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May 2006
Tales of suburbia
Some parts of Sandy Springs just aren't ripe for invasion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ran into Joe Wilkinson today. He’s an Episcopalian who represents House District 52, which has a high concentration of Jews within its boundaries.
Last week, Wilkinson and others called for escorts to rally around members of Chabad Lubavitch, a Sandy Springs synagogue, as congregants walked to and from Friday night services.
They were reacting to reports of a man in a red pick-up truck who had attempted to run down members of another, nearby synagogue.
Wilkinson said about 40 members of the community showed up to walk members home after Shabbat services, and described the entire evening as an uplifting experience — including the sermon.
He also passed on this guaranteed true story of a youngish man assigned the task of seeing home one of Chabad Lubavitch’s older members.
“This fellow — he’s probably seventyish, with a long white beard,” Wilkinson said. “So they walked and they had a good talk for about a mile. And the old man says, ‘This is the street where I live.’”
The young guardian wanted to assure his elder that he’d never been in any danger. So he patted his pocket and declared that, all along, he’d been toting a .45-caliber pistol.
The old man touched his own pocket and said, “Too heavy for me. I’ve got a 9-mm.”
Wilkinson said the escort patrols will continue for another couple of weeks. Though it may not always be clear who is protecting whom.
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Words are words. Pictures are different.
Federal prosecutors in Washington show photo of Abramoff, Bob Ney — and Reed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five months ago, Ralph Reed dodged a bullet.
Reporters in Washington had become curious about Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s encounters with President Bush. Finding photos of the two together became a priority. Both sides understood the stakes. Words are merely words and can be disputed endlessly. Pictures have impact, and can be used — over and over again — especially in political campaigns.
There is a firm in D.C. that sends photographers to various social/political events to take the “grip-and-grins” that are later autographed and framed as evidence of one’s access. Its archives are available on-line.
As word of the hunt for a Bush-Abramoff photo spread, the firm expunged Abramoff from its archives. Fortunately for Reed, that included pictures documenting Abramoff’s attendance at the opening of a Washington office for Reed’s firm, Century Strategies, in 2003. (One of the snaps showed Dylan Glenn, the former Georgia congressional candidate, shaking hands with Abramoff.)
But Tuesday tossed Reed a bullet that couldn’t be dodged. As part of the Washington corruption trial of David Safavian, a former White House procurement official, federal prosecutors entered into evidence a photo of Safavian, Reed, Abramoff, U.S. Rep. Bob Ney and five others — including Abramoff’s son — standing outside the chartered Gulfstream jet that flew them to Scotland.
Here’s the photo, as presented by the Washington Post.
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Summertime, and the politics are…scary
Surely, someone’s hit your hot button today. Lord knows, they’re looking for it.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Even if the weather weren’t steamy, and even if we hadn’t had a long Memorial Day weekend, we would have known it was summertime when we saw a grainy black-and-white of Osama bin Laden in Brian Kemp’s latest ad.
He promises to keep your cucumbers safe from terrorists. And tomatoes, too.
Remember a week ago, when we were talking all those gauzy, feel-good ads? That was spring. So last season. It’s summer, at least on the political calendar, and just like that, the ads are focusing on those gut-level issues and dark fears that might actually get you out to the polls on a hot July day.
Take for instance, the case of the high-profile, female candidate who has been accused by her male rival of saying nice things about gay people. Of being found in their company. Of entertaining the notion that somewhere, somehow, there may be a small, protected niche in society for same-sex couples.
The female in question appears to retreat. Or at least is placed on the defensive.
Cathy Cox versus Mark Taylor, in the Democratic contest for governor?
Nope. Karen Handel versus Bill Stephens.
In the Republican race for secretary of state, Stephens has positioned himself as the champion of traditional marriage. He’s demanded that Handel, chairman of the Fulton County Commission, produce candidate questionnaires she filled out for in 2002 and 2003, while running for local office. Stephens wants to know whether she’s covering up statements she’s made on same-sex adoption or domestic partner benefits.
Let’s set aside, for the moment, the facts of the matter and take a longer look at the phenomenon.
In this month’s brief revival of the gay marriage debate, the two candidates most vulnerable on the issue happen to be the two top women on the Republican and Democratic tickets.
We pay you blog participants millions upon millions of dollars to participate in these discussions. So earn your money. Tell us why this is so.
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Linked by an orange box
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rudy Giuliani. Ralph Reed. And Bill Stephens. Name the common denominator — aside from their unanimous appetite for support from the Republican evangelical base.
The answer is Bernie Marcus, co-founder of the Home Depot.
Stephens is the latest to proclaim his alliance with the guy who’s made aprons once again an acceptable part of the male wardrobe. Bernie Marcus will be one of the primary names at a June 16 fund-raiser for Stephens at the Georgia Aquarium. Stephens is the first to use that venue for political purposes, we think.
The aquarium will cost his campaign an upfront $15,000. We assume he’s getting a deal on the price. But he should clear his overhead — the headliner is former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller. (In addition to Miller and Marcus, the roster of attendees includes three sitting GOP congressmen, six state senators, and three state representatives.)
Reed’s ties to Marcus have been long-standing. Giuliani’s ties are more subtle. Here’s how Newsday phrased it last week:
“The former mayor’s schlep down to Georgia … on behalf of the ex-Christian Coalition chief may have seemed odd, but the pair have shared friends in the upper echelons of Atlanta-based Home Depot. Reed’s fundraiser, a $1,000-a-table event featuring Giuliani, was co-chaired by Depot founder Bernie Marcus and chief executive Bob Nardelli, who pulled down $30 million last year.
“Giuliani, who rammed through zoning changes that allowed big box stores to open in New York, has long enjoyed the patronage of Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone…. The company further endeared itself to the mayor by contributing tools and construction materials to the city after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”
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Turner by marriage: The next generation
The daughter-in-law's first taste of the public arena creates an appetite for more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To the side of his buffalo-meat restaurant in downtown Atlanta, Ted Turner stares off toward the CNN Center that once was the heart of his kingdom.
He is captured in oil, overlooking a small lobby. It’s an eccentric portrait of an eclectic trail-blazer.
