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January 2008
Clinton — Bill, that is — at KSU on Friday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former President Bill Clinton will take center stage on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, at Kennesaw State University at 6:30 p.m. Friday, we’re told.
The appearance was added late today. Bill Clinton is scheduled to attend a gathering of Baptists later Friday evening in Atlanta. He’s promised to be non-political before his religious audience.
Don’t expect that in Kennesaw.
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Westmoreland backs Romney
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the downpour of endorsements flooding Georgia just days before Tuesday’s presidential primary comes news from Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville that he’s backing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
“A Georgia GOP primary works as a filter - only a true conservative can get through one,” Westmoreland said in a statement. “It appears that we are now down to a two-person race and Georgians can help winnow the field and protect our party’s conservative values and principles.”
Westmoreland’s endorsement is long on “conservative” and short on “Republican” when talking about Romney, underscoring one of the most serious problems facing Sen. John McCain, the GOP front-runner, in Georgia.
Senator, there are still plenty of folks around c’here who think it’s time to take down the party’s Big Tent and get back to basics.
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Huckabee swaps churches, and the first hint of a Romney visit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has shifted the locale of his Georgia church-going on Sunday.
Instead of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, as earlier reported, Huckabee will be attending the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services at First Baptist Church of Woodstock.
Why the change? Maybe the reason can be found somewhere in the congregation. Gov. Sonny Perdue is a member of the Woodstock church.
After that, Huckabee heads to Macon for a 3 p.m. rally there.
By the way, Mitt Romney will be in Georgia on Monday, his supporters here announced. But they had no details.
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Sonny Perdue steps out on those two DOT races
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday stepped publicly into a pair of races for the state transportation board, endorsing two board members seeking re-election — and opposed by House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
In front of a crowd of community leaders from Savannah, gathered in the state Capitol for “Savannah Day,” the governor gave “the firmest endorsement I can make to Raybon Anderson of Statesboro, one of two targeted DOT members.
Perdue urged the community leaders to contact state lawmakers who cast votes for the DOT board on Friday. “They work for you. They represent your values and your views,” the governor said. “It’s urgently important for us to move forward in resolving solutions, rather than looking at things in negative ways.”
Afterwards, Perdue was asked if he’d offer the same endorsement of Mike Evans of Cumming, the state DOT board chairman, who is also being opposed by Richardson. “Yes,” the governor replied.
Both Evans and Anderson last year voted against the House speaker’s pick for DOT commissioner, and instead successfully backed Gena Abraham, the governor’s pick. Richardson has said he’s appalled by the mismanagement that Abraham has uncovered during her few weeks in the job, and thinks certain board members should be held responsible.
DOT elections are a complicated affair. Board seats are awarded by congressional districts. House and Senate members whose districts are in each congressional district participate in the vote, usually by secret ballot.
In Anderson’s case, 14 Republicans and 14 Democrats will decide. And two Democratic names have been floated as opponents to the Statesboro resident.
But on Thursday, Anderson may have picked up some bipartisan support. Before the governor spoke, state Sen. Regina Thomas of Savannah, a Democrat, told the crowd to expect “the status quo” after the dust has settled.
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The latest non-endorsement news from Isakson, Chambliss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contrary to reports from CNN, U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss didn’t endorse Republican presidential candidate John McCain, or anyone else, on Thursday.
The cable network had predicted the alliance, after several political blogs, included one by the Washington Post, had quoted U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a McCain ally, as saying he was in the midst of lobbying both Isakson and Chambliss.
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for Isakson said he’s made no decision, though he’s been contacted by all three top GOP candidates.
A spokeswoman for Chambliss was a bit more cryptic: “We have a lot of balls in the air — nothing to report right now,” she said in an e-mail.
Those who reported on Graham’s conversation on Wednesday also said the South Carolina senator had mentioned approaching Gov. Sonny Perdue. But a Perdue spokesman said flatly that the governor would be making no endorsements before Super Tuesday.
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A Romney, not Mitt, in town today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got last-minute notice that Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney is sending his son to Georgia this afternoon to rally the troops in Atlanta and Cherokee County.
Craig Romney will be at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot in Atlanta at 4:50 p.m. to meet with supporters from Atlanta and Chatham.
He’s scheduled to be at Cherokee County’s Chamber of Commerce office in Canton at 6:45 p.m. Craig’s dad is spending the day in California, which, like Georgia, holds its primary Tuesday.
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Mops have been thrown: Sanford Bishop’s wife accosted because of her Clinton support
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The wife of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop was accosted this week because of her support for Hillary Clinton, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer is reporting today.
Sanford Bishop is supporting Obama. But Vivian Creighton Bishop, a municipal court clerk in Columbus, is co-chair of the Georgia Women for Hillary committee.
Vivian Bishop said the incident occurred at the Clinton office in Columbus. According to the article:
She said about 2 p.m. Monday, she went to the building at 804 Veterans Parkway to pick up a friend before driving to the airport for a flight to Washington, where she was to see the president’s State of the Union address. As she walked into the building, a man at a vacant house next door started hollering.
“I couldn’t make out what he was saying, so I wasn’t sure he was talking to me or to someone else who may have been in the yard,” Bishop said. But when she came back out, there was no doubt.
“He said, ‘You heard what I said. You should be ashamed of yourself for supporting that white woman, you stupid something.’ He started calling me names,” she said of the man, who was black. “And I said, ‘Pardon me,’ and he said, ‘You heard what I said, supporting that white woman.’ “
Then he threw a mop at her, she said. “It got stuck in the hedges.”
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More Thompsonites choose sides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can be sure more trophies will be announced today by the presidential campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, but former Georgia senator Mack Mattingly, a former Fred Thompson supporter, has joined the John McCain team.
And in the state Capitol, state Sen. David Shafer, another Fred-head who last week was spotted at a Mike Huckabee appearance, has decided to pledge his troth to Mitt Romney.
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Election results via billboard: Because you should be more depressed while driving, not less
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia sent out word today that 20 electric billboards in eight cities — including metro Atlanta, Lawrenceville, Rome, Augusta, Brunswick, Albany, Macon and Valdosta — will carry presidential primary updates from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Tuesday
The digital signs will also post final results, when they are tabulated.
“This new technology lets us provide this important information as it happens to the hundreds of thousands of people who see these billboards,” Conner Poe, executive director of the group, is quoted as saying in a press release just out.
Somebody alert the state patrol.
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Perdue on transportation: No new funds, and a sales tax would reward the ‘haves’ of Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Wednesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue sent a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate transportation committees, thanking them for a joint report on the topic.
In reality, the missive is the governor’s treatise on transportation and what should be done about it. Those interested in the topic should pay close attention.
Perdue says he’s uninterested in talking about new funds for the traffic woes of metro Atlanta and elsewhere, because of the way the Department of Transportation has mishandled his Fast Forward program.
Wrote Perdue:
”Over the course of the six-year program, we anticipated completing what would ordinarily take 18 years to accomplish. However, in a recent review of Fast Forward by the Department of Transportation’s new Commissioner, Gena Abraham, we have found that only 20 percent of the projects are complete even though more than 60 percent of time has elapsed. …
“Therefore, on the most critical issue of raising taxes, I am not yet comfortable with our ability to effectively spend the funds we currently have for transportation improvements.
Perhaps more important, the governor declares that he is not keen on the idea of a sales tax for transportation, because the wealthy parts of the state that are shopping destinations — i.e. metro Atlanta — would benefit more than poorer areas.
Says the governor:
”Sales taxes tend to further widen the gap between the ‘haves and the have nots’ because the tax revenue is owned by the jurisdiction of the point of sale and not the jurisdiction where the taxpayers’ trip may have originated.”
The entire letter is on the jump.
January 30, 2008
Senator Jeff Mullis, Representative Vance Smith
Dear Chairman Mullis and Chairman Smith,
On behalf of the users of Georgia’s transportation system, I would like to thank you and the members of the Joint Study Committee on Transportation Funding for your tireless efforts examining our state’s mobility needs and possible funding alternatives. Below I have attempted to address each of the recommendations, and I think you will find that we agree on a substantial number of issues.
State Infrastructure Bank
We are in agreement that our local governments are in need of the niche financing options that can be uniquely provided by a State Transportation Infrastructure Bank (STIB). When developing needed transportation projects, many local government entities find themselves short on funding.
Yet these transportation projects are important for achieving local communities’ objectives to grow and develop their economy. Financial tools provided by conventional banks sometimes do not fill the need for low cost solutions to fill funding gaps. The STIB will provide low interest rates and flexible repayment terms that are not currently available.
As proposed in House Bill 1019, sponsored by Representative John Lunsford, local government entities eligible to apply for loans and other defined financial assistance include counties, cities, CIDs, transit agencies, and development authorities. Loan applications would be submitted to the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA), the State’s transportation finance agency.
With the assistance of partner agencies, SRTA will create focused project selection criteria that ensure that projects with the greatest impact on local communities receive loan awards, while also ensuring that local governments’ finances are not overburdened by repayment schedules. For Fiscal Year 2009, the capitalization is recommended to total $50 million.
Design Build
While employing efficient and effective alternative forms of project delivery will be a critical tool for enabling our transportation system to keep pace with our state’s population and economic growth, we should hope to set up our laws to allow flexibility that may be required by future market conditions.
Thus we should stay away from prescribing minimum thresholds in Code in order to avoid onerous and restrictive requirements. Accordingly, I would support legislation that would remove the current 15 percent cap prescribed by O.C.G.A. 32-2-81. We should strive for authorizing legislation that provides necessary flexibility to achieve the best value for our tax dollars, including appropriate oversight and accountability measures. In the meantime, my administration will be working with Commissioner Abraham to ensure the proper use of the tools afforded in GDOT’s current statute in Title 32.
Aviation and Railroads
We are in agreement that our state’s airports and railroads are critical to economic development opportunities. The growth of freight movement through Georgia to and from our coastal ports is among the fastest in the country. In order to capitalize on our state’s position as the Gateway to the East Coast for the import and export of goods in a modern global economy, we must gain a clear understanding of the needs of the freight and logistics industries in relation to our transportation infrastructure.
That is why I have recommended an appropriation to the Department of Transportation of $500,000 for Fiscal Year 2009 to implement a Freight and Logistics strategy that will be built on a new and accurate source of on-the-ground freight flow data. It will give us a working knowledge of the linkage between the economic opportunities of freight movement to/through our transportation infrastructure and assess the demand for transportation infrastructure capacity (roadway, rail, waterways, and airports) with the supply we currently have.
Such an assessment will highlight ways to optimize our existing infrastructure as well as learn where our infrastructure gaps exist and how much it will cost to fill those gaps. This data-rich, value-driven information will guide us in targeting future infrastructure investments for maximum efficiency and return on investment. I expect that the initial phases of this strategy can be developed within just a few months, so that we may begin to use the findings and adjust policy accordingly.
Financial assistance from the State Transportation Infrastructure Bank is proposed to address the need for local airport facilities that typically are not freight carriers. I will recommend to the board of the OneGeorgia Authority that $15 million of funds be transferred to capitalize the STIB, and these funds would only be allowed for use in assisting airports throughout the State in accordance with the rules of the OneGeorgia Authority.
Statewide and Regional Transportation Funding
Georgia is among the top three states in the country for population growth, trailing only Texas and California. This puts tremendous pressure on our transportation system’s ability to accommodate our travel demands for work and recreation, as well as the movement of resources and products.
In an effort to meet the need for transportation investment, I initiated the Fast Forward program, which was to begin doubling our transportation capital investment in Fiscal Year 2005. Over the course of the six-year program, we anticipated completing what would ordinarily take 18 years to accomplish. However, in a recent review of Fast Forward by the Department of Transportation’s new Commissioner, Gena Abraham, we have found that only 20 percent of the projects are complete even though more than 60 percent of time has elapsed. While we have benefited from the completion of some important projects around the state, we have yet to see the full benefit of the program.
Therefore, on the most critical issue of raising taxes, I am not yet comfortable with our ability to effectively spend the funds we currently have for transportation improvements. Based on my experience with doubling transportation funds through the Fast Forward program but not receiving the expected and necessary results, I cannot yet guarantee that we are maximizing taxpayers’ contributions or getting the best return on investment. At this time, I cannot in good conscience advocate raising taxes on our citizens.
I am confident, though, that we are appropriately addressing systemic administrative issues at the Department of Transportation. This includes Commissioner Abraham’s reform of the Department’s methods to assess local transportation needs and advance projects. Her new system will engage representatives of the General Assembly, State Transportation Board, and locally elected officials to create a prioritized list of their local governments’ projects.
Such approach will facilitate much-needed certainty about the Department’s commitment to funding and completing projects on defined timelines. With the magnitude of the need for additional transportation funding not yet clear, I expect that this process will help identify the true infrastructure requirements of our growing state. We need a much more thorough evaluation of needs before we act to raise taxes.
Regarding equitable collection and distribution of sales tax revenues, I remain very concerned about the fairness of allocating such funds. Sales taxes tend to further widen the gap between the “haves and the have nots” because the tax revenue is owned by the jurisdiction of the point of sale and not the jurisdiction where the taxpayers’ trip may have originated.
This is similar to my concern about special purpose local option sales taxes for education, known as ESPLOSTs. Profound inequities often result in the provision of public education when a citizen of a county without an ESPLOST purchases items in a county with an ESPLOST. Benefits do not accrue to the payer, they accrue to the assessor. Those areas which are more economically developed will collect more sales tax and continue to build more assets.
A similar disparity would seem to be the case with a sales tax for transportation. There may however be ways to remedy this, and if so, I would like to see a comprehensive assessment of mechanisms to fairly collect and distribute the taxes proposed by the Joint Study Committee.
We are in agreement that the static excise tax on motor fuel is eroding our state’s purchasing power for transportation infrastructure, resulting from increases in the fuel efficiency of today’s cars and unprecedented costs increases in materials and land acquisition.
Of course, Georgia uses the revenues from a second tax on motor fuel based on the purchase price, which has generated modest revenue increases as gas prices have increased. However, eliminating the excise tax would reduce the link between users and payers for our transportation system and would remove the ability to attain some degree of equity in funding transportation improvements. At this time, it is therefore my preference to leave the motor fuel excise tax in place as it keeps our road network funded by its users.
Statewide Transportation Plan and Transit
Federal and state laws require that the Department of Transportation formulate long-range comprehensive transportation plans that meet specific goals for ensuring a safe, efficient transportation system for all Georgians. Accordingly, the Statewide Transportation Plan (SWTP) is produced by the Department every five years. The most recent plan was completed in 2005 and is available on the Department’s website - another SWTP is due in 2010. As the Department embarks upon this effort, I anticipate it will find great utility in outcome of the Freight and Logistics Strategy Implementation as a foundation for optimizing investment into our transportation system.
In addition to the statewide plan, short-range and long-range transportation plans are required by federal law for Georgia’s 15 Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). Requiring another transportation plan would not only be redundant with duplicate research and reporting, it would also create conflicting mandates for performance of the transportation system.
Per federal law, transit must be included in the SWTP and the Department has done so. I agree that we should give greater attention to the role transit can play in moving Georgia’s citizens to their destination in a reliable, safe, and efficient manner. Accordingly, my administration will continue working with the Atlanta region’s Transit Planning Board as well as with the Department of Transportation as they interact with Georgia’s 14 other MPOs to create fiscally responsible multi-modal transportation plans.
