary. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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U.S. Rep. John Barrow is working the lunch crowd outside a barbecue shack when he grabs the hand of a woman who says she recognized him instantly.

"Bless your heart," the two-term congressman tells her with a grin. "You shook my hand anyway."

There's a hint of truth in the shopworn joke as Barrow campaigns among the mostly black patrons next to a public housing project in east Savannah.

Barrow, a conservative white Democrat, is in a tough re-election fight ahead of Tuesday's primary against state Sen. Regina Thomas of Savannah, who is casting herself as the "real Democrat."

She accuses Barrow of siding too often with the Republicans. She cites Barrow's opposition to Congress setting timelines for troop withdrawals from Iraq and his support for reopening the U.S. coast to offshore oil drilling.

Thomas also is a black candidate in a contest in which black voters are expected to make up a majority. In the state's presidential primary last February, black voters cast 69 percent of the 79,486 Democratic ballots in Barrow's district.

Blacks comprise 41 percent of registered voters overall in the 12th Congressional District, which covers large parts of Democratic-leaning Savannah and Augusta. The district also has a big swath of rural eastern Georgia dominated by conservative whites, making it highly competitive for Republicans.

Barrow's conservative tilt proved essential to his re-election in 2006, when he beat former Republican congressman Max Burns by just 864 votes. Yet he may be vulnerable in the primary, particularly against a black challenger such as Thomas.

"She has a chance to fly beneath the radar if she makes connections with the black leaders in those communities," said Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political science professor.

After 12 years in the state Legislature, Thomas is popular in Savannah, but still largely a political unknown in the rest of the 12th District. With a shoestring budget and an all-volunteer staff, she's driven 7,000 miles across the 22-county district wooing voters.

Barrow, 52, won a big endorsement from Barrack Obama and began airing radio ads last month in which the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee asks voters to support Barrow.

Cherry Ross of Savannah, a black truck driver and Barrow supporter, says Obama is being heard.

"Anybody he recommends, they're going to go with," Ross said. "I've been listening to the CB radio and heard people say, `If Obama says vote for him, I'm going to vote for him.'"

Thomas, 56, disagrees.

"A lot of people know Barrow's voting record and they're not pleased with it," said Thomas. "They're saying, `Why is Obama getting involved in one of the local races?'"

Thomas said her total campaign donations leaped from about $7,000 to $21,000 after Obama endorsed Barrow, money she's spending on television ads.

Barrow has spent more than $858,000 on the primary and had more than $1 million left in the bank as of June 30. His TV ads started airing last month, including one focused on soaring gas prices and the slumping real estate market in which Barrow declares: "George Bush's economic policies have been a disaster."

The president aside, Barrow insists most voters in the district want a congressman who works with both parties.

"We're still a very polarized country and there are still very loud voices on both extremes," Barrow said. "It's very hard for those of us who are trying to get policy going down the middle again."

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