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Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Lewis: “Thank goodness” for Obama successes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the presidential race soon headed South, Rep. John Lewis said he has no regrets about endorsing Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
But the Atlanta Democrat and civil rights icon also expressed admiration for the success Obama, the most viable African American presidential candidate in modern times, has been enjoying in early voting, at Clinton’s expense.
“Thank goodness for what Obama has been doing in Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s historic,” Lewis said. “He’s tapped into a part of the electorate looking something different, something new.”
Lewis talked with us late Tuesday from New Zealand, where he’s on a congressional tour — before Clinton staged her early comeback in New Hampshire.
Super Tuesday, on which Georgia and about 20 other states hold primaries or caucuses, is Feb. 5, just weeks away, he noted.
“It’s just the beginning,” said Lewis, who spent his life fighting for black voting rights and then raised eyebrows by backing Clinton, a friend, over Obama.
Lewis remains optimistic about Clinton’s chances — easier to do after Tuesday — and notes that her husband began building momentum only after winning Georgia’s primary.
The overlooked McCain-Obama race in New Hampshire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We just got off the phone with James Sibold, chairman of DeKalb County Republicans, who has been working in New Hampshire this past week for Republican candidate John McCain.
Sibold desperately wants to hear McCain, whose campaign has enjoyed a revival of sorts since last summer, declare victory tonight at his Nashua, N.H., hotel.
“It’s really do or die for us right now,” he said.
But after talking to scores of independent voters on behalf of McCain, Sibold said he’s concluded that McCain isn’t just fighting fellow Republican Mitt Romney for the nation’s first primary votes.
Young independent voters are turning out in droves this year and Sibold, who talked with many of them on McCain’s behalf, said those voters don’t necessarily see today’s primary as a contest between McCain and Romney.
“Independents who haven’t made up their mind yet are saying they’re trying to decide between McCain or (Democrat Barack) Obama,” Sibold said.
New Hampshire independents carried McCain to victory over George W. Bush in 2000, but their ranks have swollen this year primarily because they’ve been energized by Obama’s campaign.
“It’s going to be a much tighter race than it was in 2000,” Sibold conceded.
Senate race: Air war vs. ground game
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democratic Senate candidate Dale Cardwell came down from his perch on a 300-foot tower on Tuesday, declaring that he’d gotten the attention he needed.
The question arises — what did Cardwell’s primary opponents think of the stunt. DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones at first said he wasn’t interested in telling us what he thought.
But, come on, you’re running for a statewide office and you’ve spent weeks raising money and building your nuts-and-bolts campaign organization, and you hear that your chief competitor is hanging from the side of a tower. How could anyone resist opining on that?
In truth, Jones couldn’t. He added: “I’m on the ground where Georgians are. I have always campaigned on the ground with the voters, not up in the air all by myself.”
The link between Georgia’s next anti-abortion fight and the GOP presidential contest
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the more important, behind-the-scenes fights in the state Capitol this session will be over H.R. 536, called the “Paramount Right to Life” amendment.
The measure would extend constitutional protection to embryos “from the moment of fertilization without regard to age, race, sex, health, function, or condition of dependency.”
The legislation is intended as a direct assault on Roe v. Wade, which turns 35 years old this month. But it is also part of a nationwide revolt by some abortion opponents who think their movement has become bogged down in Washington-style incrementalism and accommodation.
Opponents within the anti-abortion community think the measure is a bridge too far, that the U.S. Supreme Court isn’t quite ready to reject Roe v. Wade out of hand. They doubt that the Legislature has the will to muster a two-thirds vote to put the question on the November ballot.
Others have raised questions about whether the amendment could result in the restriction of commonly used contraception methods.
In other words, why waste political capital on a gesture that is futile and could prove unpopular?
What’s fascinating is the way this fight mirrors the grassroots-versus-establishment dynamics of the current Republican presidential campaign. Especially in Georgia.
The political arm of Georgia Right to Life has endorsed Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed H.R. 536. The National Right to Life organization has lined up behind Fred Thompson.
Dan Becker, president of GRTL, and Mike Griffin, the group’s new legislative director, were both at the Capitol today — and happy enough to see Huckabee doing so well.
They think that Huckabee’s appearance at their Jan. 22 rally and parade could drive attendance to perhaps 10,000 this year. (They also stress the candidate will get only the same 10 minutes to speak that everyone else will.)
But the pair wasn’t in downtown Atlanta to give crowd estimates. Their pitch to Republican legislative leaders, who will determine whether H.R. 536 moves, was this:
Perhaps their man Huckabee doesn’t survive. Maybe Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani pulls this one out. If that’s the case, the GOP is going to have a dissatisfied, unmotivated base, and down-ballot candidates might need some protection. H.R. 536 could be that insurance policy.
State Rep. Martin Scott (R-Rossville), sponsor of H.R. 536, is quoted saying exactly that in this week’s edition of U.S. News & World Report.
“With an amendment like this, it would drive up the pro-life, traditional-values vote,” Scott says.
The magazine also offers this verdict on the issue: “Of all the states, Georgia is most likely to pass a personhood measure, but whether or not the Supreme Court acts—or how—is an open question.”
Obama sends his spouse to Atlanta on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just picked up word that Michelle Obama will be heading to Atlanta on Sunday, officially to attend the 2008 Trumpet Awards, but also for a $100-a-head fund-raiser. No word yet on any public appearances. We’ll pass the details as we get them.
