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Sunday, November 5, 2006
Franklin goes up on radio — not TV — for Taylor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While Republicans have worried whether conservative Christians will show up tomorrow, Democrats have quietly expressed concern about their own base.
During the primary, Mark Taylor, the candidate for governor, brought out former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young in a 30-second TV spot to carry the turnout message to black voters.
If there’s an equal effort in the general election, we haven’t seen it. Last week, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin cut a radio ad for Taylor that’s getting significant air time across the state, on stations geared to African-American listeners.
“He’ll work to raise the minimum wage. He has a plan to provide health insurance for every child. And Mark Taylor will never, ever cut education funding,� Franklin says.
We’re assuming that the decision to put Franklin on the radio rather than television was strategic, or economic. Taylor may have felt obligated to keep up his TV attacks on Gov. Sonny Perdue until the last moment.
But it must be said that something was left on the table by not putting Franklin on the tube. The Atlanta mayor has tremendous appeal among all women, white as well as black.
Moses wondered the same thing for 40 years
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Which leads us to this: If you want to play political nerd on Tuesday night, watch the Democratic races for governor and lieutenant governor.
From the moment they were cast from power in the state Capitol, Democrats have been arguing over the best path back — whether to cater to hard-core loyalists, and rely on enthusiasm to drive up their numbers, or to reach out to the middle. Steal voters from Republicans, in other words.
Jim Martin, the candidate for lieutenant governor, has chosen the base strategy. Mark Taylor, the candidate for governor, is reaching for the middle.
The result has been a genuine field experiment.
Watch for which candidate out-polls the other. It could determine the direction of the state Democratic party for years to come.
What’s new about ‘06? It’s the money
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By and large, the ballot you see on Tuesday will have the standard allotment of saints, scamps and scoundrels.
That said, one aspect of the ’06 elections differs mightily from any ever seen in Georgia. It involves two large gifts of cash.
In Georgia, individual campaign contributions to candidates are limited by law to $5,000 per election cycle.
But last month, two lawsuit-hating business groups sent $2.3 million down South, to boost the fortunes of Mike Wiggins in the race for state Supreme Court justice — and to defeat Carol Hunstein, the incumbent.
American Justice Partnership sent $1.3 million to a Georgia-registered group called the Safety & Prosperity Coalition — which spent the money on TV and radio ads, and direct mail.
Then there is the $1 million from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The check went to the state Republican party. We’re told that the amount will coincide almost precisely with the party’s expenditures on Wiggins’ behalf in the non-partisan race.
How is the $5,000 limit on contributions avoided?
First, it doesn’t apply to independent groups that campaign on specific issues, such as Safety and Prosperity. They can accept and spend as much as they want — but they’re not allowed to coordinate with a candidate.
Political parties also don’t have to pay attention to limits, if their TV ads are aimed at multiple candidates. Bundling, if you will.
But often, those the names of those other candidates only appear for seconds, in small type, in a 30-second ad. Democrats pioneered the loophole. Republicans have perfected it.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s unabashed backing of Wiggins, a former legal advisor to the Department of Homeland Security, has little downside politically. Win or lose, the state GOP has cemented relationships with major donors.
But in this fight voters have lost something — the opportunity to see the money, and thus the motives, behind candidates who offer themselves for high office.
Wiggins, too, is bothered by the influence of money in this statewide fight between business interests and lawyers.
Late Friday, he proposed creating an independent commission to examine whether lawyers should be allowed to contribute to a judge’s campaign. Hunstein, he noted, raised $900,000 from lawyers who are subject to Supreme Court rulings.
