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Monday, January 28, 2008
Obama vs. Clinton, and now Toni Morrison vs. Maya Angelou
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve put you onto Barack Obama’s second TV ad, aimed at young people in Georgia. And you know that author Toni Morrison, who dubbed Bill Clinton “the first black president,” has also sided with Obama.
So now the question is, does poet Maya Angelou trump the Nobel-Prize author of “Beloved?” Lord knows which one Oprah would pick.
In Georgia, the Hillary Clinton campaign is set to go up with this radio ad featuring Angelou, entitled “My Girl,” along with this one by Magic Johnson.
Says Angelou:
“As a child, Hillary Clinton was taught that all God’s children are equal, so as a mother she understood that her child wasn’t safe unless all children were safe.
“I know what kind of president Hillary Clinton will be because I know who she is. Hillary Clinton has always been a strong woman and a passionate protector of families. For 35 years, that’s exactly what she has been doing.
“Each generation stands on the shoulders of those who came before. Today, the challenges facing us threaten the dreams we have had for our children. We need a president with the experience and strength to meet those challenges.
“I am inspired by Hillary Clinton. A daughter, a wife, a mother — my girl.”
Shipp’s back, and he says Macon’s ticked by Obama’s appearance with Mayor Jack Ellis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We didn’t know he was back in business, but political columnist Bill Shipp is apparently back on-line with his own web-site, complete with his trademark scroll, which reads thusly:
“As Sen. Barack Obama declines to appear at the Georgia Democrats’ JJ Dinner Wednesday, he fends off criticism in Macon for his association with controversial former Mayor Jack Ellis, now known as Hakim Mansour Ellis. Obama appeared with Ellis in Macon Sunday.”
State DOT board elections set for Friday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re getting word that the legislative elections of the contested slots for the state Board of Transportation will be held Friday. That includes the election of state DOT board chairman Mike Evans.
With the override issue largely settled today, the DOT elections are the last barrier to perpetual peace and harmony in the state Capitol. Yeah, right.
Obama targets jaded young people in Georgia, and Clinton campaign threatens fibbers with detention
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Barack Obama campaign in Georgia says it’s got a second TV ad up now, this one heavily geared toward moving young people, who historically have been reluctant to show up at the polls.
Take a look here. As before, the campaign offers no figures on the size of the buy, or the cities in which it’s being shown. So impact is speculative.
We’ve got a call into the Clinton campaign to see if they’ve got any ads up to match, but have not heard back.
However, the Clinton side did put out a list of “rapid responders” in each state — assigned the task of rebutting scurrilous people who misrepresent what the New York senator has said or done.
In Georgia, members of the Clinton truth patrol are:
— Brooke Jackson Edmond, of the Maynard Jackson Atlantans;
— Liane Levetan, the former DeKalb County CEO;
— Elaine Lucas, Macon city council member;
— and Michael Thurmond, the state labor commissioner.
Says Thurmond in the press release:
“Facts are stubborn things, and we will insist that Senator Clinton’s opponents be held accountable if they manipulate her statements or her record.”
So you John Edwards people better behave yourselves.
GOP launching anti-earmark campaign; Marshall takes out campaign “insurance policy”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) was first, followed closely by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Grantville). Within days of each other, the duo declared that they’d stop using congressional earmarks to bring home federal funds for local projects.
The reasons are becoming clearer.
President Bush is set to use tonight’s State of the Union address to lash out at a Democratically controlled Congress for pork-barrel spending. The Bush criticism, and the new House Republican anti-earmark campaign, is designed to resonate with voters frustrated and angry over the status quo in Congress.
Helping the GOP craft that anti-earmark, election-year message is Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah), who as a House appropriator is known to bring whole federal pigs home to Georgia — and to do so proudly.
Kingston’s advice includes this first rule:
“No more ‘monuments to me.’ Lawmakers should not use taxpayer money to fund projects named after themselves.”
Well, duh.
Given that even a blind dog could sniff out this trap, Democrats are already preparing a defense. First among them was Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Macon), one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the country.
Last week, Marshall took out what Congressional Quarterly dubbed an “election year insurance policy,” a earmark-reform bill that allows Marshall to claim the same moral high ground as the GOP.
Marshall’s bill “would ensure that earmarks dropped into conference reports — or added to bills traded between the chambers — would be disclosed like other earmarks, and that their sponsors would have to certify that they have no financial interest in the projects.”
Marshall’s spokesman, Doug Moore, says the new bill has nothing to do with the coming fall campaign, which will again present Marshall with GOP opposition. Rather, it’s a fix for an “inadvertent” loophole in current earmark rules.
“Frankly, I don’t see it as a big issue in our district,” Moore said, adding that no one in Marshall’s district has objected to him bringing home federal funds. “We do not get criticism from Georgia.”