A seagull forms Turner’s famous Rhett Butler-style moustache. His right eye - he’s in profile - is an eagle in flight. The fingers on his right hand are a collection of llamas, wolves and dogs. His collar is a string of satellite dishes, his shirt a yacht with a blousy sail.
An American flag is in the background. Its blue field is obscured by a second banner, that of the United Nations.
But a painting is not a legacy. Of the many Captain Outrageous is likely to leave, one inhabits the third floor above. She is Angela Della Costanza Turner, his 37-year-old daughter-in-law.
She’s caught the political bug. A European strain. She ran for the Italian parliament this spring, but lost - as did her Forzia Italia party leader, incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Was the Iraq war to blame? “I think it had a little to do with that,” said Angela Turner, an architect by training.
Hers was an implusive, three-week campaign that took her across North and Central America. She came in third, with nearly 3,400 votes. “I was expecting 500 to 600 votes,” Angela Turner said.
She wants to run again, if Italy keeps its policy of allowing expatriates to be represented.
This conversation - a debriefing that touched on both politics and family - was the first step in her comeback. A publicist was in attendance, a woman normally associated with Republican conservative Herman Cain. Catch her old campaign web site here.
It’s hard to say where Angela Turner would fit into the American political landscape. “It’s not like Republican-Democrat. People tend to think in that way, but it’s slightly different,” she said. “I’m more like center-right, but Italian center-right.”
“Environmental capitalist” might be an appropriate pigeonhole for her. She doesn’t like restrictions in the workplace, but wants the next U.S. president - whether Republican or Democrat - to sign the Kyoto agreement.
She’s already seen “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Al Gore movie on global warming - in Gore’s company. The movie’s good, Angela Turner said. But clearly it’s a vehicle for a man who hasn’t given up his presidential ambitions. “I’m not making any comment, I’m just reporting,” she said.
Angela Turner is bright and articulate, even in English. To say she is attractive is to say that her father-in-law is slightly rich and mildly loquacious.
On this day, she was in a slenderizing black business suit, but with a peasant blouse cut low enough to display an architect’s deep appreciation for the cantilever.
It was a calculated presentation. She is no shrinking violet, this woman. “I’m very Turner-minded. I have a lot of similarities with my father-in-law. It’s scary. I think that’s why my husband married me,” the daughter-in-law said.
The husband is Rhett Turner, one of five of Ted’s offspring. The marriage took place seven years ago, and now there’s a Rhett Jr. in the picture.
Continued the wife, sounding very Ted-like: “I’m going to do it. I have vision. I’m trying to clean up my life and go after my goal. I’m headed straight to that point. I’m very determined. I don’t need stuff to make me lose time or energy.”
What’s it like being a child of CNN in a Fox News sea? “Sometimes it hurts, sometimes its good. No, that’s unfair,” she said, interrupting herself. More often than not, the Turner connection has helped.
Not that life in the Turner clan didn’t take some getting used to. “I’d made it myself, as a woman,” she said. “Then my identity completely disappeared. It took me a while to find my path again. It can be be difficult, because you’re not Angela Della Costanza. You’re Angela Turner, Ted Turner’s daughter-in-law.
“It’s a good thing to be a Turner. [But] sometimes, if you don’t have a strong personality, you can get lost,” said the former Angela Della Costanza. Who is not lost.
She’s wary of getting involved in U.S. politics. She’s not a citizen, though she’s eligible. For now, her eye remains on power in Rome.
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A gentile call for a synagogue watch
State lawmaker wants a mass escort for members after reports of harrassment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs) has sent out the following note, calling on local residents to gather Friday night to provide a protective gauntlet for members of a local synagogue on their way home from weekly services. The show of strength is a response to a Wednesday report in the AJC on another, nearby synagogue that has been the subject of harassment.
Here’s the note:
Please join me and City Coumcilman Tibby DeJulio on Friday evening, May 26, at 7:45 PM when we gather in the parking lot of Chabad Lubavitch, 5065 High Point Road, to escort home the members of this and other congregations in the area who will be completing services at 8:00 PM.
Let’s stand in unity with our Jewish neighbors and protect them as they walk back to their homes. The attached article from today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution has convinced many of us that the best thing we can do is show those who hate that when they attack one of us, they attack all of us. We will not tolerate anti-Semitism and bigotry. We will stand as one against prejudice.
We know this is a holiday weekend but please try to join us in protecting our friends. Ask as many of your neighbors as you can to help. Please share this email with your own schools and places of worship and at your workplace.
Thank you,
Rep. Joe Wilkinson
PS—Tibby suggests that you park on the side streets instead of the parking lot at 5065 High Point Road.
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Cable-driven clouds on the horizon
Mark down June 3 as the day you want to upgrade your reading list, or your Netflix queue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Enjoy the warm glow of your television tonight, and the next few evenings. The storm starts June 3.
That’s the day when the cost of political advertising on cable TV drops to its mandated-by-law, rock-bottom price in metro Atlanta and the rest of Georgia.
This is different from broadcast TV ads, which are likewise discounted during the season - but still expensive because of their reach. Only your wealthiest candidates can be found on the airwaves. Think statewide.
Because they can be targeted - subdivided into 45 different geographic niches - cable TV ads are affordable and ideal for any candidate, whether for sheriff, county commission or governor.
And if they can afford it, they’ll buy it. Which means you’ll have to watch it.
One sign that Republicans are in ascendancy: Candidates are telling us that time on Fox News, the favorite trolling spot for GOP primary voters, is going fast.
The queen of political TV ads in metro Atlanta confirms this. She is Dorothy Hiatt, who handles political TV ads for Comcast Spotlight.
“This is Republican territory, and in the Atlanta market Fox News has higher ratings than CNN,” Hiatt said. They’re limiting the time each campaign can buy - seven spots per network per day. So remember, it could be worse.
Hiatt sent us a handy-dandy calendar that lays out the TV seasons for political campaigns - primaries, runoffs and the general election. Note the second, general-election wave scheduled for Sept. 8
Hit ‘print’ and save:
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Mark “Broadband” Warner comes to Atlanta
Yet another visit from a potential Democratic presidential candidate, from the South.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Warner, the former governor of Virginia who is often dubbed “the Bill Clinton of 2008,” was in Atlanta on Wednesday for a round of chit-building and Rolodex exercises.