Holding the Department accountable to creating a plan that meets strategic goals for economic development and traffic congestion relief is a worthy and important effort. It is recommended that the formulation of goals and timeframes for meeting them occurs in collaboration with the State Transportation Board and the Governor.
Other Recommendations
Other recommendations of the Joint Study Committee that are supported include urging resolutions for Value Engineering, HOV to HOT Lanes and Public Private Initiatives. These recommendations have been successful in other states and would initiate activities here in Georgia that optimize the use and efficiency of our infrastructure and enable project delivery efficiencies in a short time frame.
More information is needed on the recommendations that seek a report from the Department of Transportation on a statewide concession plan, that authorize support for the MagLev Transrapid train, and that request a report from the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA). My administration is in the midst of evaluating these studies, which are currently underway. Once complete, we will seek to collaborate with the General Assembly’s Transportation Committees as well as the Department of Transportation and SRTA.
In the vein of core principles of smaller and more efficient government, I support the efforts to examine efficiency options at the Department of Transportation and I will look to the State Transportation Board and Commissioner Abraham for their recommendations regarding innovation and cost reductions. With regards to the recommendation to create a Transportation Oversight Committee to review ongoing transportation issues, this is the role to which the standing Transportation Committees are entrusted in both chambers of the General Assembly. I have great confidence in your capabilities as Chairmen of these important committees.
Other items that need further review and analysis from my office include the recommendations regarding reform of Transportation Governance and the creation of a Georgia Council for Rural and Human Services Transportation. With regards to urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to adjust its fund allocation formula, my administration will be working with Georgia’s Congressional Delegation in the coming 18 months to be sure Georgia receives its fair share of federal Highway Trust Fund dollars in the reauthorization of the federal transportation spending act.
*************Once again, please accept my gratitude for your time and efforts, and I look forward to working together as we strive to make Georgia’s transportation system the most efficient and effective in the country.
Sincerely,
Governor Sonny Perdue
cc:
Representative Mark Hamilton
Representative James Mills
Senator Chip Pearson
Senator Valencia Seay
Representative Jay Shaw
Representative Donna Sheldon
Senator Doug Stoner
Senator Tommie Williams
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Suddenly, we have a Hillary Clinton pep rally
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As expected, without John Edwards’ leavening presence, Wednesday’s gathering of Democrats at the Georgia World Congress Center became a Hillary Clinton rally.
At 8:30 p.m. or so, hundreds of Clinton supporters, who paid $25 each to get in, were led to the stage to surround the candidate, who seemed pleased at the reception. A smaller crowd of Barack Obama supporters, who also purchased cheap seats, were left to cheer from the rear of the auditorium.
But we came across a pair of Obama operatives who seemed quite satisfied with themselves despite the spectacle. They said they’d bagged quite a few Edwards supporters today, and would release a list of their captured quarry on Thursday.
If there was one thing that Obama and Clinton supporters could agree on Wednesday, it was the size and energy of the crowd at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner. More than 4,000.
Even more worrying to Republicans should be the racial make-up of the crowd. A good portion of crowd, perhaps more than a majority, were white. People who might have quietly voted for another party in other days.
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Notes: Shirley Franklin on Obama; rural Dems courted by Clinton in person
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Notes from wandering around at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, while waiting for Hillary Clinton:
— Ran into Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who explained a little more about how Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pushed her out of neutral.
It was Obama’s victory speech in Iowa. “I was planning to stay out of it until that night. I was in my bedroom, cleaning out a stack of papers. It’s what I do — it’s a stress buster,” she said.
The speech simply bowled her over, Franklin said. “We need solutions, but we also need inspiration.”
She was complimentary about the Clintons, both of them. And denied that her “fairy tale” line in her Ebeneezer speech — which she wrote herself — was meant in anyway as a slap at the former president.
We scoffed, of course.
“Surely you don’t mean he’s the only one who can use the phrase ‘fairy tale,’” she replied in mock indignation.
— The Barack Obama campaign made an aborted attempt to address the largest gathering of Georgia Democrats in years by video. Technological problems proved too great.
— Then there was House Minority Leader DuBose Porter, a newspaper publisher down in Dublin who only last Sunday was hosting his candidate of choice, John Edwards.
Now Edwards is gone. And Porter had a personal, face-to-face appointment with Hillary Clinton after her speech this evening. “When they called, I said I’d love to meet with her,” he said.
But he said he would give any decision at least a few days, out of respect for Edwards.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes, another Edwards supporter, said something similar. “Can’t we let John Edwards’ body get cold first?” he asked. With a smile, of course.
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MLK III: ‘Maybe I’ll endorse in the Clinton-Obama race. Maybe I won’t.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Action has shifted away from the Baptists in the Georgia World Congress to the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner for Democrats.
The hall is packed. State Democratic Party chairman Jane Kidd put the crowd at 2,700 tickets sold at $250, and another 1,700 bleacher seats sold at $25. They’d been hoping to break 5,000, but the withdrawal of John Edwards this afternoon probably put a lid on turnout, Kidd said.
Even so, this is clearly the biggest gathering of Democrats since 2002, rivaling recent Republican bashes.
Among the first people we ran into was Martin Luther King III, who said he might possibly issue an endorsement in the presidential campaign now that it’s down to two people. He met only last week or so with John Edwards, and was complimentary about the North Carolinian’s campaign. But did not endorse.
“I think his message about poor people was so important,” King said. The two remaining candidates? Obama is good at building alliances, the diplomatic son of the slain civil rights leader said. Clinton’s got experience on her side.
A meeting with Clinton was possible this evening, King said, but there’s a lot of fund-raising going on. “I’ve continuously gotten calls from a number of people in both camps,” he said. “I’m getting close. I’m going to have to make a decision very shortly.”
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Hillary Clinton: ‘Each day I keep trying to improve on my imperfections’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama played nice in front of thousands of African-American church-goers gathered in Atlanta on Wednesday.
The audience was the National Baptist Conventions of America.
Obama, speaking via an unevenly streaming Internet connection, went first. Clinton appeared in person, her speech a prelude of an address she’ll make to Georgia Democrats who also gather at the Georgia World Congress Center this evening.
It’s the start of an all-Hillary night, given John Edwards’ withdrawal from the Democratic race today.
You can see details of his speech below, but Obama did make some veiled references to the back-and-forth between himself and both Clintons, decrying “politics that’s all about winning.” Though he did admit that Hillary Clinton’s candidacy had inspired women.
Clinton, for her part, spoke as if she and Obama hadn’t any differences at all.
During a 25-minute speech, the New York senator made only the barest references to the conflict that has polarized many of the black voters she’s been trying to reach.
“I should begin by acknowledging my husband is a Baptist. And I have learned from sitting around the kitchen, that Baptists have quite the tradition of disagreement. Sometimes the decibel level can rise, depending on the passion of the moment,” Clinton said at the outset.
At another point, she confessed, “So often, like all of us, I fall short. So each day I keep trying to improve my imperfections. that’s what I try to do not only in my personal life, but also in my public life.”
Her touchstones included John Lewis, who has endorsed her, the late Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela. She also promised to double federal funding for traditional black colleges such as Spelman and Morehouse.
Any invective Clinton saved for the Bush administration. “For the past seven years, our leaders have gotten it wrong. They’ve gotten it upside-down and backwards,” she said. “They have lifted up the drug and insurance companies, but vetoed health care for millions of children in need.”
Where Obama gave multiple mentions to the disproportionate number of young black men in prison, Clinton emphasized “nooses in schoolyards” — a reference to the Jena situation of last summer — and the failure of the federal government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“Our country deserves a president who rolls up his — or her — sleeves,” she said.
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Clinton has ‘evoked a lot of passion’ among women, Obama says
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama just finished his Internet-based address to the National Baptist Conventions in America.
The church meeting is at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, where Georgia Democrats will gather tonight for their Jefferson-Jackson Day fund-raising dinner.
Hillary Clinton’s due to speak to the same largely African-American group, in person, in a few minutes. She’ll hit Democrats later, with a $1,000 fund-raiser in between.
In his speech, Obama had some veiled references to his rival and her husband, decrying “politics that’s all about winning.”
But he acknowledged that, with John Edwards now out of the race, Democrats are poised to make history whoever wins the nomination. He credited Clinton with “evoking a lot of passion among women.”
Obama tried to strike a chord with the religious group, many of whom are pastors, by reminding them of his beginnings as a young attorney, working with churches on Chicago’s south side.
“Pastors are pushing this movement forward. I need each and everyone of you in the fight,” Obama said.
Several of the delegates stood after Obama finished, then with the encouragement of convention officials on the stage, so did the rest.
On the stage in support of Obama was former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, who is now mayor of Richmond, Va. But he couldn’t talk. Laryngitis, apparently.
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Waiting for Obama, Clinton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re here at the National Baptist Convention of America, which has filled one of the lower halls at the Georgia World Congress Center.
It’s a mostly African-American group, with several thousand in attendance, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is to address it. Hillary Clinton is due here at 4 p.m.
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McCain chasing endorsements from Isakson, Chambliss and Perdue?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We can’t vouch for the accuracy, but this blog post was allegedly filed from Republican John McCain’s plane, by someone called the Mad Irishman.
It’s a McCain-oriented site — that much we know.
The post drops the names of Isakson, Chambliss and Perdue:
Despite McCain’s talk, his allies were already working to quickly capitalize on his newfound front-runner status. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said he was confident California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would endorse the senator within a matter of days, said he had already called Georgia Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson to see if they were willing to endorse McCain before their state’s Feb. 5 primary.
“They’ll come as a package,” Graham said, adding he had told Chambliss — who is up for reelection this year — that backing McCain would prove to be an asset in the general election even if it would spark some criticism in the primary.
Other Republicans on Graham’s wish list? Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
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Competing for the Edwards vote: The Big Guy says Obama people have been ringing, but he’s sitting tight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Associated Press report was barely a hum on the wire when the competition for John Edwards votes began.
Given the tight races between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the South, Edwards’ supporters — who generally are white and more conservative Democrats — could make the difference in several states, including Georgia.
In essence, Ewdards supporters could become the brokers that their candidate never will be at this summer’s Denver convention.
Clinton’s web site has already posted an ode to Edwards. Obama supporters have been particularly busy in Georgia.
Mark Taylor, the former lieutenant governor, was one of Edwards’ biggest supporters in Georgia. “The Obama people are ringing my phone, but I’m just going to sit back and take it all in,” he said.
Now, if you know Taylor, you know he’s never been satisfied with playing the spectator. And it sounded like he was still angling for a trophy for his candidate.
“I’d like to see [Edwards] as attorney general. He could right a lot of the wrongs in the Bush administration,” Taylor said. “We need an aggressive attorney general.”
Happy, or at least mollified, Democrats are essential for a race that could be closer than many think, the lieutenant governor said — especially if Republicans nominate John McCain.
“He hates Lockheed, he hates the peanut program,” Taylor said, meaning that rural Georgia and parts of suburban could be up for grabs.
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McCain in Cobb County on Saturday, Mike Huckabee to preach in Marietta on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia will see at least two of the three top remaining Republican candidates for president over the weekend.
Fresh from his Florida victory, John McCain has a 5:30 p.m. Saturday rally in a ballroom at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in the Vinings area, off U.S. 41 near its intersection with I-285.
And we’ve just learned that Mike Huckabee, who finished fourth Tuesday but is focusing on Southern states, will preach at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta on Sunday. The church is one of the most politically active Southern Baptist churches in the state, and for a time was one of the largest.
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Ron Paul rally at the state Capitol on Saturday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just in case things start moving too fast, allow us to go ahead and tell you that the Republican campaign of Ron Paul has got a state Capitol rally planned for noon Saturday, Groundhog Day.
Participants include Rand Paul, son of the candidate, and the Ron Paul blimp. Plus many Georgia libertarians, including Garrett Michael Hayes. Music will be provided.
The Paul event conflicts with the Saturday gathering of the Georgia Christian Alliance, another Republican-oriented activity leading up to Super Tuesday. But somehow, we don’t think they’ll draw from the same pool of voters.
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Isakson won’t join Georgia revolt against economic stimulus package
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s seven Republican congressmen all voted against the 146 billion economic stimulus package passed by the Democratically controlled House and endorsed by President Bush.
The G-7, as they call themselves, wanted tax cuts, not rebates. “Sending out checks in a couple of months isn’t going to expand the economy, it’s just going to expand the deficit,” said U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County.
But as the seven Georgia House members were churning out their press releases, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson was on live TV, putting himself on the opposite side.
Isakson appeared on “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” representing the Republican side. With him was U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas).
See the full transcript and audio here. A few Isakson bits:
“I certainly have introduced some legislation today which will be focused on tomorrow in terms of overall reform in terms of the mortgage market and targeting tax credit to buy those homes that are staggering and are staggering our marketplace and depressing our prices.
“However, I must say, the House bill, agreed upon with the White House, is strategically surgical. It does put money in the hands of the consumer. It does advance both expensing and depreciation to small business. And it does partially address the mortgage industry problem by raising Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA limits.
“In the end, we should not protract the debate. We should move swiftly because in the end the people want the Congress of the United States to come to a bipartisan agreement…..
“I don’t think it serves either the economy well or quite frankly the Congress well for us to get into bits-and-piece arguments and protract the debate on this particular legislation.
“We probably should go ahead, adopt the House version, then move forward and open up phase two, which is looking at the things Blanche has talked about, looking at the mortgage market, look at invigorating business, look at empowering the free enterprise system, which, once and for all, as it always has, will be our savior in this situation.”
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Whether Kennedy-Clinton or McCain-Romney, the dynamics are familiar
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Suddenly, the parallels between the Republican and Democratic races for president have become more than striking.
In Florida tonight, the GOP race has narrowed to a two-man race between John McCain, the distrusted party maverick, and Mitt Romney, who has pieced together the remnants of the Bush establishment in the South.
On a very real level, this contest isn’t just for the White House. Tonight’s vote tallies will go a long way toward determining what team will be put in charge of the national Republican party apparatus. McCain in many respects represents a house-cleaning.
A similar dynamic has jumped up on the Democratic side. But to explain it we need to go back to 1980, when a much younger Ted Kennedy challenged incumbent President Jimmy Carter, who was seeking re-election.
Kennedy lost, but so did much-weakened Carter.
“The control of the Democratic National Committee has always been a paramount thing with a lot of Democrats. And the Kennedys have pretty well been in that position for quite some time,” said Bert Lance, the venerable Carter insider.
For the second time in three decades, Kennedy — through a this week’s alliance with Barack Obama — is attempting to thwart the extension of what’s left of the Southern faction in the party. Ignore the fact that Hillary Clinton is a senator from New York. Concentrate on her husband, and his accent.
Lance said Tuesday that the fault lines are similar. “I think there’s a worthy comparison there. I assume that not only control of the presidency, but control of the party is involved in this thing,” he said.
We asked if Carter ever got past Kennedy’s 1980 challenge, whether the pair ever made up. “From the standpoint of civility and everything, yes,” Lance said. “From the standpoint of not really understanding why, probably not.”
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People with poor word skills would call this ‘synergy’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We all know that Georgia Democrats will hold their Jefferson-Jackson Day fund-raiser in the Georgia World Congress Center on Wednesday night.
Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are attending.
We also know that four of the nation’s largest African-American Baptist conventions are meeting in Atlanta on the same day. In the same building. With thousands upon thousands of delegates from around the country.
To no one’s surprise, Clinton just announced she’s added the National Baptist Convention to her schedule for a 4 p.m. address.