Barack Obama to skip this week’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Democratic party officials have been told that Barack Obama will be a no-show at Wednesday’s big Jefferson-Jackson fund-raiser. And so the stage will belong to Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
This makes sense, and was foreshadowed by Obama’s appearance in Macon over the weekend.
If the man obtained 80 percent of the African-American vote in South Carolina, he’s likely to get a similar response in Georgia and Alabama. In other words, this is a sign that Obama considers Georgia — privately, not publicly — a lock, and can spend his time in places where he’s not leading. California, for instance. With that young Kennedy fellow.
That said, Democrats are hoping for a crowd in the thousands on Wednesday. How? Bleachers.
They’ve decided to install a peanut gallery at the event at the Georgia World Congress Center. The standard $250 ticket will get you dinner and the full program, which includes awards to John Lewis and Max Cleland.
But $25 will get you one of those bleacher seats and a look at Clinton and Edwards. They do it that way in Iowa. Bring your own fried chicken. You might be able to sell a leg or thigh to the people in the more expensive seats.
Legislature heads for the first veto override in 34 years
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate Rules Committee just gave approval to overriding Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto of H.B. 529, which now heads to the Senate floor for an immediate vote.
The rules committee recommended passage of the override. Which means it’s a done deal.
The House had sent the Senate 12 bills — so this is a significant reduction. Regardless, this is history — the first veto override in 34 years.
H.B. 529 inserts the existence of a Senate Budget Office into the Georgia Code. Right now, separate House and Senate budget writers work separately under a kind of gentleman’s agreement. H.B. 529 gives the Senate’s budget writing operation legal existence.
The Senate really has no choice on this one. The House pretty much had boxed them in. Had the Senate rejected this bill, senators knew they would never get House approval for the language again.
Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour says the other 11 House overrides could still be considered. Asked if that depended on House action later in the session, Balfour said, “You’re warm.”
Johnson: Senate Rules to take up veto overrides, and a bill to ban robo-calls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just walked out of a presser with state Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah.
Two pieces of news came out:
— The Senate Rules Committee will take up the veto overrides at 12:30 p.m. today. Johnson wouldn’t drop any hints at what bills will move. But we’re hearing that it’s close to certain that a bill to formally install the Senate Budget Office in the Georgia code will be among those gubernatorial vetoes sent to the Senate floor.
— Johnson said he intends to drop legislation today that would ban robo-calls by political campaigns. The bill would require an actual human to make the phone call and request permission before playing the automated message.
Johnson acknowledged the legislation could also affect political polling, which has become more and more oriented in past years. The ranking Republican in the Senate said the John Lewis phone calls of last week were a motivating factor.
Can a Lewis trump a Kennedy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sen. Barack Obama is being compared favorably this week to John F. Kennedy - by members of JFK’s own family - kicking off a round of one-upsmanship with his chief foe, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
JFK’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, endorsed Obama Sunday in a New York Times piece headlined, “A President Like My Father.” And JFK’s brother Ted Kennedy, himself an icon of the left, is set to endorse Obama today.
And so Clinton was asked on one of the Sunday morning talk shows how much it hurt to have the First Family of Democratic politics pass her over.
Give her credit for not just exploding on national TV.
“I have the greatest regard for” (Caroline Kennedy), Clinton told Bob Schieffer of CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And I really appreciate the difficult choices people are making.”
Then Clinton threw back to Obama and the Kennedy clan an endorsement grenade or her own: Rep. John Lewis, the Atlanta Democrat and civil rights leader who fought his entire life for African American voting rights and who stunned other movement veterans when he endorsed Clinton over Obama.
“You know, when Congressman John Lewis endorsed me,” Clinton said, “I know that that was considered difficult for people in Senator Obama’s camp.”
Insert your own cynical comeback here.
Obama: ‘How I came to Jesus, and not Muhammad’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tom Baxter, the ex-Insider, was in Macon on Sunday to hear Obama describe how he came to a late baptism.
Baxter rightly points out that this was also inoculation against those nasty e-mails accusing the candidate of Muslim tendencies. And you thought Mitt Romney had a theological hurdle.
On today’s InsiderAdvantage web site, Baxter wrote:
In some detail, Obama told of how he had come to walk down the aisle and get baptized, while doing social work with churches on the Chicago South Side.
It was only at the suggestion of the preachers he was working with, Obama said, that he began attending church. He noted how his mother was skeptical of organized religion, while his father - who left when he was two years old - was absent.
Obama described his conversion as a slow and unremarkable turning toward faith.
“The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly vanish, but kneeling beneath the cross I discovered God’s spirit beckoning to me,” Obama said.
It seemed Obama was less interested in making his road to the cross dramatic than in making it plausible: A simple story which many in the church could relate to, settling any lingering doubts about the stories on the web that he has Muslim ties.
In some of the Feb. 5 states where he’ll be competing, such a long explanation might not be necessary. In South Georgia, which Flannery O’Connor once referred to as “Christ-haunted,” it is.
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