He was the main attraction at a fund-raiser for Democrats in the state Senate, spoke to a noon gathering at the Commerce Club, then headed for a tete-a-tete with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
We weren’t at any of those spots. But the lowdown on Warner is that he’s become a rallying point for centrist Democrats eager to avoid the nomination of Hillary Clinton for president in ‘08. Kind of like John Edwards, the former U.S. senator from North Carolina who was here last month, visiting many of the same people.
Warner is a self-funder, whose stump speech often focuses on the need for American communities to adapt to the global economy. Here’s a telling line from a recent New York Times magazine piece:
“In the 1800’s, if the railroad didn’t come through your small town, the town shriveled up and went away,” Warner said. “And if the broadband Internet doesn’t come through your town in the next few years, the same thing will happen.”
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The new newspapers: Now they talk!
Welcome to the experiment, and a sampling of the latest Reed-Cagle debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re trying something new at the AJC. Where possible, we’re going to offer you audio — and perhaps in some cases, video — of major events during this political season.
Here’s a first attempt, with some selected bites from Monday’s Cherokee County debate between Ralph Reed and Casey Cagle, the two Republican candidates for lieutenant governor.
Let us know what you think.
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They want to censure who?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A conservative group in California has launched a campaign to censure Jimmy Carter. To add insult to injury, it’s not really about the former president at all.
With the conservative base showing increasing signs of staying home this year, Republicans have made a lot of the possibility that if Democrats take over Congress this fall they will hold punitive investigations of the Bush administration, with censure or even impeachment in their wake.
Picking up on that thought, the group Move America Forward has just laid down $100,000 to air a 30-second spot calling for a sort of preemptive strike on Carter, who the ad accuses of cozying up with various enemies of the United States including Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.
“If Congress has an itchy finger to censure someone, they should start with former President Jimmy Carter,” the ad says. You can catch it at www.censurecarter.com.
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McCain, Reed listed as potential witnesses
Both could be called in Washington corruption trial, prosecutor says
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bloomberg wire service reported Monday that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ralph Reed, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, may be called as prosecution witnesses in the trial of David Safavian, a former White House official accused of concealing ties to disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
During jury selection, federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg listed McCain, who oversaw a Senate investigation into Abramoff’s activities, Reed, Abramoff and others as potential witnesses. Safavian, 38, oversaw federal procurement at the White House Office of Management and Budget until he resigned in September.
Bloomberg quoted U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman as saying that prosecutors are “not going to call all of those people.”
Safavian is charged with concealing Abramoff’s interest in government business when seeking permission to accept airfare for a Scotland golf trip from Abramoff in 2002. Safavian is also accused of obstructing inquiries into the matter. He has pleaded not guilty.
At Monday’s debate between the two GOP candidates for lieutenant governor in Canton, rival Casey Cagle pointedly asked Reed if he would be willing to testify in the Safavian trial. Also, Cagle asked, “would you plead the Fifth?”
Reed replied he would testify if asked, and that he would not take refuge in his right not to incriminate himself. Reed and U.S. Rep. Bob Ney were on the 2002 golf trip with Safavian. Reed has been accused of no wrongdoing. Ney has been named, indirectly, in the guilty pleas of Abramoff and his associates.
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Race and TV ads
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s often been said that the most segregated hour in the South falls between 11 a.m. and noon every Sunday.
But after seeing the new ads for Cathy Cox, the Democratic candidate for governor, and Casey Cagle, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, a new thought occurs:
The ads for each party look like their primaries. Republican ads may be the most segregated 30-seconds in the South, while Democratic ads, like their primaries, reflect the growing importance of African-American voters.
First, take a look at the Cagle ad released today. Here’s the link to the Cox ad.
Digest and discuss, please.
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Cagle says he’s got a lead over Reed
Consider the source, but the campaign poll says ideologues and evangelicals are tipping Cagle's way, too.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Spin this one whichever way you like.
The Casey Cagle campaign for lieutenant governor released a double-barrel today: A soft bio of the less-than-widely known candidate, and a poll that showed Cagle — for the first time — with a lead over GOP rival Ralph Reed.
The 30-second ad is no great shakes — a simple bio in which Cagle, a bit stiff in his first statewide TV appearance, lays out his up-by-the-bootstraps story. It’ll go out on statewide cable TV beginning Tuesday.
The poll was taken May 9 through 11, and consisted of 400 likely GOP primary voters. Margin of error is 4.9 percent. Cagle’s pollster, John McLaughlin, participated in a conference call with reporters on Monday morning.
According to the poll, Cagle leads Reed 27 to 21 percent. The lead holds, according to poll, even among voter subgroups thought to be part of Reed’s base. Evangelical Christians favored Cagle — just barely — 24 to Reed’s 23 percent. Ideological conservatives give Cagle the nod 26 to 24 percent.
Other interesting points:
Men are picking Cagle in greater portion than women, who generally are more judgmental when it comes to questions of ethics and character — which is the Cagle campaign’s bread-and-butter issue.
The Cagle campaign concedes that Reed is whuppin’ them in South Georgia. (Savannah in particular, so we hear.) But Cagle has a firm lead in North Georgia, which includes metro Atlanta and has a larger voting population.
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If it works, fine. If it doesn’t, even better
Democrats see a successful, no-lose conspiracy behind the fight over gay marriage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back before many of you were born, your parents were familiar with a catch phrase popular in the ‘60s: “Planned obsolescence.”
It applied particularly well to the cars we bought, many of which became non-rolling scrap heaps after their 30,000th mile.
Detroit, we were sure — it was the only place real automobiles sprang from — designed cars to fail after a certain period, to ensure our quick return to the dealership.
Many Democrats suspect the same thing of Georgia’s gay marriage fight.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance Russell last week overturned the results of the 2004 statewide referendum that inserted a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution. The judge declared, at bottom, that it was a case of false advertising.
On their touch-screen voting machines, voters were asked to vote yes or no on an amendment that defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman.
Voters didn’t see “Section B” of the amendment, which also outlawed civil unions for same-sex couples. One can support a ban on extending the sacrament of marriage to homosexuals, the judge said, without opposing civil unions — a position that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani endorsed when here a few days later.
The problematic wording was specifically pointed out when the proposed amendment was debated in the House.