Edwards’ people say he’ll have to give the Baptist convention a miss. He’s to be in New Orleans tomorrow afternoon, tapping nails into a Habitat for Humanity house.
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A last word from Florida: Reed is on the ground with Romney
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Associated Press has this interesting paragraph in its latest dispatch from Florida, describing a final Mitt Romney rally in Tampa:
Among those in attendance was a brew of his past and present supporters: Mike Murphy, a former strategist who has also worked with McCain; former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed; and senior adviser Ron Kaufman, who had been off the road for a week after Romney declared he had no lobbyists running his campaign…
Remember that Reed, the former chairman of the Georgia GOP, was the fellow assigned the task of turning out Florida voters during the 2004 Bush re-election campaign — when the GOP was worried about a repeat of the 2000 debacle.
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You can’t tell a New Yorker much — but especially not that
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s the link to the New Yorker article that is causing so much fuss, in which Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller says “everyone in the world knows” that Brian Nichols committed the rampage in the Fulton County courthouse that left a string of people dead.
The AJC story about the reaction to the judge’s comments can be found here.
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Rumor-killing: Kidd says it was Obama’s decision not to come
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Democratic party chairman Jane Kidd spent a few minutes this morning murdering a blog-generated rumor that presidential candidate Barack Obama had been somehow blocked from attending Wednesday night’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.
Which is kind of silly on the face of it, when you consider that the dinner is a fund-raiser, and Obama’s face would launch a thousand ticket sales. (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards will be at the Georgia World Congress Center event.)
The topic came up on Tim Bryant’s morning show on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens. He fed us this sound clip.
“[Obama] is invited and we’d love for him to come. We did get word from him the night before last that he was not going to be here, and we had set a rule long ago that we would not accept surrogates,” Kidd said.
“I respect the fact that he’s had to choose among wonderful opportunities, and he just had to choose a different place for tomorrow night.”
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Shafer to Grady: Hospital workers, heal thyselves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) has already introduced two measures aimed at Grady Memorial Hospital and its transition to an institution run by a non-profit corporation.
One would establish a legislative oversight committee to monitor the charity hospital, and a second would prohibit its board directors from having any financial interest in its operations.
Now he’s come up with a third, S.R. 748, urging the hospital to encourage employees to use Grady as the place where they go when they get sick.
“Grady spends $18 million annually providing health care for its 5,000 employees, but unlike most large hospital employers, does not encourage or require its employees to use Grady as their primary health care provider,” Shafer said in his press release.
That probably doesn’t get at the needs of your average R.N. who lives in the ‘burbs — Grady has no satellite outposts. But as a quality control measure, it might have an impact.
As far as that goes, Grady is only a block or two away from the state Capitol, home to thousands and thousands of state workers, plus a few hundred lawmakers. And state health insurance policies are so darned high.
Shafer says the bill has Democratic support, but the top six names on the measure are all Republican.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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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Kennedys get behind Barack Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Impressive lead on tonight’s report in the NYT:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy intends to endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama during a rally on Monday in Washington, associates to both men confirmed, a decision that squarely pits one American political dynasty against another.
And in a development nearly as important, Dale Cardwell, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, announced Sunday that he, too, was endorsing Obama:
“There is a powerful, brave voice rising out of Middle America, promoting hope and offering us a real chance to move our nation forward. That voice belongs to Senator Barack Obama.”
Meanwhile, reports on today’s Macon Telegraph web site indicate that neither Obama in Macon nor John Edwards in Dublin made much news in their post-South Carolina stops in middle Georgia on Sunday.
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Meet metro Atlanta’s new best friend in the state Capitol
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not enough time has passed to be certain. Speeches are not results.
But there is evidence that the larger forces of nature are working on the state Capitol — and that this still-newish House speaker from Paulding County, as volatile and harsh-spoken as he can be, is falling into a historic pattern set by a previous House speaker from west Georgia.
Glenn Richardson could be the next champion of metro Atlanta. Perhaps a blow-‘em-up, Bruce Willis kind of champion. But then, big cities have always been attracted to the bad boys. And vice versa.
First there was Grady Memorial Hospital. Last year, the House speaker became the first figure of import in a Republican-dominated Capitol to declare that the state’s largest provider of indigent health care shouldn’t be allowed to sink.
Then came last week’s pair of addresses, one to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and a second at the Atlanta Press Club.
In each, Richardson was a pent-up symphony of impatience on the topic of traffic congestion, the subject dearest to the hearts of business leaders north and south of I-20.
“We have done nothing, nothing, nothing,” Richardson said.
Earlier this month, the business community had again heard Gov. Sonny Perdue soft-pedal funding for roads and such in his annual state-of-the-state address.
This year, the word “transportation” actually crept into the governor’s text. But increased funding proposed by Perdue was limited to a $50 million revolving fund for local governments. This in a state with a funding gap for roads now estimated at $7.7 billion over the next six years.
Richardson’s differences with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle are more of a matter of attitude than substance. Cagle, leader of the Senate, has said the Legislature will “probably” address a sales tax for transportation before it adjourns this spring.
Last week, Richardson turned “probably” into “definitely.”
Even with immediate action, a constitutional amendment for the tax would still have to be loaded on the November ballot for voter approval, the House speaker said. Road-builders would see no money until mid-2009. Delay action this session, and an 18-month delay becomes 42 months.
“I do not believe that Atlanta and the state of Georgia can wait three-and-a-half years to start doing something about transportation,” Richardson said. The speaker promised a vote.
Personal experience has much to do with Richardson’s attitude. When speaking up for Grady, the speaker harkened back to an involuntary trip he made there, the result of an auto accident. When it comes to traffic, a daily, 60-mile round-trip commute makes Richardson, like many of you, an expert.
(It’s worth noting that, during a visit to the Capitol, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee last week gave social conservatives permission to be concerned with traffic gridlock because of the way it robs kids of time with their parents.)
But history, not just biography, also may be pushing Richardson into urban arms. When his obituary appeared in December, many were shocked by the notation that former House speaker Tom Murphy, the consumate rural politician from Bremen, Ga., was considered in many ways the father of modern Atlanta. MARTA, the interstate system, the Georgia World Congress Center and the Georgia Dome all bear his signature.
Politicians elected statewide are ill-equipped to stand up for giant municipalities. Governors and lieutenant governors must deal with the resentment that springs up in the rest of Georgia. Ask Roy Barnes.
But speakers are a different breed. With so much influence over the state budget, they are the dragons who keep a jealous watch over the cash that flows into and out of the billion-dollar treasure horde. And metro Atlanta provides the bulk of state tax revenue.
Murphy often said that, regardless of his differences with the Big City, it was his responsibility to make sure that the economic engine of Georgia ran smoothly.
The job is made easier by the fact that a speaker answers only to 60,000 voters in his district, and the 179 House members who keep him in power. “I think there’s some protection in that,” said Ben Harbin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
But Harbin said Richrdson’s personality shouldn’t be discounted. “He thinks bold, he’s willing to take the heat, take the arrows, take the shots,” Harbin said.
This, in fact, could be the crux of the matter. No one knows what kind of relationship will develop between Richardson and metro Atlanta.
But with some degree of certainty, we know this: It won’t be a quiet one.
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Lanier joins race against Chambliss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s another Democrat in the race to unseat Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss this fall.
Josh Lanier of Statesboro, a Vietnam vet and former staffer to Georgia political icon Sen. Herman Talmadge, said Friday that he’s joining the Democratic primary race in hopes of taking on Chambliss in the fall.
Lanier said in an interview that he wouldn’t formally announce his candidacy until after Georgia’s Feb. 5 presidential primary.
“I figured that if I don’t do this now, I’ll regret it,” said Lanier, who has had an exploratory out scouting the political terrain over the past three months.
Lanier spent about 30 years working in Washington, first for the Army, then Talmadge’s office. He worked for several associations and then as a private consultant before he helped found LightStream Technologies, which developed water and air cleaning technologies.
Lanier faces at least three other candidates in the July 15 Democratic primary: DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, former TV reporter Dale Cardwell and environmental scientist Rand Knight.
At a time when voters are expressing frustration bordering on contempt for Congress - and Washington in general - Lanier will bill his campaign as a referendum on the corrupting influence of money on politics, particularly campaign finance reform.
“We’re going to lead by example,” he said. “There’ll be some very unique and unusual things we’re going to be doing in this campaign.”
One of the key decisions Lanier made about his campaign is that, unlike any other contenders, he will raise money according to restrictive campaign-finance proposal that, because Congress hasn’t passed it yet, no other candidates will held to.
“What we want to do is make Georgia ground zero for campaign finance reform,” he said. I won’t play the money game. I have spent exactly zero hours dialing for dollars.”
The proposed law, the Fair Elections Now Act, would require Lanier to test his support by generating $5 contributions, first from 500 people and then 4,000 statewide. His largest contributions would limited to $100.
Meanwhile, Chambliss has $4 million in the bank as of last September, the latest campaign-finance documents available.
“I may have to have a sign on the back my car that says, ‘Will campaign for gas money,’” Lanier said.
DOT chairman: House speaker offered him a job to quit race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mike Evans, the chairman of the state transportation board, said Friday that House Speaker Glenn Richardson offered him a state job to tempt Evans out of an upcoming race for another term.
Evans said state Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, first delivered the offer last week on Richardson’s behalf.
Evans said the offer was to replace Jimmy Benefield, the retiring legislative lobbyist for the state Department of Transportation. As a DOT board member, Evans’ expenses are paid but he is paid no salary.
“The speaker would put his arm around me and say what a great job he thought I would do, and based on my experience at DOT and my experience in the General Assembly, that I would be welcomed with open arms — in exchange for dropping out,” Evans told our AJC colleague Ariel Hart.
Evans said he encountered Richardson later, the same day that Smith approached him with the offer. “[Richardson] made a comment that he thought this would be an easy way out for everybody,” the DOT chairman said.
Clelia Davis, a spokeswoman for Richardson, didn’t confirm Evans’ account, but didn’t deny it, either. “The speaker does not control the hiring of DOT staff. All he could ever do is offer to help,” she said.
Evans got cross-ways with Richardson late last year, when he voted to make Gena Abraham the new DOT commissioner. Abraham’s candidacy was put forward by Gov. Sonny Perdue. Richardson had backed Smith.
Evans’ term as a DOT board member is set to expire, but his reelection by state House and Senate members in his district has not yet been scheduled.
On Thursday, in a speech to the Atlanta Press Club, Richardson declared that members of the DOT board need to be held accountable for a $7 billion funding gap for state roadways.
“Hundreds, thousands of projects that have been promised to communities have no money,” Richardson said. “We have a new commissioner. But under our constitution, those transportation dollars and all those projects were approved by that board. And it’s time for accountability. Someone on the state board of transportation needs to be held accountable.
“I want to know why someone didn’t say something about this before two weeks ago. Why has it been hidden, and why didn’t the board in charge of that know that?” the speaker asked.
Evans is punching back, arguing that he is part of the reform wing of the DOT board, and has been sounding the alarm for two years. Part of the reform effort, he said, was bringing Abraham on board.
On Friday, Evans released copies of two letters he sent to Richardson, detailing the funding shortfall and the coming crisis. One was sent in December 2006. It included a list of threatened projects in the speaker’s House district. Here’s a copy.
“The fact is, Georgia is in a transportation crisis. Dramatic increases in construction and right-of-way costs over the last 12 to 18 months…[have] made the predicament unavoidable,” Evans wrote.
A second letter can be seen here.
McCain grabs his share of Thompson leftovers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And now John McCain steps up to claim his share of Fred Thompson’s abandoned spoils in Georgia.
The Republican presidential candidate’s campaign just announced the following Thompson supporters have jumped on the McCain bandwagon:
— Steve Croy of Richmond Hill, who was Thompson’s money man in Georgia;
— State Rep. Buddy Carter, the former mayor of Pooler;
— Former state House minority leader Bob Irvin of Atlanta;
— Joel McElhannon of Atlanta, formerly Thompson’s regional political director;
— David Gellatly, Chatham County commissioner;
— and Bill Knowles, Bibb County commissioner.
Newt finds a reason to like the New York Times
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got an email from an excited Newt Gingrich.
The former Georgian and ex-House Speaker, who has written - oh, 600 or 700 - books, has a new one hitting the shelves, “Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works,” about the benefits that could be reaped tomorrow by forcing real change in Washington today.
It’s already a “Main Selection” of the Conservative Book Club. Not exactly a shock.
But “Real Change” is also going to debut on the Feb. 3 New York Times Bestseller List. It’ll be No. 6, Newt said in an email thanking friends for boosting book sales by talking it up among their friends.
On the literary scene that’s an impressive showing.
Still, two other Georgia politicos-turned-authors, Rep. John Linder, a Duluth Republican, and radio talk show host Neal Boortz, in 2005 wrote “The FairTax Book” about a national consumption tax that would replace federal income taxes. It debuted on the Times Bestsellers List, too. At No. 1.
So, if Newt starts getting snickering phone calls in the middle of the night we’ll have at least two suspects.
Obama, Edwards in Georgia on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It looks like middle Georgia will be something of a Democratic battleground on Sunday, the day after the South Carolina primary.
We told you earlier this morning that John Edwards will be in Dublin. Details are here. Now we’ve gotten word that Barack Obama will be in Macon, speaking at the 11 a.m. service of the Harvest Cathedral.
No word on any local activity by Hillary Clinton.
The visits come as a new Rasmussen poll of Georgia has Obama up by six percentage points over Clinton: Obama, 41 percent; Clinton, 35 percent; and Edwards at 13 percent.
Among Republicans, Rasmussen says Mike Huckabee has retained that fat lead that an AJC poll gave him last week. Rasmussen says: Huckabee, 34 percent; John McCain, 19 percent; Mitt Romney, 16 percent; Ron Paul, 12 percent; and Rudy Giuliani, 11 percent.
Rasmussen says the same GOP voters see McCain as the most electable Republican. “Seventy percent believe he would be at least somewhat likely to win the White House if nominated,” the polling firm reports.
And that’s why they call it puppy love
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As other Republican candidates reach into Georgia to scoop up survivors of the Fred Thompson campaign, it’s helpful to review the steps some presidential operations are willing to take in order to tap into a local figure’s network of political contacts.
Last May, Secretary of State Karen Handel had a leisurely, get-to-know-me session with a visiting Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
As the more weighty aspects of the conversation tailed off, the subject of Romney’s time in Salt Lake City, as savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics, rose up.
Handel wondered out loud if Romney knew Donny Osmond, who was rumored to live in Utah. The candidate said, yes, he knew the family.
Politicians often wear their frailties on their sleeves. For some it is sex. Others have a weakness for booze or cocaine or dice.
For Karen Handel, an otherwise intelligent and mature, 45-year-old woman of serious accomplishment, it is a lifelong crush on a boy pop singer. She still suffers from puppy love.
She has “The Best of Donny Osmond” on her iPhone. She has dragged her ever-tolerant husband to Donny Osmond concerts filled with squealing women who bring with them the Donny Osmond lunch boxes they scored during their training-bra-and-“Tiger-Beat” years.
“It is a specific age group. It’s for those of us who are between 40 and 48,” Handel explained. Older women have to be satisfied with Ricky Nelson or Elvis or Davy Jones. Those younger — well, who knows?
With Romney and Handel that particular day in May was Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to Gov. Sonny Perdue and Romney’s man in Georgia. Tanenblatt can recognize an opportunity when he sees one.
