Handel takes aim squarely at Oxendine at GOP convention

SAVANNAH — Republican gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel came out swinging Friday at the state GOP convention with a blistering video that calls one opponent a lumbering beast.

“Bring it on!” Handel, the current secretary of state, said from the podium as her video finished playing on two massive screens flanking the stage.

Each of the six gubernatorial candidates spoke to several hundred delegates and activists. But while most of the others offered biographical background or hit political hot spots, Handel announced her presence with authority, taking aim at Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine.

“It weighs tons. Is loud. Moves not with grace, but with a lumbering gait. It is the Ox,” the video’s narrator intones in a Southern accent as images of the animal fill the screen.

After some background on Handel, the video went back on the attack, referring to Ox as the “same furry creature who tried and failed before.”

When Oxendine took the stage a few moments later, he offered a short rebuttal before delivering the speech he planned to give.

“First of all, I don’t know what I’m supposed to bring on,” he said, waving a copy of his own campaign literature. “As far as I’m concerned, conservative values for Georgia, that’s what we need to bring on.”

Later, Oxendine strategist Jeff Breedlove called Handel “unhinged.”

But Oxendine took heat, too, from another opponent, state Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton), who said the party cannot accept a nominee who takes “unethical, illegal campaign contributions,” and the GOP must have candidates “whose actions do not bring into question the integrity of the brand.”

Oxendine recently said he would return $120,000 in contributions from a series of Alabama-based political action committees after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution raised questions about the money’s provenance.

Scott confirmed later he was referring to Oxendine.

The other three candidates for governor — U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), state Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) and states rights activist Ray McBerry — made their presence known in various ways. Deal proclaimed himself “the real deal” and vowed to tackle the state’s transportation woes.

Johnson found himself on his home turf and told the crowd the 2010 election is about trust.

“Who do you trust with our principles?” he said. “Who do you trust to do the right thing when no one is looking? Who do you trust to make the tough calls?”

McBerry, meanwhile, said there’s “too much Washington in Atlanta and too much Atlanta in the rest of the state.” He said he’d be an advocate for Georgia’s sovereignty and liberty.

All the candidates were out in force, with volunteers staffing tables, huge banners in the convention hall and hospitality suites everywhere. And it wasn’t just the gubernatorial hopefuls. Candidates for all statewide offices were plentiful, making it difficult to remember the primaries are more than a year away.

One man who had been running for governor is not here. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who dropped out of the top race to seek re-election after having spinal surgery, is represented by his wife, Nita, while he continues to recuperate at home in Gainesville.

Nita Cagle said her husband’s decision was a difficult one.

“It goes against his competitive spirit,” she said. “I’m very proud of the decision he made. He did something with his actions that others only do with their words. He put his family first.”

At their core, conventions are required through party rules so the party’s leadership — chairman, vice chairman, etc. — can be elected. (That will happen Saturday.) But their essence is about the next campaign, always the next campaign.

And across the speeches, common themes emerged. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) drew as much criticism as President Barack Obama.

Friday was about those who need real votes in 2010. And there are a lot of them — six Republicans are running for governor and just as many want to be insurance commissioner.

Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens, who is running uncontested — so far — for the GOP nomination for attorney general, told the crowd the convention was “a great opportunity for the Republican Party and, yes, a great opportunity for me.”

The attorney general, Olens said, “is the safeguard for your liberties and rights.”