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September 2006
Zell’s crystal ball
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Gov. Zell Miller spoke Thursday at the University of Mobile in Alabama. He ripped into the media, Hugo Chavez and America’s underclass, as you can read here in the Mobile Press-Register.
What caught our eye, however, was Miller’s prediction that both parties will field African-American candidates for vice president in 2008. That would be Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Sen. Barack Obama, if you were wondering.
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The chairman mingles
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean made a quick trip to Atlanta Thursday to speak at a private reception at the National Black MBA Association convention – so quick, we only found out about it about an hour before Dean spoke.
He was making a point of being there, Dean said, to send the message that the party isn’t taking African-Americans like them for granted.
He wasn’t worried about African-Americans who were “65 to 70 years old, go to church every Sunday and don’t believe in same-sex marriage,” Dean said, because those voters have a long, deep connection to the Democratic Party. Instead, he said he was concerned about holding younger African-American professionals who want to know what the party has done for them lately.
“You have the right to ask for more than a pass,” Dean said, and promised his party would deliver more in terms of assistance to small business, health care and education.
Asked about the fall elections, Dean said that if they were held tomorrow, Democrats would regain control of both the House and Senate and pick up four or five governorships. But he said he expects “an enormous amount of negative campaigning” from Republicans.
“I’m optimistic, but we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us,” he said.
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You might call them flaggers with ears. Or feathers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was the ambush that didn’t happen.
Democratic pranksters dressed as non-copyrighted versions of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy planned to disrupt the National Rifle Association’s press conference Thursday at the state Capitol, but were discovered beforehand and booted by Capitol police.
The NRA was endorsing Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue’s re-election bid. Democrats want the spotlight on what they say was his sweetheart deal on property near Walt Disney World in Orlando. Perdue bought the property from a developer who has contributed to his campaigns and who was appointed to a state board by the governor.
The guerilla theater didn’t come off as planned, so the pranksters took their antics outside where state Democratic Party spokesman Emil Runge — not in costume — taunted the governor.
“Apparently, he’s scared of Mickey,” Runge said.
It’s clear that Perdue can expect more appearances from the Disney trio before the Nov. 7 election.
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Nothing like goring a few sacred cows to start a conversation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re a new anti-tax, budget watchdog group, the best way to announce your presence is to mention the cultural icons that you think could stand trimming.
The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust for one. The Georgia Civil War Commission for another.
The scene was the interior of the state Capitol on Thursday afternoon. The topic was the establishment of the Georgia chapter of Americans for Prosperity.
The players all had connections to Ralph Reed, the former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. Tim Phillips, the national president, served as the long-time, loyal right arm at Reed’s public affairs firm, Century Strategies.
Jared Thomas, the AFP’s new director in Georgia, was Reed’s campaign manager. And Virginia Galloway (who insists she is no relation to either of the above writers) was Reed’s grassroots organizer in his campaign. She’ll do the same for this new group.
The group intends to offer budgetary insight to the Republican-controlled state Capitol — in particular, some concise thoughts on a mid-year surplus estimated at somewhere between $700 million and $1.3 billion.
“The question is what you do with that money. With us it’s black and white. You either spend the money or give it back,” Thomas said. “We want to open up a dialogue about how our state is spending money. What are our priorities?”
Which brings us to the 20-year-old Georgia Holocaust Commission, with its three staff members and $278,412 annual budget. “With all due respect to the tragedy that was the Holocaust, I just don’t know if Georgia should be in the business of employing people full-time to devote to that,” Thomas said.
The civil war commission? Thomas noted that the group gets $30,000 a year from the state, then raises $2 million from private sources. “Why do you need the $30,000 from the state if you’re able to raise $2 million privately?” Thomas asked.
Those two examples aside, the Georgia chapter of Americans for Prosperity was all about diplomacy. “We’re not here to throw bombs, we’re not here to attack people,” Thomas said.
That statement had a lot of history behind it. In 2003, newly sworn-in Gov. Sonny Perdue proposed a series of tax hikes — reduced in the end to an increase in the state tobacco tax — to cope with a budget shortfall and a sinking economy.
Another, similarly named group, Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform, backed by Grover Norquist, raised holy hell over the increase. Especially since many Republican legislators — though not Perdue — had signed the organization’s pledge never to raise taxes.
The lawmakers ended up in a crossfire between the governor and Norquist. Those same GOP lawmakers were also more than a little miffed when, a year or so later, they learned that the anti-tax group was underwritten in large part by Phillip Morris, the tobacco concern.
We asked Thomas if Americans for Prosperity intended to ask state lawmakers to sign any pledges.
Not this year, he said.
One last thought on those remarks about the Georgia Holocaust Commission. We doubt they’d be endorsed by Reed, who’s very tight with Bernie Marcus, the founder of Home Depot, and several pro-Israel groups.
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In South Carolina, the names don’t change
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We have to admit that when we saw an announcement that Carroll Campbell and Strom Thurmond have agreed to be the South Carolina co-chairs for Sen. John McCain’s PAC, Straight Talk America, we thought it was another one of those South Carolina longevity jokes.
Upon closer inspection, we saw it was Strom Thurmond Jr. and Carroll Campbell III, the sons of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond and former Gov. Carroll Campbell, who have thrown their support to McCain.
The names still count for something in South Carolina, although Mike Campbell, another son of the former governor, lost a primary runoff challenge to Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. Even though Bauer was the incumbent, that was a big upset — Campbell led him by eight points in the primary.
Wonder which Republican Bauer will be backing?
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The Chiefs of Staff report: Perdue in good shape, but not “safe”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Around the state Capitol, McKenna, Long & Aldridge has been known as the legal and governmental affairs firm with a foot on both sides of every fight.
Two of their associates are Keith Mason, once chief of staff to Democratic Gov. Zell Miller, and Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. They’ve put together a national analysis of 36 races for governor this November, noting that Democrats are positioned to claim control of a majority of gubernatorial mansions.