How well do you really know the Osmonds? the operative asked the candidate after they left Handel’s office.
Well enough, Romney replied.
The next month, Handel found a follow-up conference call with Romney on her calendar.
“The phone rings, and it was ‘Hi, Karen, this is Donny,’” Handel recounted.
“Donny who?”
“Donny Osmond.”
“The real-for-real Donny Osmond?”
The same, replied the real-for-real Donny Osmond.
Handel confirmed widespread reports that teenage-style screaming echoed through the state Capitol. But the Georgia secretary of state says the conversation itself was a blur.
Witnesses identified topics of discussion as the Osmond 1970s venture into Saturday morning cartoons, and an upcoming concert marking Donny Osmond’s 50th birthday.
And there were witnesses. After Handel and her idol hung up their phones, so did a half-dozen, satisfied Romney operatives in Boston, who had been monitoring the call.
It is important to note here that Handel, whose job it is to supervise state elections, hasn’t made an endorsement in the 2008 presidential race. Mike Huckabee dropped by on Tuesday, but she has no plans to pick sides.
“I’m really just not on fire about any one candidate at this point,” she said.
Edwards to be in Dublin on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We have few details yet, but we’ve got a first report that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will be in Dublin on Sunday afternoon, pressing his rural South strategy.
This will be the day after the Saturday primary in South Carolina. Which means that regardless of where he finishes, the candidate plans to continue.
Sweeping up after Thompson: Romney adds 11 to his list
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign on Thursday rolled out a list of 11 Republican state lawmakers it had gathered up in the wake of the collapse of the Fred Thompson campaign.
Top among them was House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart of Powder Springs. Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah switched from Thompson to Romney on Monday — a day ahead of Thompson’s exit.
In a press conference at the state Capitol, Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter of Alpharetta declared that Romney had now supplanted Thompson as the Republican campaign with the most state lawmakers on its side.
“You’ll see more next week. I’ll make that prediction,” Burkhalter said. The No. 2 leader of the House said Romney’s new emphasis on economics was registering with all the current talk of a downturn.
“Really, we need someone who’s a turnaround artist,” he said.
Romney organized missed at least one lawmaker. As the press conference began, state Sen. Chip Rogers of Woodstock, who until Tuesday was head of the Thompson campaign in Georgia, trundled down an adjacent set of stairs.
The Romney converts waved him over. Rogers quickly ducked out of sight.
Among those newly pledged to Romney, in addition to Johnson and Ehrhart:
— Sen. John Douglas of Social Circle
— Sen. Lee Hawkins of Gainesville
— Sen. Cecil Staton of Macon
— Rep. Tim Bearden of Villa Rica
— Rep. Steve Davis of McDonough
— Rep. Johnny Floyd of Cordele
— Rep. Doug Holt of Social Circle
— Rep. Billy Horne of Newnan
— Rep. John Lunsford of McDonough
— Rep. Tom Rice of Norcross.
Westmoreland takes the no-pork pledge
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the second time this week, a Republican congressman from Georgia has vowed to give up pork.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville brought home $750,000 last year in earmarked funding. But he said Thursday that he’s giving them up while he tries to reform a process that allows lawmakers to avoid public scrutiny of their pet projects by quietly slipping their funding requests into massive federal spending bills.
“I have two main goals,” Westmoreland said in a statement. “First, I want to lead by example and I want to send a serious message to the people in Georgia’s 3rd District that I share their concern about Washington spending. Second, I want to work to reform how Washington does business.”
Westmoreland’s announcement comes just two days after Republican Rep. Tom Price of Roswell took the no-earmark pledge.
Westmoreland said the use of congressional earmarks is just as bad under Democrats as it was when Republicans controlled Congress. He wants the House to study the use of earmarks - and suspend all earmarks until that study is complete.
Last year, more than 11,000 earmarks worth $15 billion were added to budget bills. Georgia lawmakers submitted 180 of those earmarks worth more than $200 million.
“It’s the same old, same old: It’s more fun to eat pork than to cut the fat,” Westmoreland said. “Year after year, we just loosen our belts a little more. It’s time to step away from the table and control our appetites.”
The debate over H.R. 536 takes on some very Baptist overtones
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As if things weren’t awkward enough around the state Capitol, the Legislature is about to dip deep into church politics.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson this morning announced that he’s brought on Kirby Godsey as an unpaid policy advisor.
Godsey is the former president of Mercer University, and remains a very popular fellow in Macon. There was some talk about him running for mayor last year.
But he’s not so welcome among many Baptist fundamentalists. Godsey was at the center of a long-running schism among Georgia Baptists — over topics such as biblical literalism, homosexuality, abortion and the role of women in religious affairs.
The fight was among people who labeled themselves conservatives and moderates, there being an extreme shortage of liberals among Southern Baptists. Godsey was in the moderate camp, i.e., the losing side, in the power struggle.
Much of the dispute played out at Mercer, which was affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, but not controlled by it. After an unsuccessful effort to assert its power over the university’s board of trustees, the convention voted two years ago to cut its ties with the university.
Godsey retired shortly afterwards.
Why does Godsey’s appointment matter? And what kind of policy requires the House speaker to acquire theological underpinnings?
Supporters of H.R. 536, a proposed constitutional amendment to establish that human life begins at fertilization, have proven particularly aggressive this year.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was brought to the Capitol on Tuesday to endorse the measure.
Perhaps more importantly, supporters of the bill — the Georgia Right to Life organization chief among them — have won the ear of the Georgia Baptist Convention, the state’s largest denomination. The Baptist organization recently sent out a pair of DVDs to every member church, outlining the details of the bill.
The speaker hasn’t taken a position on H.R. 536, but many Republicans think it a bridge too far, likely to raise objections among suburban women for — among other things — the impact it might have on accepted forms of contraception.
Given past tensions with Godsey, supporters of H.R. 536 won’t like the idea of the former university president advising Richardson on the bill. But there’s no doubt that Godsey speaks fluent Baptist, and knows the ins-and-outs of church politics. Which the speaker now needs to know about.
Georgia Baptist Day at the state Capitol is Feb. 12. We’ll see if it works.
Price gets national political seat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Tom Price of Roswell has been drafted to serve on the national committee that doles out cash and other help to Republican congressional candidates at a time when the GOP’s money is short and the number of open seats it has to hold onto is growing.
Price was given an executive committee spot of the National Republican Congressional Committee once held by Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). Wicker moved to the Senate to replace retiring Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.).
“Tom Price is a hard-working member and a team player,” NRCC chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in a statement. “Having his help on the NRCC Executive Committee will be a tremendous asset.”
Price will take his seat at the table at a time when retirements and resignations of House Republicans is growing, leaving the party with the ever-growing burden of finding and funding candidates that can hold on to those districts.
And it’s no better off financially. The committee’s budget has only just started to run in the black after the committee spent more than a year paying off a multimillion dollar debt run up in 2006.
In the same NRCC statement, Price expressed no concerns about the daunting challenges facing the NRCC.
“We have a terrific opportunity to demonstrate to the American people the fundamental differences between the two parties in Washington,” he said.
An Agatha Christie-style excursion for David Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat, departs today for Colombia with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to talk a little trade and a little murder.
The Rice-led delegation will meet with government and business leaders to deliver a firm message from congressional Democrats and one of their most important constituencies, labor unions: Stop the violence against trade unionists or lose out on a U.S.-Colombia trade pact.
The trade agreement with Colombia was signed in 2006, but Congress refuses to approve it this year unless the Colombian government finds a way to reduce the murders and death threats.
“I plan on asking tough questions about violence against members of the press and union members,” Scott said in a statement.
And, because all politics is local, Scott added, “In addition, I will be taking a close look at trade and business issues that may benefit Georgia companies.”
Hard times for Giuliani in Florida: ‘He couldn’t be elected governor’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Florida poll conducted by a trio of media outlets is likely to set the tone in the Republican presidential race today.
“Rudy Giuliani has hit the skids in a Florida freefall that could shatter his presidential campaign and leave a two-man Republican contest in the state between John McCain and Mitt Romney,” says the Miami Herald, which conducted the poll — along with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.
”He may be running for president, but with these numbers he wouldn’t be elected governor of Florida,” said Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, whose firm helped conduct the survey.
The poll has McCain at 25 percent and Romney at 23 percent, a statistical dead heat. But Giuliani has dropped from a leading 36 percent in November down to 15 percent. Mike Huckabee comes in a close fourth.
Giuliani has six days to turn it around. Counting today.
Speaker Richardson: Money for transportation this year, not later
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Wednesday night, about 250 residents of metro Atlanta who might call themselves movers and shakers assembled to discuss how little they actually shook. Or moved.
It was a Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce event, an evening to discuss legislative priorities with Republican leaders of the General Assembly. Transportation was the obvious priority.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle spoke first, we’re told. He stuck to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s talking points. No extra state funds could be ventured on improving the state’s transportation problems until the state Department of Transportation has been reorganized.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson followed. And he did not agree. He promised a House vote this session. Not on the promise of cash — Cagle has said he’s in favor of a November vote on a constitutional amendment for a special local option sales tax.
Richardson said he was ready to talk about the real thing. Money. This session.
The House speaker did mention that, if incompetence and disorganization were a problem at DOT, it might be worth looking at the current make-up of the DOT board.
A vote on that particular topic will be held next week.
But Richardson also spoke of his horrendous daily commute from Paulding County. (Weep only gently for the man. He does have a state-paid driver.) Nonetheless, the current timetable, the speaker said, could delay added funds for transportation for another 18 to 24 months. Completion of projects could extend to 2018 or later.
That, he said, was unacceptable. Richardson is scheduled to address the Atlanta Press Club at noon on Thursday. His address to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce was a dress rehearsal, we’re told.
MLK III to John Edwards: No endorsement, but ‘keep going’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometime during his icy, in-and-out visit to Atlanta on Saturday, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards carved out enough time to have a face-to-face with Martin Luther King III.
Edwards didn’t come away with an endorsement, which is perhaps why his campaign hasn’t made a huge deal of it, but a letter from Marty King is now posted on the Edwards national web site.
King credits Edwards with “almost single-handedly” making poverty a campaign issue. The most encouragement King offered, however, was this:
“I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horse race, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.”
Read the entire letter on the jump.
January 20, 2008
The Honorable John R. Edwards
410 Market Street
Suite 400
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Dear Senator Edwards:
It was good meeting with you yesterday and discussing my father’s legacy. On the day when the nation will honor my father, I wanted to follow up with a personal note.
There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father’s legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.
I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are - a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.
You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don’t have lobbyists in Washington and they don’t get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.
I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America.
From our conversation yesterday, I know this is personal for you. I know you know what it means to come from nothing. I know you know what it means to get the opportunities you need to build a better life. And, I know you know that injustice is alive and well in America, because millions of people will never get the same opportunities you had.
I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.
So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.
Sincerely,
Martin L. King, III
Obama goes up on TV in Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They won’t give us the size of the buy, or say whether it’s broadcast, or simply cable, but Barack Obama’s operation is telling us this ad will go up statewide, beginning Thursday.
Others are telling the Obama campaign is making a modest entry into the state. The buy is $150,000 in Atlanta, $38,000 in Macon, and a smidgen in Columbus. Both the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns have been up in Augusta and Savannah for a couple weeks — because of their shared border with South Carolina.
The 30-second spot has something of an introductory feel, very much pointed at the Democratic center: middle-class tax cuts, troops out of Iraq, bipartisanship on health care, etc.
We’re 13 days from the Feb. 5 presidential primary, which makes this ad a tad early — unless it’s aimed at capturing absentee and early voters. Early voting starts Monday. Absentees are already being cast.
Support for a third party? Not so much
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tom Crawford at Capitol Impact has come across a Gallup poll that throws cold water on the third-party candidacy of Michael Bloomberg — and any former Georgia senator the New York mayor might ask to be his running mate.
Says Crawford:
In a nationwide telephone poll of 2,010 randomly selected adults conducted Jan. 10-13, respondents were asked: “Is there any candidate running this year that you think would make a good president, or not?” An overwhelming 85 percent said “yes,” compared to just 11 percent who answered “no.”
Respondents were also asked, “Are the presidential candidates talking about the issues you really care about, or not?” While 72 percent answered “yes,” only 24 percent answered “no.”
“The data show that Americans are quite positive about the candidates running for president so far, and believe they have suggested good solutions to the nation’s problems, marking a sharp contrast with what these same measures showed in early 1992,” said Frank Newport of Gallup.
“Thus, while dissatisfaction in general is high, the American public does not appear to believe it is important or necessary for an independent candidate outside of the traditional two major parties to step into the race in order to save the nation,” Newport added.
Andy Young on ‘The Colbert Report:’ A video appearance that works
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A very big hat tip on this one to A Typical Joe, a blogger who keeps much later hours than we do:
Last Tuesday night, former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young did a great deal to get himself past the embarrassment of that Bill Clinton-is-blacker-than-Obama video with an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”
Surprisingly, it was more serious than not.
It should be rebroadcast at 8 p.m. tonight. Or you can click here to watch it.
Host Stephen Colbert began with a video account of a 1969 hospital workers strike in Charleston, S.C. Nasty stuff — cops manhandling women workers and such. It turns out that Young and Colbert’s dad, a hospital administrator, were the two lead negotiators — on opposite sides. Good shots of Young with an Afro, and a much more pronounced Southern accent. Geez, he was just a kid.
The video clip was followed by a live appearance by the former Atlanta mayor. “I’m more than your new black friend. I am your destiny,” Young told his host.
Young said he and Colbert should try their hand at settling the writer’s strike, with a caveat that he learned in Charleston.
Young: “The key to settling it was neither of us got credit. And so you have to settle this strike.”
Colbert: “And not get credit?”
Young: “And not get credit.”
Colbert: “I like to take credit for things.”
Young: “Being humble is a difficult task.”
The former United Nations ambassador kicked it with these words of encouragement: “Listening to you practice in here, you need some writers.”
And the pair closed by singing “Let My People Go.” Really.
The robo-call and a distant apology
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So on Martin Luther King Day, a ticked-off white telemarketer sends out a batch of automated phone calls, targeting residents of black Atlanta with feigned outrage that U.S. Rep. John Lewis has refused to endorse another African-American in the race for president.
There are times when you think the human farce has no boundary left to push.
But then you come across the whereabouts of Lewis, who was not in Atlanta on Monday — and so was not at home to take his automated phone call.
Lewis was in Rock Hill, S.C., where the white mayor of that border city handed the congressman a formal apology for the beating he received there as a 21-year-old in 1961, while attempting to integrate the local bus terminal.
“I hope that by our reception today, you recognize that we are a better place, a better people,” said Mayor Doug Echols.
And perhaps some of us are.
Price goes cold turkey on pork
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Tom Price has been railing against the congressional “earmark” process that allows lawmakers to sneak funding for their pet projects into massive spending bills without public scrutiny.
But last year alone Price used earmarks to secure more than $600,000 for his district, including an expansion of the Cobb County expressway. He was among the 12 Georgia congressmen who requested about 180 earmarks worth more than $200 million.
But that typical congressional attitude - to condemn publicly and benefit privately - has got to end, Price said Tuesday.
And so to bolster his own credibility on the issue and set a daunting standard for others, Price said he’s no longer going to ask for earmarks that would fund projects back home.
“This was a while in coming,” Price said. “It was time to stand up or leave.”
Indeed, the earmark system has remained in place so long because many members of Congress view the task of bringing money back home as a top priority, maybe even their No. 1 duty in Washington.