Here’s a sampling of the warning from Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah), then chairman of the House Judiciary Committee:
“Section B….is either prepared by a lawyer who probably ought to be disbarred, because he couldn’t pass contract writing or drafting class in school, or it is designed to be unconstitutional….
“It will be thrown out and then some people will wail that those activist judges have overruled the will of the people, and now we’ve got to come back and try it again….
“It is a godsend to the Republican party because it will continue to stir things up, to make things, to make people angry at each other.”
Bordeaux, who retires from the Legislature this year, has earned an I-told-you-so.
And we may be headed back to the dealership, with an expanded vocabulary — and the knowledge that being right and winning the argument aren’t necessarily the same thing.
An off-year civil war to keep the blood up
2007 could see an internal challenge to Perdue's right to name the next GOP chairman
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republicans have yet to get through 2006, and already a big internal battle is brewing for 2007.
We ran into Sue Everhart of Marietta the other day. She’s running for chairman of the state GOP, to replace Alec Poitevint, whose term expires next year. No woman has ever served in the position.
For non-insiders, this means very little. For Georgia’s Republican elite, it could mean everything.
For decades, the grassroot activists of the state Republican party selected their own leader. Every two years, the party went through an often tough battle over who would be chairman.
Then Gov. Sonny Perdue was elected governor. And Republicans moved, with a wink and nod, toward the Democratic model. The state’s chief executive would select the party chairman. Poitevint, a close Perdue friend, replaced political strategist Ralph Reed in the office.
But habits are hard to break. And Republican grass-rooters still chafe at their loss of power, especially now that the chairman has authority over millions upon millions of dollars in campaign contributions.
A challenge to Poitevint was aborted — pun fully intended — last year. But Everhart is another matter.
She is perhaps the most well-connected activist in north metro Atlanta, and possibly in the state. A serious candidacy on her part, sans gubernatorial blessing, would amount to a direct challenge to Perdue. Assuming, of course, he’s re-elected.
This could create an interesting situation for other top Republicans as well. Everhart is Johnny Isakson’s No. 1 fan. And vice versa. What the U.S. senator will do could be fodder for any number of Saturday morning breakfasts of the GOP faithful.
A rebate for Reed contributors demanded
Blogger files ethics complaint against GOP candidate for lieutenant governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ethics complaints filed during election campaigns are always worthy of some skepticism, but for the record:
Republican political activist and blogger Bill Simon, the face behind politicalvine.com, has filed a multi-charged complaint with the State Ethics Commission against Ralph Reed, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
Among other things, the complaint accuses the Reed campaign of not reporting in-kind contributions from his grassroots lobbying firm, Century Strategies, and demands that Reed return $47,000 in contributions accepted for a primary run-off.
With qualifying over and only two Republican candidates in the race, a run-off is no longer a possibility.
Norwood, Graham to face off Sunday morning
Politics makes strange bedfellows, but immigration makes strange debates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It isn’t often that Republicans who live across the Savannah River from each other face off on an issue. But that will be the case Sunday morning, when Rep. Charlie Norwood of Augusta and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are scheduled to appear on NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert.
They’re going to talk about illegal immigration and border security, with Graham defending the Senate plan offer illegal immigrants a way to gain citizenship, and Norwood taking the more hardline House position.
Leftovers from the Ralph and Rudy luncheon
At a gathering aimed at '06 and '08, George W. Bush was a shadow of his former self
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The main piece on Ralph Reed’s Buckhead fund-raiser with former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani today can be found here. But we’ve saved some good tidbits for you.
The affair was nearly over before our colleague, Tom Crawford of capitolimpact.com, put his finger on something significant. George W. Bush, once an automatic applause line at any Republican gathering, was barely mentioned by name. We checked the recording, and Crawford was right.
Giuliani spoke of Reed’s “helping to elect several presidents.” Left unsaid was the fact that all of them were named Bush. “The president worked very, very hard for the tax cuts,” Giuliani said. His lips formed around the name “Bush” once, in passing.
Reed mentioned his White House connections not at all. When the occupant is hovering around 30 percent in the polls, the advantage is mostly gone.
Much of Giuliani’s speech was devoted to bucking up the Republican disheartened. “There’s a certain sense of unease among Republicans. We’ve got to lift our heads up and take a look around us — and realize that this country is pretty darn good shape,” Giuliani said.
“Of course we have problems. Economies always have problems. The price of gasoline has to be dealt with, in the short term and the long term,” the former mayor and prosecutor said. “We shouldn’t be going to the American people with our heads down. We should be going with our heads up. Our policies work.”
Another dog that didn’t bark was the list of attendees at the Reed event.
A number of notables turned out: Howard “Bo” Callaway, Guy Millner, and Georgia-Pacific Chairman Pete Correll. But most GOP elected officials stayed away. Among those introduced: State Sens. Cecil Staton of Macon, Ralph Hudgens of Comer, Mitch Seabaugh of Sharpsburg; state Rep. Melvin Everson of Snellville; and Sam Olens, chairman of the Cobb County Commission.
“You’ve got a primary. I think that’s very, very normal for that to happen,” said Millner, the former candidate for both governor and U.S. senator.
We asked Millner what he thought of comments made by Reed’s rival, Casey Cagle — who lays the blame for Millner’s 1998 defeat as governor on the horrid campaign of Republican Mitch Skandalakis for lieutenant governor. In which Reed played a significant role.
Millner said he doesn’t look backwards.
The Reed-Giuliani luncheon was preceded by a $1,000-per-ticket VIP reception. Reed supporter Dot Burns, a longtime GOP activist and confidante of the late Paul Coverdell, was one of the insiders.
“We talked about the war, mainly immigration, which seems to be on everyone’s mind these days,” Burns said. “I believe in making it easier for people to become citizens. Too many people depend on them in their businesses.”
That, we should point out, is probably not the official position of the Reed campaign.
On the key issues where Giuliani and Reed disagree — abortion, gun control, and gay rights — Burns said: “That didn’t come up. I think our issues now are above that. I think our issues now are with world peace, and those [other] issues need to be put on the back burners.”
And one more thing. The following was the Cagle campaign’s official response to the events of the day:
“Although we disagree with Rudy Giuliani on several issues — most notably his support for gay marriage and abortion — he was a great leader for New York, and we welcome him to Georgia. “We are glad to have him here, regardless of who he’s coming to support. We just hope being tied to Ralph Reed works out better for him than it has for Ralph’s other associates.”
