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DEL.ICIO.USThis year, country’s cool
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former U.S. Rep. Mac Collins said something a few weeks ago that comes back to mind this last weekend trying to think of every unmentioned thing that might affect Tuesday results.
With the lieutenant governor’s race headed for a photo finish, Collins wondered whether turnout in rural counties might be affected by the Republican agriculture commissioner’s race. You can be sure this is the first time anybody’s ever conjectured about that. Tommy Irvin is the longest-serving Democrat in the state, holding the ag commissioner’s post since 1969.
But this year’s primary, in which Dee Strickland, the party’s candidate four years ago, has been joined by former Georgia Agribusiness Council President Gary Black, Cumming businessman Bob Greer and former state Sen. Brian Kemp, has been a very active affair.
Not just in the country, either. Black and Kemp have done a lot of politicking at Republican events around suburban Atlanta. Randy Lewis, who edits the Georgia Political Digest.com site, was shocked recently when responses to an online poll on the ag commissioner’s race soared past the website’s previous high.
Does an uptick in rural turnout help Cagle or Reed – or is it a wash? More on those unmentioned factors to come.
Comments
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By Bowersville
July 15, 2006 10:03 PM | Link to this
Yes, country has become cool. Reed has been spotted driving a red pick-up truck and at a recent event in Cobb County was observed wearing “unscuffed cowboy boots and a star-studded belt buckle…” Now thats country isn’t it?
By Tony
July 15, 2006 11:15 PM | Link to this
Unscuffed boots…just out of the box. Star studded belt buckle. Urban cowboy?
Must be nice for the German car driving, gated country club living DC lobbyist to somehow think he’s country. I’d love to see him operate a tractor. Or a hunting rifle for that matter. Since he ‘grew up’ in Miami, he’s probably more prone to holding a Glock sideways and ‘putting a cap in someone’.
By Savannah Thinker
July 16, 2006 12:45 AM | Link to this
The man locks the BMW in the garage, leases a truck and we’re supposed to believe it?
I feel like people who vote for REED should be given a sign — YES I AM STUPID.
By Manny
July 16, 2006 4:25 AM | Link to this
EXPLOSIVE, JUST-RELEASED EXPOSE BY GQ ON RALPHIE BABY
“THE SINS OF RALPH REED�
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_4608
[Excerpt:]
“When Reed announced his candidacy, [Maurice] Atkinson signed up for his steering committee. Of course he would support Reed, the man who’d shepherded conservative Christians into the political process.
Then the stories started trickling out. Abramoff, sure. But also Enron. And Channel One, another company the Christian Right generally despises but for which Reed lobbied. And the South Carolina primary in 2000. The stories kept coming until Atkinson thought: Man, this guy’s got no core.
“I call them political pimps,� he says. “They want to develop their market base and manipulate the system. You got Al Sharpton. You got Jesse Jackson. You got Ralph Reed. And the cause isn’t for the cause. It’s for themselves.�
Atkinson is stumping for Senator Cagle now. He’s like Cagle’s own avenging angel, a former Reed acolyte who is devastating in his critique. As a political prop, he’s brilliant.
Yet Atkinson is also sincere. He’s a heavyset man of 44, and at times he appears to slump when he talks about Reed, about what he thought then and what he knows now. Was it all a con? All the Christian Nation preaching, all the calls to the righteous?
“Yes,� Atkinson says. “I believe it was.�
Reed could have worked for anyone he wanted to, could have lent his considerable talents to any number of Christian organizations, real ones, too, the kind that existed before Reed needed some preachers to front for his corporate clients. But Enron? Indian casinos? “He’s either an awfully cheap w*******,� Atkinson says, “or he’s diabolical.�
And here’s the part he doesn’t understand. “If you really believe…� He stops, takes a breath. “You don’t want to question people’s faith,� he says again, “but you almost have to. Because if you really believe that you know what’s wrong and what’s right, why would you decide—decide—to do the wrong thing?�
By Franklin
July 16, 2006 10:34 AM | Link to this
Gary Black has South of Macon locked up. His signs are in farms and yards from Albany to Savannah. From what I have seen to my visits to Atlanta, Black has a good amount of support there as well. It will be interesting to see how many rurals folks ask for the blue ballot on Tuesday.
By Billy C
July 16, 2006 1:51 PM | Link to this
I live between Albany and Savannah and I see alot of Brian Kemp signs and support.Nothing is locked up? They both good men.
By Andrew C.
July 16, 2006 2:53 PM | Link to this
The rural vote will likely help Casey Cagle. Too many Georgians are turned off by Reed’s blatant hypocrisy, he sold out!
Casey Cagle has served in the senate for more than a decade, he is a conservative leader. Casey is principled and trustworthy.
(http://www.dontgambleonralph.com)
By Philly
July 17, 2006 10:13 AM | Link to this
http://www.reedfacts.com
By Philly
July 17, 2006 10:15 AM | Link to this
Reed made his money in private business. Cagle made his fortune while supposedly serving the public as a State Senator. Cagle went from renting tuxedos to bank president in four short years without banking experience and college degree.
By Tony
July 17, 2006 10:37 AM | Link to this
Philly,
Last time I checked ken Lay, Bob Nardelli, and others have rolled in the money in a short amount of time while either tanking or dropping their companies’ status.
I never knew college degrees were a requirement to become successful. Are we saying anyone without a college degree that makes money in a short period of time is shady? You rule out and slander thousands of people in this country for that logic.
GReed made millions in the same amount of time off of Christians while giving nothing in return. During that period he ripped money for education, roads, and healthcare for an Indian tribe, ensured Communist Chinese sweapshop operators could import cheap labor for their sweatshops and keep them as slaves and prostitutes. While they were told they could return to China with Bible in hand, they were forced into sex (rape by law) and forced into labor conditions illegal here in the states. I’m not a big fan of Ralph’s brand of Christianity that takes millions from clients including Christians and does nothing in return to guarantee the Gospel spreads. Where were those Bibles in the Marianas? Did Ralph pass them out while the slaves boarded the boats back to China? Did Ralph contribute a million or even a thousand to education? Those he ‘saved’ from gambling were back to the reservation standards of old.
Chinese and Indians’ lifestyles were sent to the gutter while rich millionaire gated country club Ralph raked in the money. All in the name of Jesus. Amen.
By debbie
July 17, 2006 3:19 PM | Link to this
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — (MARKET WIRE) — July 17, 2006 — Georgia Right to Life PAC disavows the claim made in the recent Casey Cagle for Lt. Governor campaign radio ad. The ad states that, ” Georgia Right to Life endorsed Casey Cagle because they know he won’t sell out Georgia’s values.”
“Unfortunately this statement goes beyond the criteria that we have established for our endorsement and implies that we agree. This is not the case,” says Daniel Becker, PAC Director for GRTL. “We endorsed both Casey Cagle and Ralph Reed because of their strong and proven commitment to the sanctity of life and feel that either candidate would be an effective voice for our issue.”