With Congress at an all-time low in popularity, the majority Democrats this year sought public favor by cutting back the number of earmarks allowed and for the first time required House members who made the requests publicly identify themselves.
But Price and other conservatives say that’s not enough; more than 11,000 earmarks still found their way into the 2008 federal budget. All circumvented public scrutiny and too many, Price said, benefited private companies or campaign donors.
Price said he’s not going to leave local projects complete unfunded. There are less controversial ways to secure money for roads, water treatment plants, etc., including federal grants for which projects from around the country must compete.
“I believe the system is corrupt,” Price said, “and it has to be changed.”
Boortz and Huckabee: On a consumption tax, immigration
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In between holding conferences with the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and a raftful of lawmakers at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made time for a call to talk radio guru Neal Boortz.
From a conference room in Gov. Sonny Perdue’s quarters, we think.
Boortz and Huckabee share an interest in a national consumption tax, to put it mildly. The “Fair Tax” is the copyrighted phrase.
Their conversation, broadcast on WSB Radio (750 AM) was friendly. Boortz asked Huckabee whether he was worried that his support for the tax could become a liability — a boosted sales tax has proven a plump general election target for Democrats.
Huckabee said most people are swayed by his contention that the consumption tax would result in the disappearance of the Internal Revenue Service. Listen to him here.
Huckabee also talked about health care and the economy. So far as we know, the topic of abortion — Boortz and Huckabee are on different sides — didn’t come up.
But Huckabee’s critics within Republican circles have often focused on immigration. Here’s what the candidate said about that, too.
Discuss.
Marshall, Barrow not Democratic enough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are Yellow Dog Democrats who’ll vote for a mutt ahead of a Republican and the centrist Blue Dog Democrats and now bloggers give us the “Bush Dog Democrats,” a group that no Democrat would join voluntarily during primary-campaign season.
But Georgia Reps. Jim Marshall of Macon and John Barrow of Savannah were drafted for a list of conservative Democrats who bloggers believe are betraying their party and aiding President Bush’s conservative agenda. The bloggers are inviting progressive Democrats to challenge the Bush Dogs in this year’s primaries.
Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com created a list of Bush Dogs and explained in this earlier story how and why this intraparty feud has grown.
Don’t be surprised by the demographics of the Bush Dogs. Most are from southern red states or districts with conservative voting records not unlike those Southern Democrats of yore. “Southern white dudes,” is how political scientist Tom Schaller put it.
Marshall and Barrow, are in toss-up districts that produced two of the closest races in the nation in 2006. And both argue they’re voting according to their district’s - and not their party’s - interests.
“These members are not voting their districts, they are just conservatives,” OpenLeft retorts. “Bush Dog Democrats are dragging down the rest of the party.”
Marshall, the group said “has one of the most reactionary records - across the board - of any member of the House Democratic caucus.” It includes a photo of Marshall with former Sen. Zell Miller, who joined with Republicans to re-elect Bush in 2004.
Barrow, the bloggers said, “is busy undercutting Democrats and the Democratic message.” It includes a campaign ad in which Barrow brags of his defiance of the national party.
Democrats urging other Democrats to run against Democrats. Man, with friends like these…
We’ve got the audio on that Obama/Lewis robo-call
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Listen to it here, courtesy of reader John Thigpen.
Turns out the co-founder of an Atlanta phone-bank firm says he did it on his own. Read the story here.
Here’s the script:
“John Lewis has repeatedly refused to endorse a fellow member of the Black Caucus running for president, Senator Barack Obama. If you want to tell your congressman, John Lewis, that you want him to support a fellow member of the [Congressional] Black Caucus for president, call his office at 404-659-0116.
“Don’t be afraid to call, and remember, King Day is on Jan. 21 this year. And we shouldn’t have a congressman in King’s own home city refusing to endorse a member of the Black Caucus. So call his office at 404-659-0116, and ask him to support Senator Barack Obama.”
The number cited is indeed that of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ Atlanta office. The Obama campaign quickly denied responsibility for the robo-call, and said it’s asking Attorney General Thurbert Baker to investigate.
Of fried squirrel and Huckabee’s Southern strategy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before addressing a crowd of anti-abortion supporters, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee swept through the state Capitol on Tuesday, trying to gather up Republican lawmakers who had been pledged to the sinking presidential campaign of Fred Thompson.
Huckabee quickly had private visits with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, and Gov. Sonny Perdue. But his most important time may have been 15 minutes with a couple dozen lawmakers, many of whom had been Thompson fans. Significantly, Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour was in the crowd.
In that meeting, Huckabee outlined what is essentially a Southern strategy for the Feb. 5, Super Tuesday primaries. While not conceding Florida, he essentially implied that he planned to scoop up the Southern states that Mitt Romney and John McCain might overlook in their race for the biggest prizes.
This is exactly what Huckabee said:
“Frankly, we believe Georgia is a critical state for us in that there are more delegates in Georgia than there are in Florida. Florida got penalized pretty heavily due to the fact that their moving their primary up.
“While that’s an important place for us and we’ll be there tonight, and tomorrow and we’ll be there Thursday — we’ll be there a lot — we also know that these Southern states on Feb. 5 — Georgia and Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma — are all going to be critical, critical states.”
Huckabee said he had no special knowledge, but that the end of Thompson’s campaign was a certainty.
He said:
“It certainly will make a big change in the landscape for us. We know a lot of the people in the South are in midst of deciding what two Southerners they’ll be with. I hope now we’ll be able to solidify a lot of support….”
As we suggested he might, Huckabee also talked a good bit about small business:
”This country is looking for people who have an authenticity about what they believe, a clarity about it. Not reticent to speak firmly about issues like the sanctity of human life, the role of traditional marriage, the importance of the second amendment, the fact that we need lower, not higher taxes.
“We face some real challenges economically. I’m personally one who believes that it’s high time for the government to change its overall tax structure. To me getting rid of the IRS and moving to the Fair Tax makes a lot more sense. It’s the greatest economic recovery package that we could ultimately have. Right now, we have a system that makes it real tough, particularly for small business owners, to succeed. Our party used to be a party that really fought for small business. And we’re going to lose — not just elections — but we’re going to lose a broad base of our support if we don’t [show] that we understand that that’s where 80 percent of new jobs are ultimately created.”
But Huckabee didn’t leave out that taste of populism he’s become noted for:
“I represent that part of the Republican party that’s maybe been overlooked. We don’t necessarily have our roots deep into wall street, but we do have them deep into Main Street….”
Two additional notes: If they backed him, Huckabee — who identified himself as a Razorback — said he might be willing to sing the University of Georgia fight song.
The topic of grits came up, as it usually does in these situations. And that segued into a Huckabee tale of his cooking experiences in college — where hot plates were barred but popcorn poppers permitted.
“In my dorm, we figured out that we didn’t care that much for popcorn, but we would go hunting and fry squirrel in the popcorn popper,” Huckabee said. The former governor said his culinary tastes have improved.
Huckabee also was on the Neal Boortz show (WSB AM750) this morning. We’ll post some of the sound as soon as we can process it.
Obama campaign says it’s not behind robo-calls attacking John Lewis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Looks like robo-calls have become part of the Democratic presidential race in Georgia.
The Barack Obama campaign, under the name of Georgia director Eureka Gilkey, has just put out this notice to supporters:
“The Obama campaign in Georgia has received reports from residents in the metro-Atlanta area about automated calls criticizing Congressman John Lewis for not supporting Barack Obama for president.
“These kinds of attacks are misleading and divisive, and the Obama campaign has nothing to do with them. Congressman John Lewis is a hero whose courage and sacrifice have made this country more equal and more just, and all Americans owe him a debt of gratitude.
“We strongly condemn these phone calls and hope that whoever is responsible for them stops making these calls immediately.”
Needless to say, if anyone out there snares the audio, we’d like to hear it. MP3’s are great, but we can work with other formats as well.
Just trying to be helpful: Democrat wants AG to weigh in on overrides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As part of a never-ending effort to assist Republicans in sorting out their differences, Democrats at the state Capitol have formally entered the override debate.
State Rep. Keven Levitas (D-Atlanta) has hand-delivered a letter to Attorney General Thurbert Baker, also a Democrat, seeking an official opinion on how quickly the Senate is required to address the House votes to override 12 gubernatorial vetoes last week.
Levitas posed the following questions to Baker:
1) “If the House votes to override a bill vetoed by the Governor and then transmits the bill to the Senate, must the Senate vote for passage or rejection of the override of the veto?”
2) “If the answer to the first question is affirmative and the Senate fails to vote for passage or rejection of the override of the veto, what is the time frame within which the Senate must act?”
3) “If the answer to the first question is affirmative and the Senate fails to vote for passage or rejection of the override of the veto, what are the legal consequences and also what action be taken to compel the Senate to so vote?”
Given Baker’s past eagerness to jump between warring Republicans, we expect his answer any year now.
A Democratic primary debate conducted in code — mostly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning and into the afternoon, all you had to do to see into the heart of the Democratic presidential primary was to look deeply into your television screen, and listen.
Carefully.
First came Barack Obama, on ABC’s “Good Morning, America,” to complain about President Bill Clinton’s criticism of the Obama movement.
“You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling,” Obama said. “He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts — whether it’s about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas.”
Obama was in a TV studio, not a church. He could speak plainly.
The rest of the conversation occurred in Georgia, and was mostly in code. At the new Ebeneezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue, in the midst of the Martin Luther King ceremonies, Mayor Shirley Franklin — a newly confessed Obama supporter — was the most brazen.
The mayor marveled at a presidential race that included a Mormon, a Baptist preacher, a former First Lady, and a black man. She told of a country on the “cusp of turning the impossible into reality. Yes, this is reality, not fantasy or fairy tales.”
And yes, that was a slap at former President Clinton, who had used the Grimm phrasing to describe a slice of Obama rhetoric. Clinton, too, was at Ebeneezer, sitting directly in front of Franklin. When she finished, the house stood. Clinton did not.
Then came U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop of southwest Georgia, another Obama supporter. He spoke of the need to rally behind the “Joshua generation.” To cover politics in the South, learn your Bible. Joshua was the fellow who led the Jews into the land of Israel after Moses showed the way.
The reference comes straight from a speech Obama made last March in Selma, Ala., thanking the “Moses generation” — think John Lewis and Andrew Young — for its past work.
But the artist of the subliminal message on Martin Luther King Day was Bill Clinton himself. It’s easy to forget just how good he was, and still is, when it comes to connecting.
He took his audience back 44 years, to the August day when King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Clinton said:
“I was sitting alone in my house, in a family where I was the first person to go to college. I had not started yet. Listening to that speech alone, I remember the chair I was sitting in, I remember where it was in the room, I remember what I saw, I remember cryin’ like a baby, I remember saying, ‘This is the America I want to be a part of.’”
Translation: “I’ve been with you since my beginning.”
Then he spoke of the fiery days after King’s assassination in 1968:
“So Washington D.C., where I was in school, went up in flames, and I got a little Red Cross signature and I taped it on my car, and I kept bring supplies down into the African-American communities that burned, where people were living in church basements because the churches had been left alone from the violence. And they were taking people in.”
Translation: “I’ve been on the front lines, on your side.”
Then Clinton said this:
“When I was a boy, my heart was touched by the word and the example and the sacrifice of an astonishing man who said I, too, could be part of his beloved community. Me and all my Southern cracker kinfolks with our limited education and limited income, we could be part of it, too.”
Translation: “Martin Luther King invited us into the movement. We’re family, and shouldn’t be locked out.”
And there was this:
“I am old enough to remember what it was like in the summer of 1967, in Washington D.C., where every single night I could go down and listen to people debate whether King was right or wrong. I heard young, angry people with absolutely legitimate grievances say, ‘Dr. King is wrong. We are never going to get anything done, we will never get where we want to go, unless we push people around and we beat them up and let them know we’re going to be violent because we have been denied for too long.
“It’s easy for the young people here to forget. That was a debate. There were serious people who thought this should be done.”
Translation: “The Joshua generation has been wrong before. Enthusiasm can break a movement as easily as it can make one.”
And this:
“This is a time for humility, because there are many storm clouds along the horizon and around the world. And we still talk better than we do. We still talk better than we do. All of us…”
“None of us should fall in love with our gifts…We’ve been without Martin Luther King for 39 year and 42 weeks, on the 40th birthday observation. For 39 years and 42 weeks, the advancement of his dream had depended on the rest of us.
“Let us be humble, and realize that St. Paul was right when he said that love was even more important than faith and hope.”
Translation: Surely by now, none should be necessary.
Two down, one to go: Edwards says he’ll be in Atlanta on Jan. 30
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Democratic party is doing a jig. John Edwards just committed to attend the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day fund-raiser. Hillary Clinton pledged to attend next week.
Party officials would like a complete set just a week before the Feb. 5 primary. They’re waiting for Barack Obama.
A Georgia organizer for Thompson shifts to Romney
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Fred Thompson lifeboat in Georgia just a little lighter.
Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah, the ranking Republican in that chamber and one of the leaders of the draft-Fred movement last year, is switching to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Johnson said he’s got no special knowledge of whether Thompson, who finished third in South Carolina on Saturday, will be pulling out of the Republican contest.
“I don’t know if he’s pulling out today or tomorrow or not at all,” Johnson told us from Savannah. “But clearly Fred Thompson is not going to be the nominee.”
Expect more defections. “All of the campaigns are reaching out to the Thompson people,” the senator said.
Johnson, an architect by trade, said he had promised Romney his support this summer should Thompson falter. “I think he’s the most qualified business person ever to run for president,” the senator said. “If he can manage the Olympics and Massachusetts, he can control Congress.”
Romney’s financial expertise could become important as the economy and foreign trade become more prominent issues, Johnson said.
Genetics might also have had something to do with Johnson’s new champion. The Savannah senator’s great-great-great grandfather, like Romney, was governor of Massachusetts.
Perdue a veep possibility? If the Washington media says so, then it must be true
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the first time we can count, Gov. Sonny Perdue has made a major list of mentionables in the underground Republican contest for vice president.
Though not officially ranked in order, Perdue was in the No. 2 spot, behind Mike Huckabee, in the Washington Post review on Sunday.
“While the rest of the country was going south for Republicans in 2006, Perdue was cruising to a second term as governor of Georgia,” read the caption.
As we said, Huckabee was on one side of the Perdue sandwich: “In the days after Sen. John McCain’s win in New Hampshire, Huckabee seemed to me making a play for the second slot on the ticket. His strength among social conservatives would likely allay the doubts some carry about McCain.”
John Thune was after Perdue: “The handsome first-term senator from South Dakota became a national GOP hero when he knocked off [Tom] Daschle in 2004. Thune, who has endorsed McCain, is a darling of social conservative voters and his youth — he is 47 — might offset voters’ concerns about electing a septuagenarian as president.”
Others on the Republican list: Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and former Ohio congressman Rob Portman.
Huckabee and the Republican blue-collar vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is the proper way for a Republican presidential candidate to flash his blue collar?
This could be the most pertinent question awaiting Mike Huckabee in the morning when he arrives in Georgia.
With Monday’s appearance at Martin Luther King ceremonies and a Tuesday speech before anti-abortion activists, the former Arkansas governor becomes the first presidential candidate of either stripe to spend consecutive days in Georgia in the run-up to the state’s Feb. 5 primary.