And in Georgia? They list the Perdue-Taylor race as “leans Republican,” but not “safe Republican.”
Read the entire Mason-Tanenblatt report here, but keep in mind that they’ve underestimated the strength of Kinky Friedman’s campaign in Texas. Outrage over his friend Willie Nelson’s arrest on pot charges is sure to give Kinky a boost.
In the meantime, here’s what the pair say about Georgia:
“Gov. Sonny Perdue continues to have a significant lead over Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, and enjoys a large fund-raising advantage. Though Taylor is a proven and veteran campaigner, his campaign has not closed the gap since the July primary. Perdue’s win in 2002 was the biggest upset the country among governors. It will take a similar effort by Taylor to prevail in 2006.”
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Signs that you have a 20-point lead in the polls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wendy Saltzman, a reporter for WGCL-TV in Atlanta, has been nagging Gov. Sonny Perdue to comment on cuts made to PeachCare, a state-funded children’s health network, during his administration.
She asked again this afternoon, at a press conference on biofuels.
The governor suggested that Saltzman, no rookie, look for other work in a smaller market.
Sayeth Sonny: “Wendy, we’ve addressed that with you. And I think probably from the way you’ve approached this subject, you might want to think about some other markets – like Chattanooga and Columbia and Tallahassee and those kind of things. But we’ve sent you those answers and we’re on record as having answered those before.”
After a one-question sabbatical, Saltzman tried again.
Said Perdue: “Wendy, I’ve answered your question. I’m sorry, dear. You know, if you can’t get answers, you might want think about another market.”
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National Christian Coalition leader to Sadie Fields: You’ll be replaced
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One day after the Christian Coalition of Georgia announced it would go its own way, the president of the national organization on Tuesday said she’d establish a new state chapter with a new leader.
Sadie Fields, the well-connected chairman of the Georgia group, said the split with the 17-year-old Christian Coalition of America was due to the national organization’s liberal “drift.”
Three other states chapters — Alabama, Iowa and Ohio — have also left the once-powerful group founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson and organizer Ralph Reed.
“I wish Sadie well in her future endeavors,” said Roberta Combs, president of the national Christian Coalition. But Combs said her organization would quickly select a new Georgia leader to create a replacement chapter — though she did not say when that would occur.
“The Christian Coalition — or any group — is not about individuals. Maybe we can work together in the future,” Combs said.
Like the leaders of other state chapters, Fields said she was concerned by the changing direction of national organization — which had recently become involved in such issues as global warming, an increase in the minimum wage, and control of the Internet.
Combs agreed that the Coalition had begun broadening its agenda. “Family values reach beyond abortion and gay marriage,” she said.
But Combs said another reason for the breach with state chapters was the national organization’s settlement last year of a lengthy dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over the group’s tax-exempt status.
Under the agreement, the national Christian Coalition — accused of having Republican leanings — agreed to allow candidates to write up to 25 words explaining their positions in the coalition’s influential voter guides, which are sent to churches the Sunday before election.
State chapters were told their voter guides would also be subject to the new guidelines, and would have to be approved by the national coalition.
Fields denied that the oversight played any role in the split.
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Perdue goes straight for your heart — or a bypass, maybe.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tony Kimbrell, proprietor of the Hiram Hickory House, has long understood the connection between politics and barbecue.
He just dropped off a sample of his latest effort on behalf of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s re-election bid: 200,000 bags of pork skins with Perdue’s name on them, and the logo, “Take the pork out of politics.”
We’ve misunderstood the man from Bonaire too long. All these quality-of-life increases the governor’s been gabbing about — we thought he meant jobs, education scores, and such.
Turns out the topic was cholesterol.
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Martin raises concerns over rival’s donors; Cagle “deeply disappointed.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A fund-raiser for Casey Cagle, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, has prompted a small dust-up with Democratic nominee Jim Martin — conducted via open letters. A frank diplomatic exchange, one might say.
The event features” high-ranking officials from companies including BellSouth, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and The Home Depot,” says Brandon Larrabee, who recorded the tiff for Morris News Service. Read the entire article here.
“It’s a ‘Ball for Sprawl and Special Favors,’” said Will Martin, a spokesman for the Jim Martin campaign.
Cagle responded: “The clear intent of your attack is to argue that I - and the civic leaders who support our campaign - are engaged in a quid pro quo transaction where legislative actions are traded for campaign contributions. As you know, such behavior would be both unethical and illegal, and the fact that you would stoop so low as to make such an allegation is deeply disappointing.”
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City fever may be spreading to Vinings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sandy Springs, what hath thou wrought?
A notice has gone out to Cobb County residents in a certain geographic sector, inviting them to a meeting to discuss a City of Vinings, sponsored by the Vinings Homeowners Association. The date is Monday, Oct. 16.
One immediate problem comes to mind, should this section of southeast Cobb become citified. If the upscale name of Vinings in fact becomes a kind of trademarked commodity, half of Smyrna will have to call itself something else.
Here’s the entire notice from VHA president Ron Sifen:
Subject: Should Vinings investigate becoming a city?
COMMUNITY MEETING MONDAY OCT. 16 AT THE COCHISE CLUB
Hello Vinings. At the annual meeting in April 2006, a Vinings citizen asked whether Vinings should consider becoming a city. This topic was not on the agenda, so after a brief discussion, we moved on to other issues. However, a vote was taken to gauge preliminary interest. Only about a quarter of those present voted against to the idea.
As a result, the VHA Board put together a Committee to study the concept of a City of Vinings. The Committee, and subsequently the whole VHA Board, initiated an in-depth study.
The VHA Board concluded that there were substantive reasons to investigate becoming a city. Ultimately, we asked, in the long run, is Vinings better served by putting itself in a position to make its own decisions on key issues that will impact the future of Vinings?