Former legislator clearing his throat?
Prison transfer could be prelude to court appearance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Rep. Robin Williams, who’s serving a 10-year sentence on 17 fraud, theft, conspiracy and bribery charges involving the health care industry, has been transferred from a federal prison in South Carolina to a county jail north of Montgomery, Ala., the Augusta Chronicle reports.
The move is a bit of a mystery, but a federal prison official said Williams was moved under a writ to appear in federal court. Montgomery is where former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and two associates are on trial in a federal corruption case similar to the one that got Williams convicted.
The former Augusta legislator’s name hasn’t popped up on a federal witness list yet, but the move could be a signal he’s about to sing.
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We’re No. 49! We’re No. 49!
In D.C., we've got more clout than Arkansas, but not Puerto Rico. Thank God for Guam.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Whenever Washington doesn’t treat us fairly - a military base is closed, a peanut subsidy is dismissed - there is whining that Georgia lacks anyone with the clout of a Richard Russell, Sam Nunn or Newt Gingrich.
It’s been a subjective argument. Until now.
A Washington government relations firm, Knowlegis, this week announced that it had assigned numerical values to the influence wielded by each member of the House and Senate. Then it averaged the scores for the entire delegation.
The verdict? Georgia has less influence in Washington than any state except Arkansas. Even Puerto Rico swings more weight, on average.
The good news is that our phone calls will be returned before any placed by the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Guam - which were also included in the survey.
See for yourself here.
Knowlegis spokesman James Vaughn said individual rankings of members of Congress were based on their position, seniority, and on their ability to change the course of legislation - whether through maneuverings on the floor or in the media.
Here’s the member-by-member lowdown for Georgia:
The base is getting restless
It's not just immigration that has Republican foot-soldiers doubting Bush
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Much has been said about the growing rift between President Bush and his Republican base over the issue of immigration.
To see that the distrust encompasses much more, you need go no further than an “action alert” sent out this afternoon by Sadie Fields, chairman of the Georgia Christian Coalition.
The topic is gay marriage, and the decision by a Fulton County judge to overturn the results of the 2004 statewide referendum:
“This decision highlights the need to have the Marriage Protection Amendment passed by Congress. It is past time for President Bush to use the bully pulpit to promote its passage.
“While he has been relatively quiet on the issue of late, First Lady Laura Bush has not. In a recent appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Mrs. Bush said the debate over marriage ‘requires a lot of sensitivity,’ and ‘I don’t think it should be used as a campaign tool.’
“Mary Cheney, Vice President Cheney’s lesbian daughter, has been quoted as saying, ‘It is writing discrimination into the Constitution, and …it is fundamentally wrong.’ The Vice President has not refuted his daughter’s claims.
“President Bush has said he supports such an amendment, given the attempts of ‘activist judges’ to redefine marriage. ‘Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society,’ the president said two years ago. ‘Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all,’ he said.
“Now is the time for the President to show leadership and put his words into action by insisting our elected officials vote to protect marriage in this nation.”
The son of the rat arrives
Cagle's emphasis on Internet campaigning steps up with a wicked assault on Reed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Four years ago, Sonny Perdue launched his famous rat video, which portrayed incumbent Gov. Roy Barnes as a giant, bling-laden rodent looting the state Capitol.
It was revolutionary in both form and content. Democrats denounced it as an extraordinary breach of good manners. But the most radical facet of the ad was the venue.
It never appeared on television, then considered the only effective path into voters’ heads. The ad remained on Perdue’s campaign web site. Links were e-mailed from computer to computer in water-cooler fashion.
The storm of mouse clicks crashed Perdue’s web-site. Ridicule, it turned out, was a powerful weapon.
Meet the Son of Rat.
It’s a three-minute cartoon, entitled “Ralph’s Greatest Hits,” produced by Casey Cagle, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. The topic is his GOP rival, Ralph Reed, who is roughly handled for his association with convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The production values are relatively high. A faux Bill Clinton narrates. The South Park-ish humor is edgy. Like the rat video, it’s something you won’t see on TV.
The closing line:
“Order right now by sending your cash in large unmarked bills to the Ralph Reed Legal Defense Fund at the Faith and Family Alliance where a child molester will launder it to Americans for Tax Reform which will Fed Ex it to a Russian mobster named Igor just outside of Vladivostock who will leave it under a pot for a lifeguard on Virginia Beach who will wire it to Chow Min in Beijing who will funnel it to a defense contractor in Costa Rica who will slide it under the table to pay off the Enron legal defense team who will then invoice… “
If a tactical difference has developed between the Reed and Cagle campaigns, it’s the use of the Internet. Reed’s web site has remained relatively static.
Cagle has already developed four separate ones: His own, and three on Reed — including this latest.
Brad Alexander, the spokesman for Cagle, said he thinks Reed’s renown for his grass-roots ability may be out-dated, at least in the important category of the Internet.
“He’s using it at the level campaigns were doing two or three cycles ago,” Alexander said. It’s a statement the Reed campaign disputes.
Jared Thomas is the Reed campaign manager. He is not some dowdy old man who hoards eight-track tapes.
But he dismissed the Cagle emphasis on Internet campaigning as an amateurish mistake.
He said the Reed campaign knocked on 1,000 doors in 20 counties over the weekend. It is old-fashioned campaigning, Thomas said, that will win the July 18 primary.
Thomas said the Reed campaign won’t retaliate with its own Internet-based attack ad. “We’re not going to embarrass our supporters by wasting resources and time on things like this,” he said.
The peach fuzz keeps growing
Cox is rocking -- but fast enough to catch up with Taylor?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If all you were doing was watching the ads, the overwhelming impression of this year’s governor’s race so far would be just how darned pleasant it’s been. We’ve had a couple of weeks of cuddly babies from Gov. Sonny Perdue and Mark Taylor, and now we have Secretary of State Cathy Cox’s debut on the airwaves.
Think Atticus and Scout:
“I wouldn’t trade growing up in Bainbridge for anything in this world. All those nights right here on this porch, listening as my dad offered help and advice to anyone who stopped by, taught me what it really means to care for those around you,” Cox says, sitting in a rocking chair.