That Huckabee isn’t in Florida, site of the next GOP showdown, is significant. But after a disappointing second-place finish in neighboring South Carolina over the weekend, metro Atlanta isn’t a bad spot for a former Baptist pastor to salve his wounds.
Evangelical clout still runs high in Georgia, and a mid-January poll by the Journal-Constitution showed Huckabee with a hefty lead over Republican rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney. Though surely Huckabee’s margin has shrunk since Saturday.
If it were peopled by Democrats, we would say that the GOP contest for president has devolved into factions. Perhaps the better word — at least more in keeping with the Republican mindset — is “franchise.”
Huckabee has the social conservative franchise. Mitt Romney has the economic franchise. McCain, and perhaps Rudy Giuliani, has national security. The man who can best cobble together two or three franchises — so far, McCain — will win the nomination.
Which brings us back to Huckabee. In Georgia, the victor of Iowa — Jan. 3 seems so 2007 — is again likely to demonstrate his ability to fire up evangelicals.
But it is Huckabee’s easy familiarity with the plight of working families that has given him broader possibilities. This is the fellow who said the next president should resemble the guy you work with, not the boss who laid you off.
Last fall, when he was still bogged in the second tier of candidates, Huckabee dropped by Kennesaw with a message aimed squarely at Wal-Mart shoppers.
He identified the lack of health insurance as “a point of total terror for many families,” and spoke of siding with Main Street before Wall Street. He told of his own blue-collar roots, and the prevalence of Lava soap in the family bathroom. “I was in college before I found out that it wasn’t supposed to hurt when you take a shower,” Huckabee said.
And yet in job-challenged Michigan, it was Romney who shone in that state’s primary. In South Carolina on Saturday, Republican voters who worried about the economy preferred McCain.
When we outsourced the analysis of Huckabee’s dilemma, we were told that Huckabee may be putting crosshairs on blue-collar voters one election cycle too early. Reagan Democrats are to be courted in October, not January. But more than likely, Huckabee’s aim is one income bracket too low.
Republicans prefer to be addressed according to their aspirations, said Merle Black, the Emory University political scientist. “They put more emphasis on where they want to end up rather than where they started,” he said. Even if they’re not rich, they want to be spoken to as if they someday might be.
Ralph Reed, the GOP strategist, said nearly the same thing. Social issues such as gay marriage and abortion already capture many white wage-earners. If he wants to penetrate the economic franchise, Huckabee needs to address small business owners, rather than the people who work for them, Reed said.
The Arkansas governor also needs to recognize there is danger in using blue-collar language, no matter how eloquent. “What Mike’s got to be careful of is, many economic conservatives get very nervous if they think you’re trying to demonize people who create wealth,” Reed said.
Revolutions also unsettle many economic conservatives. And you have to wonder whether the Fair Tax can be lumped into that category. As anyone who listens to Neal Boortz on the radio knows, Huckabee has endorsed a shift away from the federal income tax to a national consumption tax.
Huckabee may want to look at how one blue-collar war among Republicans ended in Georgia just last week. It was an effort in the Legislature to overturn corporate policies that bar workers from storing firearms in cars parked on company lots.
“They are our employers. They are not our owners,” growled state Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), who sided with the proletarian, lunch-bucket crowd. The state Senate didn’t hesitate. It smoothly gutted the bill, at the behest of Republican business interests.
Frozen out of Nevada, Edwards slips through Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After a union hall rally in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was ready to rush out to speak to reporters if the news from Nevada was good.
It wasn’t. Edwards didn’t. Instead he pointed his plane to South Carolina. Reports are estimating his take of the Nevada vote at a dismal 5 percent — no delegates for him.
Nonetheless, the crowd at IBEW Local 613 was impressive. Good range of black, white, liberal and conservative.
About those white, conservative Democrats.
Attendees included former Gov. Roy Barnes and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.
Both men touted Edwards’ economic policies and his committment to the creation of jobs and universal health care.
But they also pointed to the benefits that an Edwards candidacy would give to Georgia Democrats on the Democratic ballot.
Taylor noted the challenges faced by U.S. Reps. John Barrow of Savannah and Jim Marshall of Macon, both white Democrats who have faced strong, well-funded challenges from Republicans every two years.
“Think of how hard it’s going to be for them without John Edwards at the top of the ticket,” said Taylor, who came dressed in a blazer, dress pants and — in a concession to the weather — hunting boots.
Barnes, who campaigned for Edwards in New Hampshire, appealed for regional solidarity. “I’m tired of being down here in the South and not having someone who talks like I do,” he drawled.
In explaining Edwards’ appeal to conservative Democrats in Georgia, Amy Morton, a family therapist and blogger from Macon, noted that Edwards has made more trips to rural Georgia during the campaign than any other presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat.
“Sometimes what you do says more about who you are than what you say,” she declared.
Deja vu all over again: Georgia flaggers on the move in South Carolina
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An Atlanta-based group has jumped into the GOP presidential primary in South Carolina, putting up radio ads that attack John McCain and Mitt Romney for their comments about the Confederate battle flag.
The same ads endorse Mike Huckabee for his declaration that flying the battle emblem on the grounds of its capitol was South Carolina’s business — and no one else’s.
The group, a 527, has the redundant name of Americans for the Preservation of American Culture. The president of APAC is Mike Crane of Fannin County, who first came to our attention during the fight over removing the battle emblem from the Georgia state flag back in 2001.
Ron Wilson, a South Carolinian who was involved in raising money for the ads, as saying they will be run today through Saturday’s primary on every radio station in the state that carries the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly.
“We believe we’re hitting about 60 to 65 percent of the voters in tomorrow’s primary,” Wilson said.
The Federal Election Commission lists APAC’s locale as Columbia, Tenn., but its operations were shifted to Atlanta last year, Crane said. Recent activities have included this summer’s 10th District congressional race. APAC sided with the winner, Republican Paul Broun of Athens.
Why should you care? Because when we asked Crane, a member of the Southern Party, if similar ads might run in Georgia leading up to Feb. 5, he didn’t say no. “That’s yet to be determined,” he said.
Said Wilson in South Carolina: “I’d don’t know how much further it goes.” Republicans in Mississippi might be more receptive to yet another debate over the flag than Georgia, Wilson added. Gov. Sonny Perdue might agree.
Here’s the text of the anti-McCain ad:
“Mitt Romney’s trying, but when it comes to bashing the Confederate flag, he can’t hold a candle to John McCain.
“McCain’s been doing it — calling the flag a racist symbol — for years, and he’s still at it, full-steam ahead.
“After McCain, [former] Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s stand is a breath of fresh air. Governor Huckabee understands that all the average guy with a Confederate flag on his pick-up truck is saying is, he’s proud to be a Southerner.
“Mike Huckabee understands we value our heritage, and why. He says its up to us to decide how. Senator McCain may have decided that his ancestors, as he puts it, were on the wrong side of history when they wore gray.
“But in South Carolina, we’re proud to be Southerners.”
The anti-Romney ad is similar, but has starts this way:
“Waving a Confederate battle flag in front of [former] Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney turns out to be like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He charges.
“Romney let fly in the CNN debate, saying ‘That flag shouldn’t be shown.’ And ‘that’s not a flag I recognize.’ Then South Carolinians for Mitt Romney attacked the Sons of Confederate Veterans on its web site.”
The positive ad attack in South Carolina
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you want a good giggle, take a look at this newest John McCain spot that’s now running on South Carolina television. It consists of nothing but the kind words that Republican rival Mike Huckabee has said about him.
Somebody needs to reserve the couch for the night of Feb. 5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s New York Times prominently displays a photo of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop and his wife, Vivian Creighton Bishop.
The Georgia couple are cited by the newspaper as an example of the way the Clinton-Obama contest has split families. Bishop is for Obama. His spouse is a leader of the Clinton campaign in Georgia.
Says the Times:
Throughout the South, the considerations are complex, particularly when a black official represents a district of differing complexions and outlooks. Mr. Bishop, a black Democrat whose rural southwest Georgia district is mostly white and twice gave President Bush its vote, said he had carefully considered the comfort level of his conservative constituents before he endorsed Mr. Obama. “Hillary is not thought well of,” he said.
Ms. Bishop, who as clerk of court is the first African-American to hold citywide office in Columbus, agreed, saying she had delayed drawing attention to her endorsement of Mrs. Clinton to avoid angering her constituents. Ms. Bishop said she was more concerned about whites who disliked Mrs. Clinton than about blacks who might be disappointed that she had not supported a black candidate.
We’ve tried, but have been unsuccessful at drawing the congressman out on this topic.
Our question: Last summer, you spoke of “the Arkansas mafia.” How did that go down at the dinner table?
Talking Confederate one day, and civil rights the next
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got off the phone with Merle Black, the Emory University political scientist, who pointed out the dilemma that Republican candidate Mike Huckabee has found himself in over Southern symbolism.
On Thursday, Huckabee declared that flying the Confederate battle flag on the grounds of its capitol was South Carolina’s business — and no one else’s. (Rival John McCain has been taking heat from S.C. flaggers on the issue.)
“You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag,” Huckabee said. “In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole, that’s what we’d do.”
On Monday, Huckabee will be in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King Day ceremonies, the only Republican presidential candidate to attend.
That’s a juxtaposition worthy of Southern politics. You have to wonder what he’ll say.
The husband-wife tag team: Bill Clinton here on Monday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It doesn’t look like the Hillary Clinton campaign is ready to concede Georgia to Barack Obama anytime soon.
One day after Clinton committed to attending a Jan. 30 fund-raiser in Atlanta, our colleague Aaron Sheinin just got word that husband Bill will be in Atlanta on Monday to participate in Martin Luther King Day ceremonies. No details yet.
Obama is due here on Sunday, John Edwards tomorrow.
On Monday, the former president will be sharing attention with Republican Mike Huckabee, the only Republican presidential candidate who’ll be attending.
Hillary Clinton commits to a Jan. 30 appearance in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, there now.
Hillary Clinton has committed to come to Atlanta for the Jan. 30 state Democratic fund-raiser. The question now is whether Barack Obama and John Edwards will make a joint appearance of it at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Also on the stage? Former U.S. senator Max Cleland, who so far as we know hasn’t made an endorsement in the Democratic presidential campaign, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who has — to some criticism.
Perdue to make his case on vetoes to the Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue will make a private visit to address the Senate Republican caucus on Friday to persuade senators not to join the House in overriding 12 of his vetoes from last year.
President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah said Senate Republican caucuses will chart a course of action afterwards.
Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour (R-Snellville) told reporters that his committee could take up the one or two of the vetoes next week, with a possible vote by the full chamber the final week of January.
A bill to give the Senate Budget Office legal recognition in the Georgia Code is likely to be one of them, he said.
This would be an interesting schedule, if it happens. For it would come after House and Senate members conduct elections for the state Board of Transportation. Speaker Glenn Richardson’s troops are hot to oust board member Mike Evans, who term is up for renewal.
Last fall, Evans voted in favor of installing Gena Abraham as the new DOT commissioner over a current House member. Abraham was the choice of the governor and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
Cagle: Legislature ‘probably’ will address transportation funding this year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle this morning gave the first word that the Legislature “probably” will address a sales tax for transportation before it adjourns.
“There’s a lot of communication right now,” Cagle said, centered on a special local option sales tax that could be levied by one county or groups of counties.
Speaking before members of the Georgia Press Association, Cagle pointed to the acceptance by Georgians of the E-SPLOST for education.
“It is a model that can be duplicated in other areas. We could have a T-SPLOST, a transportation SPLOST that would have checks and balances. And citizens would be able to express what it’s used for.”
Much to the frustration of the Georgia business community, state lawmakers and others had discouraged talk of addressing the funding issue this year while House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to eliminate property taxes was on the table.
Support for transportation funding had been divided between those who wanted a statewide sales tax levy for transportation, and one that applied to metro Atlanta only.
The version briefly outlined by Cagle seems to endorse the regional approach. Counties could approach their problems solo, or band together in groups of their own choosing, the lieutenant governor said.
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Washington group wants Ralph Reed dumped as CNN election-night analyst
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling on CNN to remove Republican strategist Ralph Reed from its team of election-night analysts, calling Reed “a proven liar” who carries a grudge against GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Reed, former chairman of the state GOP and ex-head of the Christian Coalition, was one of CNN’s unpaid commentators last week, as votes from the New Hampshire primary rolled in. His presence was later noted in a Washington Post blog.
Saturday’s Republican primary vote in South Carolina also provides some context for this development. Here’s a related piece in today’s Post.
Says CREW:
“Reed’s disdain for Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, stems from Indian Affairs Committee hearings the senator spearheaded, exposing Reed’s work on behalf of [Washington lobbyist Jack] Abramoff’s tribal clients.
“Reed’s primary opponent in the lieutenant governor race publicized the information that came out during the hearings, contributing to Reed’s defeat at the polls.
“It has been reported that Reed’s defenders allege that Sen. McCain released the email exchanges between Reed and Abramoff in revenge for Reed’s support of President Bush in the 2000 campaign. Given Reed’s hostility to Sen. McCain, Reed is hardly an unbiased voice commenting on the Republican candidates’ race for their party’s nomination.”
We’re putting calls into CNN and Reed now.
The Senate bids a not-so-fond farewell to the guns-in-parking-lots bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Senate takes up the drastically narrowed guns-in-parking lot bill today — which might, or might not, apply only to those Georgians who carry concealed weapons permits.
After the Senate Rules Committee delivered the gutting on Tuesday, Joe Fleming, the top lobbyist for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, declared it a “stunning rebuke of the NRA,” which had pressed for the measure hard for two years.
But he also said this: “The Georgia Chamber of Commerce still has concerns with the legislation, including the vague, contradictory and ambiguous language in the bill.”
Translation? The organization still formally opposes the measure, but won’t mount any kind of organized opposition today.
“We won’t be working the ropes,” Fleming said.
Says Joe Lowery: Obama’s black doubters have a ‘slave mentality’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just when you thought supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had gotten past this race thing.
In an address to the Hungry Club at Butler Street YMCA in downtown Atlanta, the Rev. Joseph Lowery re-stoked the fires on Wednesday when he told the largely African-American audience that “a slave mentality” was fueling black doubts about Obama’s chances of capturing the White House.
The report comes from our AJC colleague, John Hollis, who was at the event.
“No matter how much education they have, they never graduated from the slave mentality,” Lowery said of those who have advised Obama to wait, or have doubted his ability to compete in a general election.
“The slavery mentality compels us to say, ‘We can’t win, we can’t do,’” said Lowery, an avid Obama supporter and a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Strong words, when you consider that they include people like U.S. Rep. John Lewis or former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young.
Lowery likened discouraging comments about Obama to ones Martin Luther King received while imprisoned in a Birmingham jail in 1963.
A number of local white ministers told King at the time they agreed with him, but they didn’t think the time was right for such civil dissent.
“Martin said the people who were saying ‘later’ were really saying ‘never.’ But the time to do right is always right now,” Lowery said.
When asked whether the Democratic party was ready for a black president, Lowery replied, “I don’t care. They weren’t ready for a lot of things.”
Here’s a transcript of a Monday exchange between Lowery and Lewis on the same topic, on PBS’ “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.”
Barack Obama at Ebenezer on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Barack Obama campaign just confirmed that the Democratic presidential candidate will attend the 10 a.m. Sunday service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the pulpit home of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Perdue: End the state property tax, and the creation of a road czarina
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He’s still talking, but Gov. Sonny Perdue has challenged House Speaker Glenn Richardson on the issue of taxes.