This will be an initial discussion of the concept of Vinings becoming a city. We will not make a final decision on cityhood at this meeting. There will be a vote to determine whether Vinings wants to request a non-binding “Viability Study”. We will discuss issues that are crucially important to Vinings.
We will have a community meeting on Monday October 16 at 7:00 at the Cochise Club. Please plan to attend this very important meeting.
I will get additional information out to you in the next week or so.
Please let me know your questions or comments.
Thanks
Ron Sifen President, Vinings Homeowners Association
Says Taylor: I’ve got the money, and the time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Savannah — One day after Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue breezed through to address economic development specialists gathering here, his Democratic challenger did the same.
Perdue spoke of his victories in education, then rushed out. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor — the final speaker of the convention — spoke of Perdue’s cuts to education, and of his own plan to offer health insurance to every child in Georgia. Then the crowd rushed out, eager to hit the links.
But unlike the governor, Taylor tarried with reporters to speak on a number of topics:
On polls showing him well behind Perdue:
“Very similar to those polls that had me down to Secretary [Cathy] Cox by over 20 points. The only poll that matters is the one that’s going to be taken on Nov. 7.
“A lot of those polls have been taken before we’ve had an opportunity to have our television ad campaign up and running. Very soon we’ll have had enough of those commercials to run that we’ll be impacting those numbers.
“We know that the people of Georgia will look at both candidates. They are going to know their candidates for governor.
“Right now about 97 percent know Governor Perdue. He is the incumbent. Only about 80 percent know their lieutenant governor.”
And will you have the money to get your message out?
“As the challenger, we will not raise $15, $20 million as will the incumbent. We don’t need to raise that amount of money. This is a short race.
“There’s only so much television, radio, direct mail that you can do in a short race. We will finance this race very effectively, not raising nearly enough money as the incumbent governor, but enough to win the campaign.”
And reports that your primary campaign ended up $20,000 in debt?
“That’s $20,000 out of a $6.5 million campaign. We’ll be making our disclosure on Sept. 30. And we’re very proud of the fund-raising we’ve done for the general election campaign.”
So the debt is nothing to worry about?
“No, no, no, no. Not a problem at all. There’s no one in need of having their invoices paid. We certainly have the resources to run our campaign.”
While Gov. Sonny Perdue supports adult stem cell research, he’s silent when it comes to the pursuit of cures through embryonic stem cells. Taylor on Friday interpreted that as opposition.
“I think clearly that has a lot to do with the decision of Pfizer and Novartis not to chose Georgia for their new, very important biomedical science plants that could have come to Georgia, bringing hundreds of jobs paying in excess of $50,000 [a year]. I think our governor’s policy absolutely being opposed to stem cell research hurt our state there.”
And on the governor’s statement that Georgia’s graduation rate has increased?
“Those numbers don’t correlate with independent studies of Georgia’s graduation rate. The Manhattan Institute’s nationally recognized review of high school graduation rates shows Georgia’s high school graduation rate at 54 percent, last in the nation.”
Stem cells, and where the passion lies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Savannah — Possibly you read the piece about the statewide poll on embryonic stem cell research.
The sponsor of the poll, Georgia Biomedical Partnership, is in the midst of a full-court press to fend off any effort by state lawmakers next year to restrict scientific inquiries at research universities and elsewhere.
Which is why the group brought a raft of stem cell specialists — experts in business, science and ethics — to speak to the Georgia Economic Development Association on Thursday morning. Early Thursday morning.
For most, it was a chance to relive their heavy-lidded experience with Biology 101.
The scientists were tentative, as was the crowd — which was overwhelmingly white and conservative, perhaps numbering 300. A spokesman for GEDA made clear that the topic under discussion was controversial, and that the organization would take no position in the fight.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this stem cell poll is that it captures an underlying dynamic of this confrontation between science and some — though not all — theologies.
In American politics over the last 20 years, you’d be hard put to find a case where religious conservatives didn’t dominate every arena they entered. This time, the passion — measured by those who express strong sentiments — is on the other side.
Thursday provided a perfect example.
The last speaker for the stem cell session took the stage slowly, about 9 a.m. He was Ron Grabb, a leader of the Georgia chapter of the Parkinson’s Action Network.
He has the same disease as Michael J. Fox, the actor, but is not as pretty. Grabb, 59, was a Cobb County school teacher who had to quit when his students couldn’t read what he wrote on the blackboard. He was diagnosed five years ago.
Parkinson’s is a neural degenerative disease. Its victims often shake uncontrollably. Other times, the muscles seize up. Silent gaps appear in their speech.
Grabb wore a blue blazer, rumpled khaki pants, and tennis shoes with Velcro fasteners. A stranger had knotted his tie. Grabb is a quiet man. Imagine a steady, matter-of-fact voice, with many pauses while its owner struggles for control.
Here’s a verbatim excerpt of his remarks:
“I have trouble sleeping. Most Parkinson people have trouble sleeping. I got to bed at 10 o ‘clock after a brief work-out — walking down the stairs from where we ate last night.
“I woke up at midnight. I’ve been up since midnight. My body is such that it aches all over. My toes cramp on me. Every time I try to lay down, they wake me up, and I have to get up and move.
“It got to be about 4 o’clock, and I went down to get a newspaper. I made it about halfway down the hall, and at this point was frozen. What was I to do? I had my cell phone with me, but I didn’t want to call anybody.
“So I leaned up against the wall, waited about five minutes. It came back. And I was able to walk to the elevator and get my newspaper.
“And then I get here, and I get where everything’s going smooth. And I see I’m starting to get nervous. When I get nervous, I start shaking. So I decide I’ll use a lapel microphone, so I don’t bother this microphone [on the podium].
“As soon as I’m introduced, my hand starts shaking, so I can’t turn it on. That’s what we have to live with, these kind of things.
“But the best thing is we’ve got vision, we’ve got hope. And we don’t want anybody to deny that hope, that there’s going to be a cure for Parkinson’s.