This is the early part of the campaign, when candidates emphasize their positive message, introducing themselves to the voters on an uplifting note before things get messy. But this year there seems to be just a little more peach fuzz around the positive message than usual. Could it be the subtle impact of a woman in the race?
No matter. We all know that as the campaign goes on, those babies are going to get wrinkles and the sepia tones of childhood will revert to the grainy black and white of adult transgressions.
Taylor claims “dramatically altered” race
Campaign-produced poll has Taylor over Cox by 21 points
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And what do the campaigns want to get with all that feel-good positivity? The kind of numbers Democratic pollster Alan Secret reports in a polling memo for his client, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.
Headlined “A Whole New Ball Game,” the memo claims the dynamics of the Democratic primary race have been “dramatically altered,” and Taylor leads Secretary of State Cathy Cox by 51-30 percent. That’s a bigger lead than the number of undecided voters in this poll – 18 percent.
According to Secrest, Taylor had a 76 percent favorable rating in this poll of 808 likely Democratic primary voters, and a job performance approval of 70 percent.
Chris Riggal, Cox’s campaign manager, said the numbers “don’t reflect what we see,” but declined to get into “dueling poll numbers.” We will, though. A Greenberg-Quinlan poll done for Cox back in February had nearly the opposite result, with Cox leading Taylor, 56-36 percent.
Here comes the part where we always say: This is a candidate’s poll. The polling memo only comes with the big round numbers, and none of the cross-tabular details. So consider the messenger.
If there has been a swing in Taylor’s direction, however, a few weeks of unchallenged airtime probably has something to do with it. This poll was in the field last Monday through Wednesday, so it probably didn’t even measure the full effect of Taylor’s latest baby-blast.
Can Cathy rock her way back in contention? Stay tuned.
Reed has Rudy Giuliani, and Cagle has Steve Forbes
Once and future presidential candidates choose sides in a little bitty ol' lieutenant governor's race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With former NYC mayor Rudy Giulliani in town for his fund-raiser, the week’s strongest political headlines are likely to belong to Ralph Reed.
But before the hoopla could start, Casey Cagle — the other Republican in the race — had a bit of news, too. He’s landed Steve Forbes, the former presidential candidate, for a June 8, $1,000-per-head fund-raiser.
Hosts will include the CEO’s of BellSouth and Georgia Power.
This race keeps getting more and more interesting, doesn’t it?
A “thou shalt” for our times
"Let's...use him to line up our drives," Reed joked
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The new 11th Commandment of politics: Thou shalt watch what thou doest on the internet, and mind what thou sayest in thine email.
This election year has provided enough examples of the worthiness of that directive to make Charlton Heston ask for another tablet. But no digital correspondence has generated as much journalism as the high-fiving banter between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed, before he was a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
The latest comes from Time Magazine, which this week uses a previously unpublished exchange as the hook for a story about golf and the excesses of Washington lobbyists.
“It’s now becoming physically painful,” Reed writes Abramoff of his association with another lobbyist, Jeff Balabon.
“Hey, let’s bring Jeff to Scotland and hit balls into him,”Abramoff answers, referring to one of junkets which has since come under scrutiny as the probe of Congressional influence-peddling continues.
“Let’s hang him upside down from a crane over the 18th at the Old Course and use him to line up our drives,” Reed responds.
Lisa Baron, Reed’s spokesperson, told the magazine Ballabon and Reed are friends, and the emails were “just friendly kidding.”
That may well be the case. But the 11th Commandment still looks like good advice.
When corrections get… twisted
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall has spent this year putting as much distance as possible between himself and House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Not surprisingly, when the Evans/Novak Political Report said this week that Marshall “is tempting fate with his announcement that he favors investigations of the Bush administration,” Marshall’s office was quick to demand a retraction.
“Jim’s position on this is very clear. We don’t want to have these investigations now. It’s not good for the country,” said Douglas Moore, Marshall’s press secretary.
Moore said the Evans/Novak staff was quick to issue the correction, which said its report was “based on a misleading characterization of a column … that is being circulated by his opponents.”
The column turned out to be one by Marshall which appeared in the AJC and the Macon Telegraph. Its purpose was actually to explain why he voted against the Pelosi motion, but part of the column was interpreted as saying Marshall agreed with Pelosi in principle. You can decide by reading it here.
Notice of the correction was promptly sent out under a campaign letterhead – but here’s a twist. It was sent by the campaign of Marshall’s opponent, Republican Mac Collins, with part of the correction in boldface: “Marshall had written that even though in principle he supported congressional investigations into the Administration over the Iraq War, they should be deferred for now because they ‘would have the inevitable effect of eroding public support’ for the war’s prosecution.”
Bill Hagan, Collins’s communications director, said the release was “a courtesy thing,” because there had been a Collins release about the original Evans/Novak item.
Hagan said the Collins campaign wasn’t the source of what the correction called “a misleading characterization.” And he said there was no intent at getting a second bounce out of the story by sending the correction.
“It didn’t even have a first bounce,” Hagan said.
Sonny did not, Roy says
Barnes takes issue with new Perdue ad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s new ad, which touts the governor’s response to the budget shortfall in the first year of his term, has drawn a sharp response from his predecessor, former Gov. Roy Barnes.
In effect that means the arrival of the two-party system spells the end of the old custom Barnes refers to in his statement, and we are likely at the outset of an era when present and past governors don’t avoid arguing with each other. There are enough government accounting subtleties involved to make it worth quoting the whole release:
“I understand the protocol of previous governors not criticizing a sitting governor and I have tried to adhere to that, but recent TV ads that imply my administration left a $640 million deficit for the current administration are simply inaccurate and untrue.
“For FY 2002, which ended on June 30, 2002, there was a $700 million reserve. During the late summer and fall of 2002, we continued to restrict spending anticipating slowing revenues.
“After I was defeated, I had my staff meet with members of the new administration and I met with the governor elect. I informed him we had a planned program to go to a managed care system in Medicaid. My staff and I warned the new administration that if they did not implement this new reimbursement system and continue revenue maximization, there would be a severe shortfall in the next fiscal year from Medicaid.