In his state of the state address, the governor’s pitching a constitutional amendment to eliminate $94 million on state property taxes on cars and real estate. Richardson has targeted school property taxes.
No details yet on how the governor intends to pay for it.
Now the governor has just proposed expanding the power of new DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham to include supervision of the state tollway authority.
Perdue also declared that he’ll be in China on March 30 to open a new trade office in Beijing. It took a while, but lawmakers eventually realized that the governor wants the Legislature out of town by then.
“Y’all are slow, but you catch on,” Perdue said.
After the speech, Democrats indicated they’d be focusing on what they say are further cuts to education.
Full text is on the jump.
State of the State Address by Governor Sonny Perdue
16 January 2008
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, President Pro Tem Johnson, Speaker Pro Tem Burkhalter and members of the General Assembly…
My fellow constitutional officers…Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Court of Appeal…members of the Consular Corps …
Other distinguished guests and my fellow Georgians … as we gather in these chambers today I come before you to speak about our present, and of our future. But first, I want to share with you a story of our past.
I give you a snapshot of Georgia in the 1880’s - at the midpoint of our fledgling state’s history, halfway between our founding in 1733 and where we stand in 2008. Although their spirits were buoyant with hope for the future, the challenges of rebuilding created a stark reality for Georgians.
In 1889, Henry Grady, one of the great fathers of the New South, spoke these words:
“I attended a sad funeral once in Pickens County. They buried a fellow near a marble quarry; and yet the tombstone they put above him was from Vermont.
They buried him in the heart of a pine forest, and yet the pine coffin came from Cincinnati.
They buried him by an iron mine, and yet the nails in his coffin were from Pittsburgh.
They buried him near the best sheep-grazing country on earth, and yet the wool in the coffin bands was brought from the North.
The South didn’t furnish a thing on earth for that funeral but the corpse and the hole in the ground.
The dirt clods rattled down on his coffin, and they buried him in a New York coat and a Boston pair of shoes, leaving him nothing to carry into the next world to remind him of the country in which he lived.”
This was in 1889, just 25 years after Georgia was burned to the ground. No other state that endured devastation on this scale has risen to overcome it so magnificently. Even our largest city has embraced the symbol of the phoenix - and 150 years after the civil war, this state has risen out of the ashes to international prominence.
We are seeing the repatriation of southerners who left in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s to find opportunities outside the south. But this is not just a sweet, sentimental homecoming. Today, the children and grandchildren of those who left are returning en masse to find the hope and opportunity their parents left to pursue.
Small hometowns across the state are brimming with prospects. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a change in which we may all rejoice.
In his speech, Henry Grady went on to say that things were changing - that marble-cutting and wool mills and iron factories had sprung up around this old grave. He spoke of the future with hope and confidence.
But friends, today Georgia is no longer playing catch-up. Today Georgia is setting the pace.
The triumphant drumbeat of our progress proclaims a new anthem and a new era for Georgia. Not just as the capital of the New South, not just another great American city - but an international leader - an economic … cultural … technological capital.
Georgia was one of the original 13 colonies. But look at the growth that has reached its fingers across this country, first to the northeast, then to the westward expanse, and now back.
It’s coming back, ladies and gentlemen. It means change coming ‘round to the new south. It’s coming to Georgia. And it fills me with hope and exuberance … it lifts me with a clear sense of purpose, and a determined sense of obligation and stewardship.
Grady told us the story of Georgia that once was. But the story of Georgia today - and tomorrow - is what I see, what I want to share with you:
It’s the story of a baby boy, born just last Friday afternoon at Northside Hospital. This little boy has no idea of the opportunities to come from this place. He will get a bright start with Georgia Pre-K, will be vaccinated with medicines created in this state, treated by doctors and taught by teachers that are the best in the world. He will drive a car made in West Georgia, running on biofuel made here, too.
He will fly in and out of the busiest airport in the world. He will attend a world-class university paid for by the HOPE scholarship, where research is conducted that will change the face of the future. My grandson, Samuel, just 5 days old, will grow up in a new Georgia.
Times have changed - and are changing even as we speak. Can you imagine that our Georgia, in 2007, was a leader in terms of real population growth - only behind the two largest states in the nation!
2.2 million people have moved here in the last 12 years - and they have brought with them their families, their businesses, their cultures, their knowledge - and they have trusted us with their futures.
We are emerging as more than the capital of the New South but an international capital. When you say “Georgia” or “Atlanta” in countries abroad … they no longer just think of Gone with the Wind and Tara Plantation.
They think of Coca-Cola, Martin Luther King, CNN, the Masters, historic Savannah, the Olympics, and the world’s busiest airport with 280 national and international nonstop destinations.
They think of a major economic player, a global transportation hub, a center for culture. They picture a place millions of people call home - a place people across the world want to call home.
We’ve led our region in a business and cultural alliance with our neighbors to the north, and our largest trading partner, with the South East US-Canada Alliance. And I plan to be on Delta’s inaugural flight to Shanghai this spring, and will be turning the key on Georgia’s new trade office in Beijing. That date will be March the 30th - that’s a hint.
This will help forge business ties between our state and the 1.3 billion people of China - but we also hope to foster an exchange of culture and ideas between our two countries.
America’s traditional capitals of culture and commerce, of leadership and lawmaking, are showing their age. A new generation of Americans is coming South. They are coming to Georgia to build their futures, our future - to build an American future.
Now, what is it that brings people here? I think it’s that sweet fragrance of optimism. The basic truth that humans hope continually for the promise of a better life.
That’s why people move - to find opportunity. It’s a simple story, told again and again, the startling hope that comes with raising a child and realizing you can give them a better life than you had.
People want schools that help their children achieve. They want clean, abundant natural resources. They want quality health care. They want a happy home, a steady job that will provide for the family. And they want roads that will get them between the two.
These are things other states shoot for, things they aspire to - but ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to say they are a reality here in Georgia.
Georgia’s future is as an international capital. To achieve this, we must be a low tax state. Georgians have benefited from $2.8 billion in tax relief in the last 5 years - but to continue on this track, we can do more - we must do more.
The Senior Income Tax Cut will not only reward a generation that’s worked hard to bring our state so far - it will spur economic development, keeping dollars in Georgia. It will keep families together as grandparents stay close by and as we begin to see retirees follow their children here.
This year I’m also proposing to the legislature a constitutional amendment to eliminate the state portion of property tax. This would do away with state portion of the ad valorem tax - providing another $94 million in tax relief to Georgia home and automobile owners. We will also remove the excuse that some local governments have given for reassessing property values.
I am proud to offer these agenda items, because I believe in fiscal responsibility, and I believe in tax relief for the people of Georgia.
In the last five years we have brought an astonishing number of new companies to Georgia. In the last 6 months alone, international investment is up 56%!
Kia motors in West Point. That’s 2,893 jobs. Plus 2500 more from suppliers - what does that mean for Georgia?
It means transforming a dusty mill town in western Georgia into an advanced manufacturing center of the future.
With us in the gallery this afternoon is a young lady I’d like to recognize. Kim Blackmon, would you please stand up? Kim and her husband have five children that they work very hard to support.
Kim not only works hard - she works smart. In addition to working two jobs during the day, she’s taking evening classes at West Georgia Tech, where she’s already earned a degree in Computer Information Systems. She’s applying for a job with Kia and Kia suppliers and hopes to take advantage of the new opportunities coming to West Georgia.
Kim, I want to commend you for all you’re doing to make a better life for your family. And I pledge on behalf of my colleagues in this body today, to do what we can to bring you and your classmates more opportunities - more jobs - more investment all over Georgia, so that other families can follow your lead.
If we are to proceed down a path of smart growth, there are issues we must address. First, we must bring transportation and our system of infrastructure into the future.
As DOT comes under new leadership, we look forward to delivering real value for our dollars. I expect to see great changes taking place in Georgia transportation.
I expect GRTA and SRTA to fulfill their mission and continue pursuing their individual roles - but I also expect to see renewed cooperation and collaboration between them.
And as an example of that cooperation, I am pleased to recommend expanding Commissioner Gena Abraham’s responsibilities to include serving as Director of State Road and Tollway Authority. She has a remarkable record in terms of agency success, and has proven herself to be a strong leader with an eye for what makes things work for our citizens and businesses.
I have great confidence in Dr. Abraham - and with her experience in project delivery, I believe Georgians will soon see the value of their transportation dollars, whether it means congestion relief in the metro areas, or paving economic development highways in the rest of our state.
I am also happy to announce the creation of a Transportation Infrastructure Bank, to give local governments low-interest loans to complete essential transportation projects. This will be a $50 million revolving loan fund - dollars will be paid back and made available for new projects like roads, bridges and transit.
Creativity, cooperation and perseverance will help bring Georgia transportation into the future. Together we will make our state more and more appealing to businesses, people and investors around the world.
Another issue area we tackle as we grow is the smart management of our resources. The Water Plan was recommended unanimously by the Water Council last week with wide support and approval from stakeholders. I thank Speaker Richardson and Lt. Governor Cagle for their support - and Dr. Carol Couch for her leadership - throughout this inclusive process.
I understand both bodies are anxious to address this important issue and move forward.
I want to thank the Senate and House Natural Resources Committees for quickly addressing the water plan - I am proud to say that I am committed to its full funding. We have identified more than $11 million of initial funding to help us immediately implement this historic roadmap for the future.
Now, we don’t want the state of Georgia to usurp the rightful role and responsibility of local government to provide for the adequate supply of clean drinking water. But we do want to support them in this endeavor. So this year’s budget will invest $120 million in water infrastructure and reservoirs.
I want to caution that this is not a silver bullet: more room for storage will not make the rains come.
But investing in reservoirs is a part of the formula for smart growth. And I pledge now that Georgia will be a model of smart growth. We will grow responsibly. We will grow into the city upon a hill, with the eyes of all people upon us.
We will conserve and use this precious and vital resource wisely. We will reuse it so we consume as little as we need. We will respect the resources that we share with our neighbors. But hear me now - we will not allow others outside this state to hamper our progress by limiting our access to the waters that fall on our land. That will not happen on this Governor’s watch.
For people coming to a new place, health and health care is a serious concern.
We have great minds in this state working in our universities, the CDC, and private research facilities across the state. We will soon have a world-class scientific research park at Fort McPherson.
I announced yesterday that Georgia, along with our private sector partners, will invest $40 million for venture capital to commercialize research in areas like biosciences and medicine coming out of our universities. Friends, Georgia will lead the way as a global center for health.
Health insurance is an ongoing battle for many small businesses - I think we can all identify someone in our hometowns that is struggling to meet rising costs in health care for their employees. This is why we announced the Health Insurance Partnership last year - so that small business employees can be covered under a group policy.
We will invest $17 million in the partnership. And if the legislature approves the plan, thousands of workers across the state will have the security and dignity of health coverage. And the small businesses of Georgia will have confidence knowing they can afford to do the right thing.
We have a guest sitting in the gallery with us - Nathelia LeSane. This is a young lady who represents another direction we are taking healthcare in Georgia. When Nathelia was nine years old, she was diagnosed with a bone condition that would require years of painful orthopedic surgeries to rebuild.
When she had trouble getting the treatment she needed, the Shriners stepped in. They helped Nathelia and her mother find a hospital - and they provided some desperately needed financial support.
I am pleased to announce a new partnership in the works between the State of Georgia and the Shriners Hospital. They have agreed to treat our young Georgians on PeachCare with serious and cost-prohibitive orthopedic needs, free of charge, in the Shriners Hospital in Greenville. This will give these young people a unique opportunity to receive expert medical care. This exciting partnership is the first of its kind, and we are honored to work with a group with such an extraordinary dedication to philanthropy.
We’ve also been hearing a lot lately about trauma. We’ve seen the symptoms of a serious need for change in Grady Hospital here in Atlanta. But the need for trauma funding is a state-wide concern, one that affects millions of people.
This year, my budget recommendations include $53 million in appropriations to strengthen Georgia’s trauma system. I want to make this clear: this is not a blank check. The elected leaders of this state, both in the executive branch and the general assembly, expect - and demand - that the recipients of these taxpayer dollars serve as good stewards of these funds.
One way we’ll pay for this trauma network will be increased fines on reckless drivers. “Super Speeders” will pay for the damage they cause. We simply want our roads to be safe, and keeping the speed down is one part of that.
Increasing law enforcement presence on our roads is another way to keep them safe.
We are making fundamental changes to recruitment practices for public safety - and this year we are adding more than 200 state troopers. By the time I leave office, the Georgia State Patrol will operate at full capacity, and people will once again look to it as the noble law enforcement career it truly is.
All these things - taxes, resources, transportation, health and safety - they all add up to a world-class destination, a global capital. But above all these issues, more important to the future of our people than any other on earth, is our basic duty to our children.
Education is the best investment we can make in our future. We have come a long way in the last five years - raising graduation rates, strengthening curricula, seeing test scores and achievement go up.
We’ve kept our teachers the highest paid in the Southeast - and yes, teachers, you can all look forward to the $100 Classroom Gift Card we will issue once again this summer.
In the gallery today sit two bright faces that have benefited from our education system. Tiffany and Ashley Vann, would you two please stand up? Tiffany is a senior and Ashley a junior at Southwest DeKalb High School.
These young ladies were enrolled in the first Georgia Pre-K classes funded by the lottery - and they are applying to our world-class universities with plans to take advantage of the HOPE scholarship. As the first Pre-K class enters college this fall, we see how Georgia has made it possible for these outstanding students and their classmates to enjoy a lifetime of learning.
This includes adding $6.4 million in lottery funds to bring the total number of Pre-K slots up to 79,000 - giving more of our young children the opportunities Tiffany and Ashley capitalized on.
Tiffany and Ashley - I am proud of you. You should take pride in what you’ve accomplished. And I pledge today to continue our work to make Georgia’s education system the best in the nation.
Our next step in education is getting parents involved in their child’s education. We can teach and coach and motivate a student all day long - but if they don’t show up for the game, we will lose.
Yesterday morning I announced the “VIP Recruiter” program - Very Important Parent Recruiters. We will invest $14.25 million, targeting our schools with the poorest attendance rates. Simply put, a child’s attendance record is a direct result of parental involvement. These recruiters will help parents understand the education system, to help them make a connection with their child’s teachers. They will learn how and why to be supportive of their child’s education.
I am also pleased to recommend $65 million to bolster our transportation and technology in K-12. I have heard the call from our educators and our legislators - and school buses and 21st century technology are the two areas where I know this powerful investment are most needed.
Georgia continues to move up in education. The best way to continue on that path in our schools is to link flexibility with accountability. That’s exactly what the IE2 Partnership is doing - offering new options in exchange for performance. Can I remind you, IE2 stands for “Investing in Educational Excellence.”
I thank Lt. Governor Cagle for his leadership on charter schools and charter systems - but we’re not stopping there. We want every school in Georgia to earn the flexibility charter schools enjoy. It’s about local control - local decision making - and swift sanctions for lack of performance.
This is an innovative, forward-looking idea to come out of the IE2 task force. It’s an idea that will change the future of education - and an idea with which Georgia will lead.
Ronald Reagan pointed out that the American people have a love affair with the future. We like the idea of it, the sound of it - we are intoxicated by the promise of it. We work hard today, so that we may make a new day better, not just for ourselves, but for our children, and our children’s children.
This year our great state celebrates a milestone birthday - we have been building the future of Georgia for 275 years now.