“The other day I was watching TV, and one of the political ads came on. It was Sonny Perdue’s wife speaking. And she said, “Well, I’ll put that on my Sonny-Do list.” I don’t know, maybe you’ve seen that commercial.
“But what I’d like to do is make a Sonny-Do list, and ask him for a bold new look in the future for the biotech industry in Georgia, and to get behind the people that really need the help. The ones that have been here, the ones that have been living.”
Grabb brought the crowd to its feet, the only speaker to do so.
Gov. avoids pressing issue: Which tag design?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Savannah - Gov. Sonny Perdue had just finished telling the Georgia Economic Development Association what a fine job he’d done bring jobs and business to Georgia.
Four reporters waited in a side room for a few questions. Only one of us had a TV camera, so she got to ask the only question. Never mind what it was.
Of course, this meant no one could ask Perdue the most pressing question today in Georgia politics. Of the dozens of license plate designs on ajc.com, which one does he like?
Years ago, Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes hauled down the ’56 state flag with its Confederate battle emblem. A blue one, which many though looked like a Denny’s place mat, was hauled up.
In the aftermath, Bobby Kahn, chief of staff for Barnes, who became a one-term governor, was asked how the issue reached such a furor.
The Confederate issue aside, Kahn replied, flag design is easily grasped. People understand what looks good and what doesn’t.
And because people can have an opinion, they do. Many, many different ones. The same thing goes for license tags.
Take a look at the submissions. We like the one that features both Ray Charles and the Confederate generals on the side of Stone Mountain. It didn’t make the final 10 selected by a group of ajc.com editors for you to vote on.
Perhaps history will repeat itself and they will find their tenure short too.
What do you think of the final 10? And what caused you to vote for the one you picked? [
The scoop on schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A consortium of about 20 education groups, representing everything from school boards to PTAs, has put together a questionaire with answers from the candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and superintendent of education.
It’s a handy one-stop for those interested education issues. You can read it here.
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Networking, anyone?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The guy in the foreground is working on a story about how the parties are racing to embrace the new internet world of social networking.
Have any of our readers registered either on MyGOP, the Republican networking site, or Party Builder, the Democrats’ site which went up this month? If so, and you’d like to talk about your experience, write or call Tom Baxter (info to your left).
Another gator on the way?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After a long career in Florida politics in which he has held more than one statewide position, Tom Gallagher took a hard bounce in his Republican primary gubernatorial showdown with Attorney General Charlie Crist earlier this month.
Now the 62-year-old Gallagher is looking for a business opportunity, and he told the St. Petersburg Times this week that it might not be in Florida.
New York or Washington are out, said Gallagher, who is finishing his term as the state’s chief financial officer. His wife, he said, has suggested Atlanta.
Says Martin: New poll has him not in the lead, but a contender
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first step in conducting a genuine political campaign is showing people with fat wallets that you have a legitimate shot.
Jim Martin, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, does that today with an Alan Secrest-generated poll that shows him within reach of Republican rival Casey Cagle.
The bottom line: Cagle 38 percent; Martin 34 percent; Libertarian nominee Allen Buckley at 5 percent; and 23 percent undecided. The pertinent stats: 806 polled, 3.5 percent margin of error.
While it’s unusual for a campaign to release a poll that doesn’t have the candidate in the lead, the message from Martin’s side is pretty clear. The Atlanta lawyer and veteran of the Legislature, who served a year as head of the state Department of Human Resources in the Republican administration of Sonny Perdue, has a substantive base as the general election campaign begins.
Martin’s campaign also thinks it’s worth noting that among voters who recognized both candidates, the Democrat leads Cagle 44 percent to 39 percent. The poll puts Martin’s unfavorablity rating at 11 percent, and Cagle’s at 14 percent — which would seem to indicate that Cagle wasn’t much damaged by his harsh treatment of Republican icon Ralph Reed in the primary.
The poll raises the larger question of Martin’s role in the general election campaign. Other than getting himself elected.
We put that to several people at Saturday’s annual Democratic convention, held this year in College Park, and came away with two answers. First, Martin is probably the best tool available for bringing Cathy Cox supporters back into the fold. They shared many of the same core activists.
Secondly, Martin — who hasn’t yet missed the chance to reveal that he’s served as an elder in his Presbyterian church — may become the guy who tries to peel off a layer or so of the evangelical vote that has shifted to the Republican party. In his kick-off speech on Saturday, this was Martin’s money quote:
“No Republican is going to take the values of faith patriotism and family away from me.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d used that line, and it won’t be the last.
Says new blogger on block: Cox won’t make ‘08 run
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Speaking of Cathy Cox. She says she won’t run against U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in ’08. This according to Atlanta magazine columnist and two-time ex-Journal-Constitution colleague Doug Monroe.
Click here to look at his new political blog.
An evening with Ann… and Lynn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ann Coulter’s dinner speech to the Georgia Christian Coalition Saturday night was one of the year’s hot tickets for conservatives – even before an after-dinner appeal to open up checkbooks to pay for this year’s voter guide, the coalition had raised over $150,000 from the event, according to state chairman Sadie Fields.
No doubt the sharp-tongued conservative author was the star of the show, as evidenced by the long line that formed for a book-signing afterwards. But on a night with no hecklers to egg her on, she wasn’t the newsiest item on the program.
First, Coulter found herself in the uncharacteristic position of being upstaged by her introducer, Mike Gallagher.
He told the audience he was fresh back from an hour-and-45-minute session which President Bush held in the Oval Office Friday afternoon with him and four other conservative talk show hosts: Atlanta’s Neal Boortz, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Michael Medved. Rush Limbaugh couldn’t make it, he said.
Though he said this session was supposed to be off the record, Gallagher described it at some length, including Bush’s observation to the right-wing radio jocks that the War on Terror has to be about right versus wrong, “because if it’s about Christianity versus Islam, we’ll lose.”