“I offered to sign an Executive Order implementing cost saving changes to the program and to accept any political backlash that would come with those changes if the new administration would agree not to criticize the action. The new administration informed us that they wished to study the matter for a year and, therefore, took no affirmative action early in 2003. Even with this inaction, at the end of fiscal year 2003 – which was June 30, 2003, some six months after I left office – there was still $200 million in the reserve fund. Therefore, to imply that my administration left the current administration with a $600 million shortfall or deficit exceeds the bounds of political puffery.
“I am not a candidate and I do not want to become intertwined in the current campaign, but I will not sit idly by and allow the hard working men and women of my administration to be maligned.”
The new Brave New World
Blogger sees the political future in cellphones and MySpace
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before he zipped off to a booksigning session at Manuel’s, we sat down with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Democratic crown prince of the blogosphere and scourge of the “incumbent consultant class,” for a while Monday afternoon. We were looking for insights into what new technological wrinkles may affect the next presidential election, and Kos, as he’s known to readers of www.dailykos.com, had some fascinating things to say.
Blogs, he says, are passe. They are so 2004. The big new things that will impact the next presidential election, he believes, are cellphones – Sonny Perdue’s ahead of the curve — and the rise of “social networking communities,” like MySpace.
The usefulness of phones for organizing groups through text-messaging was shown in the recent immigration demonstrations, he noted. And by 2008, video by phone will be much more common, he believes. Oh, and the new TIVOs are going to have the ability to select RSS video feeds, so you can download your political programing at home straight off the web.
Exactly how politicians will manage to intrude themselves into those web social networks — which currently are used mostly by high school and college students — Kos isn’t exactly sure. But the campaign probably are already hard at work figuring out how to do it.
Kos also talks about how even he feels overtaken by the gallop of technology — “I have no doubt that I’ll be obsolete in a couple of years.” And he names Mark Warner as the most internet-savvy of the 2008 contenders. You can hear exerpts from the interview here.Audio
Attack of the drooling babies
Taylor sees Perdue's dimpled fat guy, and raises him four or five diapers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Any remaining doubt that women are the key to the race for governor this year was erased on Tuesday, when Mark Taylor threw up another TV ad.
Sonny Perdue put one dimpled baby on the screen. Taylor responded with an army of rugrats. Enough to bring the “aww’s” out of any female voter.
Oh, yeah. The topic. It’s health care. See it here
Calling all Kossites
Democratic blogger holds court at Manuel's tonight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re a little late in announcing this, but Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, whose blog, DailyKos.com, is a daily touchstone for liberal Democrats, will be at Manuel’s this evening. Kos, as he is known on the web, is on a tour to promote “Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots and the Rise of People-Powered Politics,” a book he co-authored with Jerome Armstrong. There will be a discussion, book-signing and question period, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by two groups, Georgia for Democracy and Drinking Liberally, a name even some conservatives could love.
Linder: Let’s take our cue from the Mexicans
If coyotes smuggle Mexicans into the U.S., do peyotes smuggle Americans into Mexico?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s not the corruption, stupid. It’s immigration and energy.
In Washington, Democrats spent the weekend on television, gleefully anticipating that day next year that they re-take control of the U.S. House.
To get there, they’ve been hammering away at the tale of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and “the culture of corruption.”
But U.S. Rep. John Linder, who represents metro Atlanta’s exurban north, says Republican salvation doesn’t depend on donning a hairshirt and kneeling at the altar of lobbying reform.
Real people, he said, have bigger fish to fry. “I don’t get any questions on that,” said Linder, the dean of Georgia’s Republican delegation.
The U.S. Justice Department has the Abramoff situation well in hand, Linder said. Those who need a stretch in jail will get it.
More threatening to voters, and thus Republicans in control of Congress, is illegal immigration and energy. Of the pair, immigration is the No. 1 “anger” issue, Linder said.
A deadly intra-party rift has developed over immigration between President Bush and his GOP base — reflected in the division between the House and Senate. (Johnny Isakson has distanced himself from the Bush-Senate position with his secure-the-border-first legislation, as has Saxby Chambliss.)
Republicans in the House oppose “amnesty,” which they interpret as any guest worker program — as proposed in the Senate — that would put illegal immigrants already here on a fast track to legality, whether citizenship or not.
The difference between the two chambers is about to become more stark — raising doubts about the likelihood that any compromise can be struck this election year.
On Tuesday, Linder and a few of his House colleagues intend to make this pitch:
”I’ve introduced a bill that mimics, just totally mirrors Mexico’s immigration policy,” Linder said. “If you were to slip over the [Mexican] border and get caught, you’d be in jail the next day. You’d be a felon. And you’d have to buy your way out of jail to America.
“I would love to see who votes against that. I would love to see what [Mexican president] Vincente Fox would say about it,” Linder said.
American babies born in Mexico, he pointed out, aren’t automatically Mexican citizens.
On the gasoline front, Linder seems to be guessing that people know Congress can’t control day-to-day prices. Instead, they want assurances that someone is thinking a few decades ahead. Please, let somebody be doing something.
Discount coupons on gas, whether $100 or $500, aren’t enough. Not for a topic that represents the sum of all American fears — the economy, jobs, inflation and warfare in the Mideast.
“On energy, we do an Manhattan project-type thing, which would move us into coal, oil shale and gasification,” Linder said. “We are to coal what Saudi Arabia is to oil. We have a 500-year supply of energy, at a buck-and-a-half to $2 per gallon.”
The question is whether the current climate in Washington allows for thinking that big, that fast.
Now, please excuse us while we step out for a bit, to check on real estate prices in West Virginia.
Not even a little peek?
Wannabes for governor opened up their reports to the IRS. But GOP candidates for the No. 2 job say no to the idea
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The three major candidates for governor — Cathy Cox, Mark Taylor, and Sonny Perdue — have all allowed journalists to inspect their latest federal income tax filings.
So on Friday we asked the same question to the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor, Casey Cagle and Ralph Reed. Both are millionaires. Cagle is worth $1.7 million. Reed is worth $4.5 million.
Would they be willing to follow their governor’s example and tell us what they told the Internal Revenue Service?
Short answer: No and No. Long answer: Cagle said, I will if he will — but that it has to include both corporate and personal records. Reed said, state personal financial disclosures are enough.
