ATLANTA — Lisa Underwood is tired of seeing schools in her Worth County community suffer the brunt of Georgia’s economic woes. She’s voting for Roy Barnes for governor.

Roy Parker is concerned about business falling off at the convenience store he manages in Dublin and about crime increasing across Laurens County. He’s voting for Nathan Deal.

Two different voters, two different votes. One common theme: Both live below the so-called “gnat line” that separates metro Atlanta and North Georgia from Middle and South Georgia. That vast region that falls below a line roughly from Columbus to Macon to Augusta will play a huge role in choosing the next governor.

And already strategies are being deployed and stakes are being planted.

“I’m voting for Deal,” Parker said Tuesday, taking a break from bookkeeping at the store just off I-16. “Roy Barnes done had his shot, and I didn’t like him when he was in there.”

Even though Deal “carries some baggage,” Parker said, he’d rather vote for a Republican who hasn’t had the job before. This is a year when experience isn’t a positive for the 55-year-old Parker.

“I know my enemy and his name is ‘incumbent,’” Parker said, adding that Barnes, the former Democratic governor, qualifies to carry the label.

Further south, Underwood is spreading the word about Barnes and why he should get another shot.

“This election to me is just a pivotal point for education in Georgia because the cuts have been so devastating,” said Underwood, a teacher. “I’m not usually a one-issue person, but this time I am.”

Underwood said she believes Barnes is committed to helping school systems, especially rural ones, navigate the lingering recession, and that he’ll keep his promise not to furlough teachers.

Parker and Underwood are but two voices in a vast countryside. But to win, Deal and Barnes must gather those voices into the world’s largest chorus.

Both can each claim an advantage, but both have weaknesses, too.

Deal was born in Jenkins County and has family in Bulloch and Washington counties. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Mercer University in Macon.

But Deal spent nearly 18 years in Congress representing a North Georgia district, and until the final months of the Republican primary campaign he had little name recognition outside that region, polls showed. He was swamped across much of South and Middle Georgia in the July 20 primary by former state Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, and he finished in the middle of the pack in many of the most populous counties, including Appling, Bibb, Chatham, Houston and Lee.

In the head-to-head runoff Aug. 10 between Deal and former Secretary of State Karen Handel, Deal dominated the more rural interior counties while Handel carried many of the border counties that ring the southern half of the state.

As a former governor, Barnes has near universal name recognition, which means he doesn’t have to waste time introducing himself to voters. But voters in South Georgia were largely responsible for booting him from office in 2002.

A comparison of Barnes’ performance in South Georgia in 2002 with his winning year of 1998 shows voters gushing from his column to Sonny Perdue’s. In the 80 counties of Middle and South Georgia, Barnes dropped more than 37,000 votes from 1998 to 2002. Statewide, his vote total in 2002 was down by slightly more than 4,000 votes from 1998.

Both candidates, then, have reasons for optimism and concern. A potential wild card in the race is the Libertarian candidate, John Monds, who is from Cairo, in the southwest corner of the state.

“Nathan Deal as well as Roy Barnes are targeting this region and realize it’s going to be an important part of the election,” said James LaPlant, a political scientist at Valdosta State University in Lowndes County.

LaPlant has noticed that Barnes has been a frequent visitor to the region since easily winning the Democratic nomination in July. That attention, LaPlant believes, has given Barnes “a leg up.”

“Roy realizes he has to do well here to get back to the Governor’s Mansion,” LaPlant said. “When Roy lost to Sonny Perdue, he lost throughout all of South Georgia. The only area that Roy held on to was around Columbus, Albany, the very southwest corner of the state.”

Albany and Dougherty County appear ready to remain friendly to Barnes.

Shabreka Chappelle is a 25-year-old mother and college student. A Democrat, Chappelle said she’ll vote for Barnes.

“I like what he’s trying to do with schools,” Chappelle said. “I have a son in public school and cutting back on teachers was the worst thing we could have done.”

Chappelle, who was visiting her cousin’s barber and beauty salon in downtown Albany on Wednesday, said Barnes is “a no-nonsense kind of guy. I like that.”

Kim King, who drives a cab in Albany, expects a good race.

“I’m hard for Roy Barnes,” she said. “He’s always proven to be who he says he is.”

Chappelle’s cousin, Duke Johnson, is also backing Barnes but said his motivating factor is the economy.

While the 30-year-old said business “is picking up” at his salon a block from the Albany federal courthouse, more needs to be done.

“The economy is so bad,” he said. “You’ve got to be aggressive to survive.”

Moving east, the Barnes campaign signs give way to GOP banners. Signs for Deal and other statewide Republican candidates are grouped at rural crossroads and in small towns. In Waycross, the Rev. Gary Crawford was getting his hair cut across the street from the historic rail depot.

Crawford grudgingly predicts that he’ll vote for Deal.

“A lot of Americans are where I am. They don’t put a lot of stock in what any of them say,” Crawford said. “A lot of them are mad at the Democrats trying to turn themselves into dictators. At the same time the alternative is a Republican ... and we’ve already given them everything on a silver platter one time and they couldn’t run hard enough or fast enough to throw it away.”

On Tuesday at Sybil’s Restaurant, a popular stop in Jesup for Republican candidates, Sybil Lynn’s staff was serving friend chicken, savory sauteed cabbage, sugar peas, pork roast and, of course, macaroni and cheese.

Lynn, an influential voice in GOP politics, said much of the region had gone for Johnson in the primary, given his proximity to the area. But, she said, they’re ready to coalesce behind Deal.

“Nathan has some strong support here,” Lynn said. “People like his ideas.”

The economy is the dominant issue in the campaign, Lynn said. Wayne County’s housing market tanked, she said, and that hurt much of the rest of the economy. Timber is big business in the area, and when housing goes, so does timber.

Her own receipts are off 30 percent from last year, Lynn said.

Around the corner from the restaurant, Ben Bowen was dealing with phone problems at his clothing store.

The 29-year-old also mentioned the economy and taxes, but he said he wants a candidate with strong anti-abortion credentials who will tackle illegal immigration.

“I’m a Christian,” Bowen said, “and [abortion] is a big issue.”

While he hasn’t “looked heavily into Nathan Deal,” he said he’s inclined to vote for the Republican.

Both candidates acknowledge that Middle and South Georgia will be prime battlegrounds for the next three months.

Barnes has spent more than an average of two days a week in the region since winning the nomination. He’s spread his attention out, too, visiting Savannah, Tattnall County, Vidalia, Beaver Creek, Waynesboro, Dublin, Thomasville, Houston County, Donaldsonville, Bainbridge, Homerville and Enigma.

“Middle and South Georgia have been a part of our focus since Day One,” Barnes campaign manager Chris Carpenter said. “... We feel like a pivotal part of the electorate is in Middle and South Georgia, and that Roy’s message of making Georgia work appeals to those voters.”

Deal hasn’t spent as much time in the region as Barnes, but that will change, Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said. The Deal campaign understands how important the region is.

“You can no longer just carry metro Atlanta and waltz into the Governor’s Mansion,” Robinson said. “The entire state is now a battleground.”

Robinson disagrees, however, with Carpenter over where voters south of metro Atlanta will end up.

“We feel very confident about how we’re going to do down there,” he said. “They’re going to be open to Nathan Deal’s conservative, Republican message because it’s a conservative part of the state. They are a natural voting bloc for Nathan Deal.”