MARIETTA - West Cobbers opted for change by electing small business owner Lindsey Tippins over state Sen. John Wiles (R-Kennesaw). But east Cobbers were content to keep state Sen. Judson Hill over challenger Lynda Coker in Tuesday's Republican Primary.

In west Cobb, Tippins won 11,752 votes, or 60.22 percent, to Wiles' 7,762 votes, or 39.78 percent, with all 52 precincts reporting.

In east Cobb, Hill won 10,012 votes, or 61.76 percent of the vote, compared to Coker's 6,199 votes or 38.24 percent, with all 34 precincts reporting.

Ever since he entered the race, politicos saw Tippins, a well-known, three-term Cobb school board member and savvy businessman, as a serious threat to Wiles.

While Wiles rolled out endorsements from the likes of Newt Gingrich and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss - and even had Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle at his election party Tuesday night - they clearly didn't have the kind of hometown draw that Tippins received from such local heavyweights as former Cobb Sheriff Bill Hutson and popular Sheriff Neil Warren.

Tippins, 61, owns Tippins Contracting, an underground utility business specializing in water and sewer lines, that he started in 1969.

He and his wife, Ann, have two children, three grandchildren and a fourth on the way.

Tippins ran on a platform of his extensive business experience with the slogan "down to earth, down to business."

"I believe we need more business people in the Legislature," Tippins said as he watched the returns come in at his campaign celebration headquarters held at the Whitlock Grill. "I really am concerned about the state of our nation and the state of our state and the direction that we've gone in some areas, and I really would like to have some input into it."

"I'm just very humbled by the level of support. This is really a grassroots campaign. Obviously running against an incumbent, they had a great deal of built-in support. All of our support came from inside the county, and I'll be forever grateful to each and every one of them."

Among those in attendance at Tippins' party was longtime educator and former school board member Dr. Teresa Plenge, who summed up her thoughts on Wiles in the candid fashion she is famous for.

"There are no positive things for Cobb County coming from John Wiles," Plenge said. "He was a party to the eight years of austerity cuts, and has brought us to the crisis in educational funding where we are now, and he has been a party against public schools and tearing down public schools in any way that he possibly can."

Wiles, 52, was elected to the Senate in 2004. He is an attorney specializing in commercial real estate litigation, and he and his wife, Janel, have five children.

Wiles' campaign had people holding signs on street corners and near polling places on Tuesday, and the Journal heard a few complaints of Wiles' supporters harassing voters at some polls. But late in the evening, a man at Wiles' home turned away the Journal's photographer and videographer.

And although Wiles blamed his defeat on the anti-incumbency factor in the air, he and state Rep. Don Wix (D-Mableton), whose southwest Cobb district has seen dramatic demographics changes in recent years, were the only two members of Cobb's delegation defeated Tuesday night.

While Wiles raked in $144,000 in donations to his campaign, much of it coming from special-interest political action committees and the campaign funds of fellow senators, he also had several things going against him.

For one, Robert D. Ingram, former president of the State Bar Association, recently wrote to members of the bar's Board of Governors, asking them to help defeat Wiles. Ingram wrote that Wiles "has made the State Bar of Georgia and the judiciary his No. 1 enemy," in part by pushing legislation that would make membership voluntary for lawyers, according to the Fulton Daily Report. Wiles disputed the allegations.

Wiles also drew a flood of criticism for his role in a police bust of an underage drinking party in his exclusive Marietta Country Club neighborhood. According to the police report about the situation at the home of municipal judge Diane Busch, a lawyer in Wiles' firm, Wiles told police he was a state senator and told one of the officers that a citation could jeopardize a baseball scholarship for one of the teenagers.

When asked if that incident hurt him in the election, Wiles declined to comment.

And Wiles also received some degree of backlash from the kind of donors who contributed to his campaign. Wiles collected more than $144,000 - two and a half times the amount Tippins raised - according to his June 30 disclosure.

Although Senate District 37 represents only one-fourth of Cobb County, Wiles' war chest exceeds that of another Republican, Tim Lee, who campaigned countywide to be Cobb's next chairman. Wiles' June 30 disclosure report shows he cashed big-money checks from Lockheed Martin-Marietta; payday loan

lenders; and political action committees representing bankers, health care entities, insurance agents, oilmen, Realtors and home builders, among others.

And some of his biggest donations came from campaign funds of fellow GOP state senators, including Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) $2,400 and Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) $2,400.

Wiles said his defeat is not the end of the world.

"This is my service, this is my public service, this is my passion, this is not beat," he said. "My family and my children is what matters to me. It's not that I am a senator as I am a dad, I am a father, I'm a husband. I've lost before. (I'll) move on do the next thing of public service."

The Hill/Coker race

Over in east Cobb, state Sen. Judson Hill was elated to win the Republican primary over challenger Lynda Coker.

Hill said he visited almost every neighborhood in his district to listen to voters, with more than 150 people writing support letters for him.

"This type of positive grassroots campaign focusing on issues important to voters is what people want in those who serve them," Hill said. "Conservative principles and truth prevailed, and that's what I intend to take back to the Georgia Senate."

First elected to the Senate in 2004, Hill, 50, an attorney, and his wife, Shelley, have three children.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and other Senate leaders stripped Hill of his role as chairman of the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee during this year's legislative session for failing to vote in favor of a bill that imposes a tax increase on hospitals' net revenues.

"My opposition to increasing taxes on my constituents and standing firm when punished by the leadership proved to many that I'm not in the Senate to be a chairman or for personal gain," Hill said. "My record is one of a proven conservative leader who delivers for my constituents, represents their values, is trustworthy and who keeps his promises."

As the returns came in Tuesday night, Coker acknowledged, "It's not looking real promising."

"But one thing I do know is we worked very hard. We took our message to the voters. We were out-manned and out-spent. The voters have indicated their desire, and I really wish Sen. Hill the best as he continues to serve the 32nd district," Coker said.

Voters also seemed unfazed by the complaints filed against Hill with the State Ethics Commission regarding his campaign expenditures.

The candidates' June 30 campaign disclosure reports show Hill took in $53,600 in donations in the three-month reporting period, with many donations from doctors and health care political action committees. He has $130,000 in cash on hand, and previously lent himself $28,723.

Coker reported contributions totaling $24,724, and cash on hand of $51,969.

Coker, 63, is chief deputy in the Cobb Sheriff's Office and has been on unpaid leave of absence since June 1. She could be back in uniform as early as today, she said. She and her husband, Gene Coker, have two children and three grandchildren.