“Remind me never to invite you to an off-the-record session,” Coulter said after his introduction.
Coulter spoke mostly about the long court battle over abortion, a safe subject for the audience, but one that reminded listeners that Coulter was a lawyer before she became a bomb thrower. She saved her freshest barb of the evening for the last question from the audience: She referred to the Republican senators who defied Bush over the rules for interrogating terrrorist suspects as “the al-Qaeda contingent.”
It’s that kind of political incorrectness that people come to hear when Coulter speaks. Her most recent book, “Godless: the Church of Liberalism,” makes her a seeming natural for religious conservative groups, but it isn’t the easiest fit.
On television, Coulter plays off her seeming closeness to the elitist culture she criticizes, with her finishing-school accent and Upper West Side couture.
“In respect to my gay male friends, I’ll resist the temptation to call this an attempt to force gay marriage down our throats,” she said Saturday night.
Her audience laughed, but with what seemed a noticeable squirm, at lines like that. One speaker who did seem to know his audience was Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, and for those of us who keep an eye on the local scene that may have been the most notable thing about the evening.
Rep. Tom Price and Rep. Phil Gingrey both spoke at the dinner, but Westmoreland, one of the Republicans eyeing the 2010 governor’s race, got two speaking spots, including a pitch for contributions to the voter-guide fund after Coulter’s speech.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson, another ’10 mentionable, wasn’t at the dinner, for whatever you make of that. And come to think of it, we didn’t see Ralph Reed.
It’s this bad: Florida’s only No. 10
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The liberal mag, Mother Jones, is out this month with its list of America’s worst places to vote, based on discriminatory practices, machine foul-ups, etc.
We’re No. 1!
For some reason, the article singles out Atlanta rather than Georgia at large, but what it’s really getting at is the mandatory photo ID law, which it refers to as “The New Poll Tax.”
Dan Tokaji, associate director of election law at Ohio State’s law school, calls the law, which won U.S. Justice Department approval over staff objections, part of “an orchestrated voter-suppression by less-scrupulous strategists in the Republican Party.”
Wisconsin and Missouri have passed similar laws, the article notes, although the Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the legislation.
Barnes & Bowers, attorneys at law, request your check
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a pair you won’t find sharing space at the top of many fund-raising letters.
Next Wednesday, former Gov. Roy Barnes and former attorney general Michael Bowers will be co-hosting a fund-raiser at the 191 Club for incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Carol Hunstein, who faces a challenge from J. Michael Wiggins, a former legal advisor the the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
One’s a D, the other’s an R. But Barnes and Bowers are both Ls, and this race is shaping up as one that pits lawyers versus the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. It’s about tort reform, as if we had to tell you.
Not to give short shrift to Barnes, but it’s Bowers’ name on the invitation that stuns. Bowers is chairman of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Judicial Nominating Commission, which vets courtroom candidates for Perdue. If Bowers is behind Hunstein, it’ll be awfully hard to turn this officially non-partisan race into a Democrat-Republican confrontation.
Lawyers and the chamber were clashing even before the race was formally on. This spring, we reported on an e-mail from a well-known Columbus attorney, urging lawyers with ties to business interests to urge them not to “politicize” the race.
One more thing: An e-mail from a Hunstein supporter has prompted Frank Strickland, one of Wiggins’ co-chairs, to fire off a letter to the Georgia Committee for Ethical Judicial Elections.
Wiggins complained that Atlanta lawyer Michael Warshauer made “false and outrageous” statements when Warshauer wrote that Wiggins had received “huge donations” — $50,000 from Daimler Chrysler, in particular.
Warshauer’s statements came in an electronic notice for a Hunstein fund-raiser scheduled for the week after the Barnes-Bowers do.
How to get a $100,000 tax break? Says Sonny: “Well, you get elected governor, Brian.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Listen to the audio clips: Democrats’ sound clip | Perdue’s sound clip
Four years ago, with his race on the edge and a TV camera pointed square at his face, Gov. Roy Barnes sought to deflect criticism arising from the deaths of several foster children in state custody.
Look, he said, “Out of 20,000 children, you’re going to have children die every day.”
It was a massive blunder. Upstart Republican Sonny Perdue took what little money he had, and blanketed the state with Barnes’ voice on a TV ad, echoing, “Children die every day…every day….every day.”
The shoe may have slipped onto the other foot during Tuesday’s afternoon rush-hour.
The program was “The Right Side with Shelley Wynter” on WAOK (1380 AM). The guest was Governor Perdue from Houston County, and the caller was Brian from parts unknown.
Brian: “Hello, Governor, I’m a big fan of yours.”
Sonny Perdue: “Thanks, Brian.”
Brian: “I’d like to think I’m a lot like you. I just graduated from UGA and recently married my high school sweetheart.”
Sonny Perdue: “All right. I hope you make it 34 years like we have.”
Brian: “Well, that’s my goal, Governor. The one thing I haven’t been able to do is find a way to have a friend of mine write me a bill that saves me a $100,000 on my taxes. I was wondering how I might be able to get that done.”
Sonny Perdue: “Well, you get elected governor, Brian. I appreciate your question. That was really nice. I appreciate you being a fan, and i wish you well on your honeymoon.”
As you can hear on the sound clip, peddled by Democrats first thing this morning, the question caught Perdue by surprise. His reply is partly flip, partly testy.
“Clearly this was an orchestrated call, and the governor was being dismissive of a ridiculous question,” said Derrick Dickey, spokesman for the Perdue re-election campaign.
But the gaffe was also Perdue’s first public comment about a serious situation: Legislation passed in 2005, proposed by his business attorney, state Rep. Larry O’Neal (R-Perry), which allowed the governor to defer taxes with the purchase of some Florida acreage.
