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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Reed’s latest mailer on Cagle
Reed stakes the first round of his fight against Cagle on property rights
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is kind of like “The Lake House,” that movie about two lovers spaced two years apart. Difficult to follow, but not ineffective.
Ralph Reed’s latest mail piece hit the streets on Wednesday, the day after his TV ads hammered Republican rival Casey Cagle on the same topic of eminent domain. The mail piece strikes less cleanly on the issue, mixing the events of 2003 with those of 2005.
“Casey Cagle….voted for a bill allowing big government to take private property and sell it to someone else to collect more tax money,” cries the flyer. A photo of a stately frame house, half-demolished by the claw of an automated shovel, serves as the primary illustration.
The year 2003 is not mentioned. That’s the first year of Republican rule of the state Senate, and the year that Cagle — and every other Republican in the chamber — voted for S.B. 273, a bill to provide for private funding of public projects such as roads, water treatment plants and other “public facilities.”
Cagle’s people have denied the bill would permit condemnation of land for economic development purposes. But this is a campaign in which subtleties do not matter.
The bill — Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah — passed the Senate, but failed in the then-Democratic House. Two years later, in 2005, elements of the bill were revived as S.B. 5, introduced just as the Kelo case was being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. With the same sponsors.
At the same time, H.B. 218 rose up, proposing more secrecy surrounding economic development. Not a good moment for Republicans.
Oh, the outrage. Talk radio went into high gear. H.B. 218 was shelved. S.B. 5 was pulled without a vote, and in its place came S.B. 86, a bill to reassure those worried about property rights.
The condemnations in the Reed flyer are all from 2005, not 2003. S.B. 5 “could dissolve the state of Georgia and build everything from mountain to seashore without asking taxpayers a single time for permission,” wrote the AJC’s Jim Wooten, quoted in the flyer. “Casey Cagle voted for it” screams the flyer.
Well, something like it, two years earlier. But Cagle didn’t vote for S.B. 5.
“The most outrageously repugnant piece of legislative claptrap since the Yazoo land fraud,” the flyer quotes the Bainbridge Post-Searchlight. Again from 2005, not 2003.
Oh, and the flyer also accuses Cagle of walking out on S.B. 86. He wasn’t there for the Senate vote. It wasn’t close, and bill sponsor Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) has said Cagle’s presence wasn’t crucial.
Nonetheless, the flyer closes with an endorsement of Reed by Mark and Regina Meeks, the Stockbridge couple with the florist shop, who served as the centerpiece for a new Republican eminent domain package this session.
Things are getting interesting.
A politician, a reporter, and a poll walk into a bar….
Strategic Vision's survey shows Taylor over Cox, Reed edging out Cagle.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Strategic Vision, David Johnson’s Atlanta-based agency, put out a statewide poll Wednesday aimed at the July 18 primary. Johnson’s is a Republican-oriented public relations firm. As usual, we can’t endorse the results. Our only comment: In some cases, the “undecideds” strike us as a tad low.
Here’s the original source.
According to Strategic Vision, the three-day poll is “based on telephone interviews with 800 likely voters in Georgia, aged 18+, and conducted June 23-25, 2006. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.”
Do you approve or disapprove or disapprove of Governor Sonny Perdue’s job overall performance?
Approve 57%
Disapprove 31%
Undecided 12%
Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Saxby Chambliss’ overall job performance?
Approve 50%
Disapprove 39%
Undecided 11%
Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Johnny Isakson’s overall job performance?
Approve 53%
Disapprove 32%
Undecided 15%
Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush’s overall job performance?
Approve 45%
Disapprove 46%
Undecided 9%
Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the economy?
Approve 43%
Disapprove 50%
Undecided 7%
Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq?
Approve 47%
Disapprove 47%
Undecided 6%
Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the war on terrorism?
Approve 49%
Disapprove 42%
Undecided 9%
Do you approve or disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the immigration issue?
Approve 40%
Disapprove 51%
Undecided 9%
Do you view President Bush as a conservative in the mode of Ronald Reagan? (Republicans only)
Yes 31%
No 54%
Undecided 15%
Do you think Georgia is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction?
Right 51%
Wrong 41%
Undecided 8%
Would you like to see the United States Supreme Court overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that makes abortions legal in the United States?
Yes 55%
No 35%
Undecided 10%
Do you expect another terrorist attack within the United States in the next six months?
Yes 74%
No 14%
Undecided 12%
Do you favor an immediate withdrawal United States military forces from Iraq, within the six months?
Yes 36%
No 54%
Undecided 10%
Do you favor granting amnesty to illegal immigrants currently in the United States?
Yes 7%
No 76%
Undecided 17%
Do you favor constructing a wall along the southern border of the United States to stop illegal immigration?
Yes 86%
No 6%
Undecided 8%
Do you favor a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriages?
Yes 64%
No 29%
Undecided 7%
Do you approve or disapprove of Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor’s job performance?
Approve 54%
Disapprove 34%
Undecided 12%
Do you approve or disapprove of Secretary of State Cathy Cox’s job performance?
Approve 52%
Disapprove 38%
Undecided 10%
If the Democratic primary for Governor were held today, for whom would you vote for, Secretary of State Cathy Cox or Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor? (Democrats only)
Mark Taylor 46%
Cathy Cox 42%
Undecided 12%
If the election for Governor were held today, for whom would you, Sonny Perdue, the Republican or Mark Taylor, the Democrat?
Sonny Perdue 50%
Mark Taylor 44%
Undecided 6%
If the election for Governor were held today, for whom would you vote, Sonny Perdue, the Republican or Cathy Cox, the Democrat?
Sonny Perdue 53%
Cathy Cox 40%
Undecided 7%
If the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor was held today, whom would you vote for Greg Hecht, Griffin Lotson, Jim Martin, Steen Miles, or Rufus Terrill? (Democrats only)
Jim Martin 29%
Greg Hecht 24%
Steen Miles 20%
Griffin Lotson 4%
Rufus Terrill 2% Undecided 21%
If the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor was held today, whom would you vote for Ralph Reed or Casey Cagle? (Republicans only)
Ralph Reed 44%
Casey Cagle 41%
Undecided 15%
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Ralph Reed, a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor? (Republicans only)
Favorable 38%
Unfavorable 47%
Undecided 15%
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Casey Cagle, a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor? (Republicans only)
Favorable 43%
Unfavorable 20%
Undecided 37%
Romney works the skeeter belt
Massachusetts governor kicks off a series of speeches by '08 hopefuls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been getting some Southern exposure lately.
Romney has put a staff on the ground in South Carolina for that state’s important ’08 presidential primary, he’s been profiled on the “700 Club,� and Thursday he’ll be the first in a series of ’08 presidential candidates to speak to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
Romney’s speech, at noon at the Commerce Club, is expected to focus on his state’s far-reaching new Medicaid reform program.
Romney finished second to Sen. Bill Frist in a straw poll at a gathering of Southern and Midwestern Republicans in Memphis earlier this year, fueling speculation he might have unexpected appeal in the region.
Amoebas, lizards and apes! Oh, my!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An absorbing NYT piece on a middle school biology teacher’s struggle to teach evolution in North Georgia can be found here.