Do these fellows owe us more information about their financial positions? Or should we wait until either one (or both) runs for governor?
Before you answer, let us give you an example. The financial disclosure form each handed in this week asks statewide candidates to state their annual net income.
For 2005, Cagle said his was $137,087. Reed says his was $125,044. Are they fibbing? Probably not. Are these the same figures they offered the IRS that year? Again, probably not.
When Sonny rings, and rings, and rings
Perdue campaign introduces ring tones. Expect more pointed shout-outs to follow.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Politicians in search of votes have a problem with working people.
If you’re pulling the plug on an oil pan, you’re not thinking of their TV ads.
If you’re swapping out the fragrant diaper on your baby’s behind, there may be some similarities — but the topic of politics doesn’t come directly to mind.
Gov. Sonny Perdue is out to change that. On his web site, he’s offered up his own campaign ring tone. “Sonny did, Sonny did, Sonny did, Sonny did,” an African-American woman cries, against a gospel-Brazilian beat robbed from his TV ad.
So the Republican governor can spring up in your head any time, anywhere.
Ring tones on cell phones are a new venue for political speech. Thus far, they’ve had limited success. Fox News offers the theme music from its most conservative programming, for $2.49 per download. To ward off liberals.
But exhaustive research undertaken this afternoon, between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., indicates that the political future for ring tones may be in subversion. Whether from the right or left.
Eric Gundersen, a 26-year-old Web page designer in Washington, made a stir last fall when he created a ring tone with President Bush’s voice, saying, “Heckuva job, Brownie.”
He fashioned another from a series of newscasts announcing the resignation of Tom Delay as House majority leader.
To work, Gundersen said, ring tones have to be short and catchy, three to four seconds long. But they must also carry a sudden mountain of meaning — like an inside joke.
People are willing to listen. They have no choice. “You’re co-opting one of the greatest annoyances in public spaces,” Gundersen said.
He picked up the tactic from a political campaigner in the Philippines, where the opposition party last year created a ring tone from a snippet of taped conversation, in which the country’s president spoke of rigging an election.
Technology rather than technique may be the one thing that keeps ring tones from becoming the next place you hear your candidate’s name.
Gundersen said cell phone networks in the U.S. often restrict what ring tones can be used on phones, or what sites they can be downloaded from.
So enjoy your “Sonny did” ring tone. But remember that there are times when the message will not do.
Be kind to your governor, and turn your cell phone off when you go to the movies. Or appear before grand juries.
It’s never too early for checks
Warner makes a fundraising foray into Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner seems to be gaining early ground among the Democrats Who Write Checks hereabouts.
Kirk Dornbush, a major fundraiser for Sen. John Edwards in 2004 and Vice President Al Gore in 2000, is hosting a fundraiser for Warner’s PAC, Forward Together, at his home later this month. The general reception is $1,000 a head, and the host reception is a “give five or raise 10” – thousand, that is – event.
The host committee includes others who were with Edwards four years ago, including former House Speaker Terry Coleman and attorney Steve Leeds, as well as Kristen Oblander, who was no small shakes raising money for Sen. John Kerry last time.
It’s early, early, early, and some of the names on this host list may well show up on another candidate’s as time goes on. But Dornbush is sold. He likes Warner’s Southern appeal and entrepreneurial background, and says his campaign is growing at a scale “logarithmically different than anything I’ve seen.”
Warner’s not the only Democratic prospect getting to know Georgia, however. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will be in Atlanta on state business Friday, we hear, and will be paying some calls while he’s in town. And Sen. Evan Bayh’s college roommate, attorney Tom Herman, has been putting together a local organization for the Indiana hopeful.
Taylor hires press secretary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Speaking of Warner, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor has hired his former deputy communications director, Chrissy Noonan, to be press secretary for his campaign.
Noonan worked as communications director and congressional director for the state Democratic Party in 2002.
For Cain, the knife delayed
While the Republican figure gets an education in the American medical system.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just an update on Herman Cain’s situation. You know he’s been diagnosed with colon cancer, and was down at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston this week to see what’s what.
The word from Cain’s staff is that surgery has been delayed until mid-July, while the former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate undergoes two months of chemotherapy here in Atlanta. After his date with the knife, back in Houston, Cain will then be treated to four more months of chemo.
Cain sends word that his prognosis remains excellent. He still plans to keep most of his May calendar, including a May 24 rally in Gwinnett County with U.S. Rep. John Linder and radio talk show host Neal Boortz.
“He’s so grateful for the thousands of e-mails, cards and phone calls he’s gotten,” said chief of staff Ericka Pertierra.
Diversity has its limits
Wyatt, once a state GOP official, declares himself a Democrat in DeKalb County race for Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What with all the success that Republicans have been having in Georgia, when the topic of party switching comes up, one assumes that the current flows only one way.
Not so. One of the figures routinely showcased as proof of GOP commitment to diversity has qualified as a Democrat in the District 55 Senate primary against incumbent Gloria Butler.
Jerry Wyatt, 54, an African-American, is an insurance broker who ran a close third in the 2002 Republican primary for secretary of state. In 2003, he was elected as a vice chairman of the state GOP. And in 2004, he ran against Butler for the state Senate — but as a Republican, he collared only 24 percent of the vote.
Said Wyatt, via e-mail: “Things are changing within the GOP. My concern has always been to provide what I believe is political leadership within the community in which I live.”
Big news: Guess what Zell did this time!
In Perdue's first ad of the season, Miller tells the Republican's life story
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue launched a $2 million ad campaign across Georgia on Monday, to match a series of kick-off rallies across the state.
But the big news is who’s narrating the 30-second spot: Former governor and U.S. senator Zell Miller, the alleged Democrat who still owns the most distinctive voice in Southern politics.
The same Zell under whom Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor served as floor leader in the state Senate. The same Zell who can give Perdue all the cover he needs when it comes to Democratic accusation that the Republican governor is soft on the lottery and the HOPE scholarship.
The content is pure biography, beginning with a “dimpled,” nude baby photo. There are no references to issues, but sophisiticated visuals and an interesting soundtrack — gospel mixed with a Brazilian carnival drum groove.
Big implications, people. Watch it here and tell us what you think. There are two versions, one 60-seconds long and the other 30 seconds. Both are running on TV, we’re told.