The Perdue side provided its own, additional sound clip in which Wynter, the WAOK radio host, apologizes to the governor for Brian — who apparently didn’t ask what he said he’d ask.
“You and I both know what’s going on, Shelley,” Perdue replies. (The next caller pretends he’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, and asks why Perdue’s TV ads look so much like his.)
Orchestrated or not, the governor said what he said. If you’re a Republican, you have to wince.
Democratic spokesman Emil Runge swears he doesn’t know who “Brian” is, or whether he was a party plant. Nor is Runge likely to inquire.
One thing’s for sure: Expect Brian on WAOK to become something of a star. If Democrats have their way, and can scrape up enough money to put it on TV, “Well, you get elected governor, Brian” could be their catch phrase for the ‘06 season.
By the by, we checked with WAOK. The Democratic sound clip is true and accurate, a spokeswoman said. The click you hear on the MP3 file is the sound of Brian — a sandbagger extraodinaire — hanging up his phone.
Looks like the GOP has that Hispanic vote wrapped up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mario Martinez, the chairman of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Latino Commission for a New Georgia, was recently interviewed by Prensa Alterna, a local Hispanic publication. The conversation was in Spanish.
The Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials has translated the encounter into English, and posted it on-line. What political party should Hispanics trust? Martinez was asked.
Sayeth the Republican governor’s appointee: “Neither Republicans nor Democrats. Both are the same thing with different names.
“Possibly, we need to think about a third party that changes the thematic view and doing of the government. …The Republicans want to control the expenses and the Democrats want to control the purse.
“Republicans and Democrats only know how to make noise; none would do anything in favor of Hispanics unless they are not pressed by means of the vote. I believe they all treat the community with much hypocrisy….
“To make changes from a different perspective and to remove the parties from their source of comfort, all Georgians and Hispanics should begin to think about the Libertarian party,” Martinez said.
And what did Martinez think of, say, the recent congressional hearings?
“I am completely sure that they are farces. In what is remaining of this year there will not be a way to reconcile the differences between [the House] and the Senate. Simply, it is impossible.”
And this war in Iraq — what about that?
“The United States is losing the war in Iraq. We are losing the war against terrorism and for that reason we in the United States have lost our civil liberties. We are spied upon every day and if we don’t change we will be living in a state of almost tyranny. We are not a republic, nor a democracy. We are an incompetent empire.”
Read the entire interview here. It includes Martinez’ clarification on one of his above remarks.
“My comment on Republicans and Democrats was that Republicans want to control what you do in the bedroom and Democrats want to control what you do with your money,” Martinez wrote.
See? That’s much better.
WSJ/Zogby puts Perdue under 50%, and the Libertarian pulling strong
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Wall Street Journal and Zoby are out with a poll on the Georgia governor’s race, along with many others
It shows Republican incumbent Sonny Perdue with 47.4 percent, Democrat Mark Taylor with 36.4 percent, and Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes at 8.1 percent.
So, according to this poll, nearly one in 10 Georgia voters is prepared to vote Libertarian. While not wanting to besmirch the Libertarian cause, we wonder if something else is going on.
This might instead be the signal that Perdue and Republican strategists have dreaded — that a certain number of conservative voters are disenchanted with what the GOP has accomplished in Washington, are angry about the lack of action on immigration, and have their Republican governor into that miasma.
Taylor has yet to offer a satisfactory argument for his candidacy, and so Hayes has become a Libertarian way-station.
Heads up: Perdue to press Taylor on campaign contribution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Look for Republicans to file yet another ethics complaint against Mark Taylor and his Democratic campaign for governor.
It’s to focus on donations from MML Limited Partnership, an Albany-based investment company for which Fred Taylor, the candidate’s father, is the registered agent and sole member-manager.
Fighting the Voting Rights Act, county-by-county
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you think Georgia’s Republican members of the U.S. House have given up the fight against the Voting Rights Act, think again.
This summer, Congress passed, and President Bush signed into law, a 25-year extension of the measure that requires federal monitoring of election matters in Southern (and a few other) states.
But in a press release issued this afternoon, U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood declared that the cause is not yet lost.
First comes a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 41-year-old act. “Whether it succeeds is anyone’s guess,” he says.
More interesting is a new strategy: Individual counties within the South (Georgia alone has 159) can individually petition for release from federal oversight. Norwood wants a parade.
“The overwhelming majority of counties are likely eligible today for immediate release from federal oversight,” Norwood says.
To win release, a county would have to show a clean record for the last 10 years, in which:
— No poll tax was levied or literacy test was issued;
— The county cooperated with the U.S. Justice Department, allowing it to review all changes relating to voting;
— The county hasn’t lost any lawsuits charging voting discrimination;
— No federal examiners have been assigned to watch polls;
— And a few other requirements too technical to go into here.
Says Norwood: “The tidal wave of litigation could force the Justice Department and the federal courts to grant immediate relief for the vast majority of counties. The party hack attorneys at DOJ would still have the state at large under their heel, but no longer our counties.”
A Ralph Reed sighting: One PhD to another.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ralph Reed, the former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, seems to be finding his post-primary legs. The New York Post has his line in today’s editions: “Dr. Henry Kissinger at ‘21’ with Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, at a table diagonal to Vernon Jordan’s …”
Friends of Reed say one of his activities is trying to figure out which 2008 presidential candidate he’ll line up behind.
Republicans and transportation: Bound for trouble on a rail
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Word has come down that a prominent Atlanta businessman, who normally writes checks to Republicans, will host a $500-a-head fund-raiser this month for Mark Taylor, the Democratic nominee for governor.
Michael Robison is the owner of Lanier Parking System and chairman of the board of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. He’s also the guy pushing to bring streetcars back to downtown Atlanta.
“Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor understands the critical need for a true partnership between Atlanta and the rest of the Peach State,” Robison says in his invitation, acknowledging his own “traditional support for the Republican party.”
We’re told that the above phraseology translates primarily as disappointment with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s approach to traffic congestion in metro Atlanta.
Robison may not represent a serious trend. Not yet. But it’s clear that transportation — most specifically commuter rail — is developing as a major fault line within the newly empowered Georgia GOP.
It splits Republican ranks geographically, between suburbia and rural Georgia.
The issue also causes serious friction between the party’s anti-tax wing and its business class — which is less concerned with philosophy and more concerned with keeping society’s parts moving in well-lubricated fashion.
Mark Rountree, a Republican strategist based in Gwinnett County, has become an unwelcome presence in many parts of the state Capitol, because of his forceful advocacy of commuter rail.
Rountree is a consultant for the Georgia Brain Train Group, which is devoted to building a high-end commuter train system between Athens and Atlanta — and then, beyond. The group is specifically non-partisan, but its chairman is Emory Morsberger, a developer, former state GOP lawmaker, and enthusiastic supporter of George W. Bush.
To the Brain Tree crowd, commuter rail isn’t the only answer, but it is an essential ingredient to solving metro Atlanta’s ever-worsening transportation ills. “It’s the only proposal that gets you where you want to go — on time, every time,” Rountree said.
Before we go deeper, Rountree wants it said that the Perdue administration has nothing to fear from him. He’s an unabashed supporter of the governor, and can rattle off a number of Perdue’s accomplishments in the area of transportation, including the current reconstruction of the I-85/Ga. 316 interchange in Gwinnett County.
But Rountree also believes that, unless Republicans open their eyes to the gridlock that’s paralyzing the suburbs, and open their minds to the possibilities of commuter rail, the future spells trouble.
For decades, in the years following desegregation, metro Atlanta was a white suburban donut with an African-American core. Everyone knows that’s changing. But traffic congestion is close to sending the trend into hyperdrive, and that’s a bad thing, Rountree argues.
“People are making life-changing decisions to move out of the suburbs and back into the city,” he said. “What is it about the suburbs that people may be moving away from? It’s probably not the schools, and it’s probably not the crime issue. It’s traffic. You don’t move to Atlanta because you hate crime.”
In other words, traffic congestion will soon force metro Atlanta into a growth pattern more in keeping with the global history of cities — an urban center populated by the well-to-do, and a suburban donut filled with working class residents of all races.
Remember that Rountree is a Republican when he says the following: “If the suburbs collapse and go Democratic, this town will fundamentally change in a very negative way. You will have a complete 180. It used to be that the Republicans ran the counties in the metro area, and Democrats ran the state government. You could easily have a reversal.”
If you don’t think it can happen, Rountree said, look back to the 1970s and ‘80s, when white suburbanites fled much of DeKalb and Fulton counties. Slow change is acceptable, but stampedes — regardless of motivation — are bad for real estate and bad for business, Rountree said.
“It’s something that I, as a Republican, want to help people avoid,” he said.
Note to Barrow: Expect a call from RNC’s copyright attorneys
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President Bush was down in Savannah on Thursday, raising $350,000 or so for Max Burns, the Republican candidate in the 12th District congressional race.
His opponent, rookie Democratic incumbent John Barrow, celebrated the event by going on TV.
Barrow’s seat is one of the few chances Republicans have this year to pick up a seat. And his first TV ad of the campaign reflects that. It’s an impressive act of theft.
Barrow steals Republican language, and puts it to his own use. He touts his tendency to buck the leadership of his own party, but never mentions the word “Democrat.”
Here’s the key bit of dialogue:
“When I went to Congress, I believed the most important thing I had to remember was who sent me there.
“That’s why I stood up to leaders in my own party and opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants. They also didn’t like it when I fought to get rid of the death tax. And when I stood firm on Iraq.
“We can’t cut and run.”
In other words, this ain’t Connecticut.
First rule for Drexinger supporters: Don’t blink
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Guy Drexinger, an attorney and accountant by trade, is the Democratic candidate for state insurance commissioner. He’s the former chairman of the Cobb County Democratic party.
As of June 30, Drexinger had $134,166 in cash. His opponent, Republican incumbent John Oxendine, has $1.5 million. It was ever thus in Georgia. Money flocks to the office of insurance commissioner like boys to a homecoming queen.
But in any statewide race, TV is a must. How to afford it? By running tiny, tiny ads. Ten seconds long.
Drexinger’s first TV spot is a brief cartoon, showing Oxendine and Gov. Sonny Perdue literally as two peas in a pod, conspiring to deprive 91,000 children of health insurance. See it here.
We promise it won’t take any time at all.
The next new cause for the Religious Right
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
File this under unintended consequences.
The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys is putting out the word that last year’s revision to the nation’s bankruptcy laws by Congress could have a huge impact on Christians and others who feel called upon to tithe.
A federal bankruptcy judge in New York has ruled that those going through bankruptcy may not tithe or make other charitable donations until they’ve paid off their credit card companies. Since more than 2 million Americans filed for bankruptcy last year, and hundreds of thousands more will do so this year, a huge chunk of change is at stake.
In the organization’s press release, issued Thursday, NACBA president Henry Sommer turned a biblical phrase: “The 2005 reform legislation didn’t just reword the federal bankruptcy code, it also effectively rewrote Exodus and Deuteronomy.”
Conceivably, you could argue that giving to your church is a form of protected religious expression, much as many argue that making campaign contributions is a kind of political speech.
The day the immigration president didn’t come to Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week, Republicans in Washington took a gamble. GOP leaders in Congress dropped an agreement on immigration as an achievable, pre-election goal. Instead, they decided, the party mantra would be national security.
They rolled the dice, and hoped that no one would notice. But Sonny did.
In his Wednesday morning press conference, Governor Perdue announced a plan to make it harder for illegal immigrants to use fraudulent documents to get government IDs and driver’s licenses.
Not a big event, but something to show what side of the issue he’s on. Something to separate the Republican governor from those other Republicans in D.C.
This is what Perdue said about illegal immigration, on the day before he was to introduce President Bush to a crowd of supporters in Cobb County:
“People who don’t address the concerns that are important to people really don’t deserve to govern. That’s why we’re here. I don’t need a poll to tell me the people of Georgia are anxious and concerned,” the governor said.
To whom are you referring? reporters asked. What people don’t deserve to govern? Perdue didn’t answer.
The Big Guy goes back to what’s worked before
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Taylor on Wednesday returned to the topic that’s given him the most campaign success over the years: crime.
In this new, dark-toned TV ad — they’ve dubbed it “Big Priority” — Taylor promises to a constitutional amendment to abolish parole for violent offenders.
He’s taking a page out of the Republican playbook. Taylor could easily have said he’d press for legislation to keep criminals in prison. A constitutional amendment demands a statewide plebiscite — and becomes a rolling issue that pays dividends for two years.
Think of the way Republicans used the issue of gay marriage.
Cagle heads for the sticks, and the sticks need propping up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Tuesday, Casey Cagle, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, hitched up his britches and resumed the daily grind of campaigning across the state.
Over four days, Cagle will hit 25 communities in rural Georgia, each one smaller than the next. The “Hope and Opportunity Tour,” he’s calling it.
This very much resembles the strategy that Democrat Greg Hecht, the Jonesboro attorney and former state senator, attempted in his effort to collar the nomination. It didn’t work. Atlanta attorney Jim Martin won the run-off.
But that doesn’t mean Hecht didn’t have a reason for doing what he did. Or that Cagle doesn’t need to spend a week on Georgia’s blue highways.
Last month, shortly after the August run-off, Democratic strategist James Carville’s outfit in Washington posted an analysis of a crucial weapon in the Republican arsenal: “Battling for White Rural America: Denying Republicans Their Base”.
The entire paper is worth the time of any laptop pundit in either camp. But here’s the gist:
“White rural America forms the cornerstone of the Republican base. In 2004, 64 percent of these voters voted for Bush, and white rural voters broke for Republican congressional candidates by a margin of 17 points. In the 2004 election, more than 60 percent of white rural voters approved of the job Bush was doing as president, and Republicans had a 22-point advantage in party identification. Only 34 percent gave the Democratic Part a warm thermometer rating, while 57 percent gave the Republican party a warm thermometer rating.
“But since 2004, the tide has changed: the loyalty of white rural America is up for grabs. White rural Americans are evenly divided (italics in the original) on whether they approve or disapprove of the job Bush is doing as president. Sixty percent think the country is moving in the wrong direction….The parallel for Democrats would be Democrats having only a 9-point lead among union households.”
This could have application not just with Georgia’s statewide races, but with the two heavily rural congressional contests in which Republicans are desperate for upsets: The 12th District race featuring GOP challenger Max Burns versus Democratic incumbent John Barrow; and the 8th District race in which GOP ex-congressman Mac Collins wants to oust incumbent Jim Marshall, a Democrat.
Hail to the Chief, but not to his coattails
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s no better way to kick off the post-Labor Day campaign season than with a visit from the President.
When the White House last week added a policy speech in Atlanta to President Bush’s scheduled stop at a Max Burns fund-raiser in Pooler, it made this an official rather than a purely political trip to Georgia, an accounting distinction which affects who pays for the jet fuel.
In reality, for the next two months it’s all political in one way or another. Bush’s new theme, using the word “fascism” to link Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors to the nation’s enemies in World War II, is the cornerstone of the Republican effort to hang on to their majority in Congress. We’re likely to hear a new development of that idea when Bush speaks to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation Thursday.
Something similar worked for the Republicans two years ago and four years ago. Whether Bush is as effective as a messagizer this year will obviously have a big impact on the 12th District congressional race between Burns, the Republican challenger and former congressman, and Democratic incumbent John Barrow.
But there are things to be noted about Bush’s footprint in other Georgia races. In 2002 and 2004, Republican candidates in state legislative races didn’t hesitate to run Bush’s picture in their flyers.
That was evidence of the growing nationalization of politics, with a more uniform partisan message, centering around a similar set of issues, spreading ever deeper into the grassroots.
Every trend has its limits, and it may be that top-down politics is getting to that point.
The issue which best illustrates the difficulties of nationalized campaigns isn’t the War on Terror. Despite some defections by Republicans in other parts of the country, Bush’s message is likely to be received warmly at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
Instead, it’s immigration, a subject the president is unlikely to touch on this week. Without some basic consensus – which on this issue the GOP doesn’t have – it’s hard to churning out talking points that work for every race from town council on up. The same could be said of stem cell research or the budget deficit, but immigration definitely tops the list.
Just by coincidence, there was Gov. Sonny Perdue late last week on the U.S.-Mexican border, charting his own course on the topic. With nary a President in sight.
New business plan: www.embarrassdaddy.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The pre-Labor Day buzz in Washington focuses on the eternal question: Are the kids really all right?
Concurringopinions.com, a D.C.-based legal blog, has a great entry on the offspring of prominent politicians who have embarrassed the old folks with their entries and photos on the Internet.
It’s based on a Sunday Times piece published earlier this week.
This just in: Bush in Atlanta next week
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before going to Savannah for a Max Burns fund-raiser next Thursday, Sept. 7, President Bush will make a morning stop in Atlanta to address the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. So we’ve just been told.
The White House has confirmed Bush’s appearance at the at Cobb County’s Galleria complex.
The presidential visit will give the policy foundation two coups this fall. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will speak to the same organization in October.
Fads come, fads go
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And it looks like we may be returning to those days of yore, when red ink was something to avoid.
“Balancing the federal budget is a good thing. We must get our act together. And get back to what we believe in,” said Newt Gingrich, the one-time House speaker from Georgia.
Go here for the rest of Gingrich’s remarks, as recorded by the The State newspaper in South Carolina.
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