The last five years have led us toward a new, brighter, more prosperous future. And we will continue down that path - building momentum, gaining speed - and we will let no one stand in our way.
We have another guest of honor in the gallery today - one more face representing the hope and possibility of the future for Georgia: Brigadier General Maria Britt, the first female general in the great history of the Georgia Guard.
Georgia has a long, distinguished military history, with a deep reverence for our men and women in uniform. These individuals make everything we do possible. Their service to our country brings safety to our shores and across the globe. Their work allows us to play with our children, to worship a great God, think and speak freely, live our lives and plan our futures without fear.
You cannot put a price on liberty… but we know it is not free. We are each eternally grateful to Brigadier General Britt and the 1.4 million servicemen and women defending this beautiful, bountiful country.
In February 1733, our state’s founders and the first colonists, sailing on “the Ann,” landed in Savannah and first set foot on these shores. In my first inaugural address I invoked their motto, the spirit of their endeavor: “not for ourselves… but for others.” This is a spirit we carry on with us today.
I want to share with you the personal words of our founder, James Oglethorpe, first Governor of Georgia, as he stood on “the Ann” and invited settlers to come to the new colony.
He spoke of the heady excitement of coming together to create something great, and said that “every little will do something; and a great number of small benefactions will amount to a sum capable of doing a great deal of good.”
It is a quiet revolution that takes place, when the people know that every little will do something. And a great number will amount… to a great deal of good.
In the end, this is what my vision for Georgia comes down to. We are poised on the brink of international prominence. Will we move forward to a triumphant drumbeat with the knowledge that it’s a great number of small benefactions that will accomplish a great deal of good? Will we stand with open arms to greet the future we have built for ourselves?
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand by this promise: we will. We will carry on the work of our forefathers, we will fulfill the founding vision of the first Governor of Georgia.
The responsibility to lead us in that work falls to me as Governor. My vision for Georgia is one driven by a faith in the collective power of many simple dreams. It’s a vision that fits those words, spoken 275 years ago. It’s a vision driven by the calm understanding that many small things add up to great ones.
Ladies and gentlemen, I sense a yearning to make this great state even greater. We Georgians are not content to stand on the achievements of the past - no, we are eager to create a better future for our children, and our children’s children.
This era will be glorious for Georgia. We will be the city on a hill that shines brightly lighting the path of those around us. We will not only be the triumph of the southeast, of the nation - but of our globe.
And so long as we have faith in what we can accomplish by working together - that course will lead our state to further greatness. I stand before you today, ever more confident that our best days are yet to come.
God bless you. God bless America…and God bless the great state of Georgia.
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Override bait: Equal budget footing for the Senate?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As you know by now, the House voted to override 12 vetoes by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Monday.
Senators we’ve talked to say they may consider one, two or three of the bills. But not the complete dozen. Republicans in the House acknowledge this. That was the plan all along, they say.
But which bill — or bills — will the Senate pick?
Keep your eye on two: H.B. 529 and H.B. 91. Both codify the existence of two separate budget-writing operations for the Legislature, one for the House and one for the Senate.
To the general public, this might seem like a very small, bureaucratic point. But to the Senate, it looms large. Either bill would acknowledge — symbolically and institutionally — the Senate’s (near) equal status with the House when it comes to influence over the state’s $20 billion budget.
Under Democratic rule, the General Assembly had only one budget office to match the number-crunching operation of the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
Because the state Constitution gives the House the first crack at the budget one the governor cuts it loose, that chamber naturally came to dominate this single, shared budget office. Which meant that, in House-Senate budget tussles, the Speaker held a distinct advantage. He who controls the numbers, controls millions of dollars in pork and policy.
In 2002, once Republicans took over the Senate and stood opposite a Democratic-controlled House, the need for a separate budget office became dire. Senate Republicans quickly cobbled together their own team of financial analysts.
The cobbling continues. Money for the Senate Budget Office comes through a joint House-Senate committee. In other words, the Senate Budget Office exists at the sufferance of the House.
If H.B. 529 or H.B. 91 were to become part of the Georgia Code, the Senate Budget Office would exist as long as the chamber it serves wants.
Three times the Legislature has sent the governor a bill to formally establish a House Budget Office and the Senate Budget Office. Three times the governor has vetoed it.
We ran into state Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) on Wednesday. He’s chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
We asked him about the issue. “It’s of some significance,” Hill said.
Said Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams: “It’s important.”
Neither would declare the two bills to be override material, but clearly they’re a temptation.
H.B. 529, sponsored by state Rep. Richard Royal (R-Camilla), is the more straight-forward measure. H.B. 91, sponsored by state Rep. Jill Chambers, requires a series of financial reports to be filed by state agencies to specific legislative committees — as well as the separate House and Senate budget offices.
Uncommitted’s small victory, and a Carter son moves for Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s been some talk about how, in the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton has become the candidate of high school graduates and Barack Obama has pulled the more educated voters.
There may be some truth in this. A reader has pointed out that in Michigan last night, Clinton carried all but two of the state’s 83 counties. One was way up north, at the tip of the mitten. Don’t know much about that.
Washtenaw County was the other won by Uncommitted last night. It’s home to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan.
The race now moves to Nevada, where Obama’s people are trumpeting their endorsement by Jack Carter, oldest son of former President Jimmy Carter. As we recall, Jack Carter was originally a Joe Biden man.
For Vernon Jones, press ‘one.’ For Dale Cardwell on a stick, press ‘two.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He didn’t tell us in time to hop a plane so we could listen to him, but DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones says he’s part an elite batch of faculty and tech-types who are gathered at at Harvard University this week to discuss non-emergency 311 systems.
We advise the Democratic candidate for Senate to consult David Horowitz (see item below) so that he might recognize any signs of liberal infection.
When it comes to luring candidates, it turns out rubber chicken beats rubber worms
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three well-timed events in Georgia have become likely bait for presidential candidates of both stripes.
You’ve got next Tuesday’s anti-abortion ceremonies, of course, which will headline Republican Mike Huckabee.
Georgia Democrats have shifted their annual Jefferson-Jackson Day fund-raiser to Jan. 30, four days after their South Carolina primary. Last we heard, commitments from the three top candidates were in pencil, not ink.
And Sadie Fields, chairman of the Georgia Christian Alliance, has just dropped her announcement that she’ll have her annual winter gathering on Ground Hog Day — three days before Georgia’s Feb. 5 primary.
She, too, is fishing — and expects at least one GOP presidential candidate. She’s rented the Riverwood High School auditorium in anticipation.
This is generally a must-attend event for state Republican leaders. The author David Horowitz, who has discovered that many of the nation’s universities employ liberal professors, will be speaking.
The gun deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate Rules Committee has just gutted last year’s version of the NRA-backed guns-in-parking-lots bill.
With senators giving much of the credit to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who met with NRA top gun Wayne LaPierre last week, a new version of the bill now applies to roughly 300,000 holders of state-issued concealed weapons permits.
And then only in limited circumstances.
Perdue, who has locked horns with the National Rifle Association before, made clear this morning he was bothered by the clash of property rights and Second Amendment rights, and was prepared to wield a veto. He had delivered the same message to LaPierre last week, so it wasn’t a surprise to the NRA.
In the rules committee hearing, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which had led the opposition, asked for more time to study the fresh version, but was denied.
It was significant that NRA reps spoke neither for nor against the bill. In essence, the measure gives the gun organization just enough to declare a philosophical victory — which it can point to when a similar bill comes up again in Florida in the next few weeks.
In the Georgia version, to be voted on in the Senate on Thursday:
— An owner can ban all firearms from his property at all times.
— A business owner who leases the property can ban all firearms from the property, if the landlord agrees.
— A business/property owner can ban all firearms from the company parking lot if there is no public access to the company lot.
— A business/property owner can’t prohibit an employee from keeping a firearm in a company parking lot if it is open to the general public — and if those members of the public aren’t specifically prohibited from bringing firearms with them.
A WalMart, say.
But this employee protection is only extended to the roughly 300,000 Georgians who have state-issued concealed weapons permits.
But if WalMart wants to ban firearms for everybody, they can do that, too. Complicated, isn’t it?
This might to be compared to the city of Kennesaw’s gun law. Which declares that you must own a firearm, unless you don’t want to.
The override votes and the gun bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So, we marveled to the well-weathered lobbyist, we’re presented a strange state of affairs: On Monday, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle slows those 12 House overrides to a crawl, doing Gov. Sonny Perdue a great favor.
And on Tuesday, that same governor cuts the legs out from under Cagle by declaring himself opposed to the guns-in-parking-lots bill back by the National Rifle Association. For, we wisely noted, the lieutenant governor has pledged his word to hold a vote on the bill.
The well-weathered lobbyist flashed a well-weathered smile, amused that we could not recognize a swap of favors when we saw it.
He used small words so we could understand: For nearly two years, the Senate has been trapped between the NRA and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on this issue.
The NRA wants employees to have the right to keep firearms in cars parked on company lots. Business types say the measure is an infringement of property rights.
By waving the veto flag this morning, the governor has just given the Senate Republican caucus all the reason it needs to kill the bill, and shift any blame to the governor. If Perdue won’t sign it, why fight over it?
As we spoke, the NRA’s top lobbyist in Georgia and the governor’s counsel were huddled in a hallway conference. A Senate hearing on the bill is scheduled for this afternoon.
That $10 car fee for a trauma network? Maybe something else instead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was just a small change in House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s delivery today. But even at 7 a.m., state Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) picked up on it.
Weeks ago, Richardson proposed resolving the question of state funding for Grady and the other portions of a state trauma network with a $10 annual fee on car registrations.
On one level it makes sense. Auto accidents provide hospitals with much of their emergency business. On the other hand, the speaker also has his famous tax plan on the table, which includes the elimination of car taxes.
Many lawmakers have privately questioned the wisdom of eliminating a car tax, only to add a car fee.
So there’s Richardson this morning, speaking of his determination to see trauma care in Georgia funded — and, he said, he didn’t care how. With car fees, or telephone fees, or whatever.
Which means a) the speaker is saying he’s flexible on the funding idea; and b) the legislation that’s in Geisinger’s pocket is far from dead.
The bill doesn’t have a number yet, but Geisinger proposes funding a state trauma network through a $1 per month fee on all telephones — cell and land lines.
To make sure the uninsured pitch in, he would also add a 10 percent tax to all disposable cell phones, and another 10 percent tax on all minutes purchased for those phones.
Look for AT&T to activate that army of lobbyists it employed last year.
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Obama’s nice, says Jesse Jackson. But Clinton and Edwards aren’t chopped liver
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An unusually diplomatic Jesse Jackson was on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens this morning.
Listen to the three-minute sound clip here, courtesy of host Tim Bryant.
Yes, Jackson had kind things to say about Barack Obama. He admits that Obama’s run for the presidency is going places that his never did. But Jackson didn’t endorse Obama. And twice he said that Hillary Clinton and John Edwards would do just fine.
Good morning. Do you have a firearm in your glove compartment?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Looks like the Tuesday’s theme of the state Legislature will be guns.
A hearing on H.B. 89, the current vehicle for the guns-in-parking-lots bill, is scheduled for this afternoon. Look for a substitution that eliminates that provision.
At the Eggs & Issue breakfast this morning, Gov. Sonny Perdue came out against the NRA-backed measure. The breakfast’s sponsor, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, is diametrically opposed to it.
And here’s an inflammatory YouTube video that’s being passed around this morning, documenting last week’s state Capitol confrontation between NRA leader Wayne LaPierre and rebellious NRA members.
On establishing the moral high ground in a flood plain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue, House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle spoke at the business-oriented Eggs & Issues breakfast this morning.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was the only one who supplied us with an advance text of his remarks. He had much to say, obliquely, about the votes by the House to override 12 of the governor’s vetoes at Monday’s opening of the winter session of the Legislature.
We’re sure both Richardson and Perdue thought he was talking about the other guy.
A few tidbits:
“Being elected to public service is a huge privilege. It is not a right of passage. Public servants are entrusted to act on the citizens’ behalf…a trust which has to be earned, not forced. Once we have earned that trust, we have an obligation not to abuse it but to guard it with integrity. And use it to influence public policy in a way that brings about positive change….
“The statesman is focused on the future. He seeks to avoid conflict, rising above it to serve the greater interests of our citizens. He says ‘I have a plan to make our lives better. And I want you to follow me not because of my title or my power, but because our solution moves us in the right direction.’ The real statesman puts people first and ego last….
“We need to act on principles and to stop acting on politics. It is our moment in time, our opportunity to leave our state better than when we found it. And we cannot afford to let it pass us by while we play games.”
Members of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event, probably appreciated the fact that Cagle didn’t blame developers for north Georgia’s water shortage. Environmentalists and areas outside metro Atlanta probably did not.
Said Cagle:
“The water crisis that we face has not been caused by growth but by historic drought and the mismanagement of our water resources by the Army Corps of Engineers. That’s why we need to pass a statewide water management plan, and we need to expand current reservoir capacity and build new ones. Because it would be a failure on our part not to manage the resources we have in an efficient and effective manner.”
But business types probably didn’t like the implication that new money for transportation will probably have to wait at least another year:
The lieutenant governor said:
“This year we will concentrate on reorganizing the Department of Transportation under new leadership. Once the department is reorganized, our next step will be to implement a statewide traffic management plan and find the most effective way to fund it. I am convinced that with strong leadership and a focus on planning and innovation, we can do 30 percent more projects with the same amount of money.”
Cagle is also crossways with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on the guns-in-parking-lots bill. The chamber wants the bill dead. The lieutenant governor is insisting on a vote.
The issue didn’t rate a mention in Cagle’s speech.
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Edwards event moves to Saturday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re told that an appearance by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has been moved to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the IBEW Local Union 613 hall near Turner Stadium in Atlanta. More details to come.
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Some light reading on the House override votes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the interest of full disclosure, and with the hope of finally finding a cure for insomnia, we offer the following exchange between the press operations of Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
The first, from Perdue’s office, came four hours after the 12 House votes to override the governor’s vetoes on Monday:
“Governor Perdue’s vetoes were based on principles that have guided this administration well for the past five years.
“He articulated sound, logical veto messages and he continues to believe these bills are not in the state’s best interest. Today’s actions are yet another example of House leadership insisting on making a statement rather than making the state better.
“While Governor Perdue respects the constitutional provision for veto overrides, he is also mindful that there has not been a groundswell of support for any of these bills from Georgians, and the concerns explained in the veto messages remain.
“Georgians expect us to address serious issues facing this state and work together to solve problems, not create disputes between the branches of government. Governor Perdue is committed to making sure sound policy decisions based on core principles and beliefs continue under this administration.”
That was quickly followed by a statement from a spokeswoman for House Speaker Glenn Richardson:
“It is not the intention of the House of Representatives to create disputes between the branches of government, but rather simply to exercise its constitutional right to override a veto, just as the executive branch exercised its right to a veto.
“Each of the bills overridden passed the House and the Senate by a clear majority, often by unanimous vote in both bodies. Each of the bills overridden was done so at the request of the author of that bill, not by the leadership of the House.
“Although there are certainly other issues that are much more important to Georgia and to the House, issues like water, tax reform, and trauma care, we cannot govern based only on issues with a groundswell of support from the public.
“We can only govern based on what we think is right and best for the state of Georgia, and that is what the House of Representatives did today.”
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Black Georgia voters joining rolls at three times the pace of white voters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s little doubt that the Democratic presidential primary is generating excitement in Georgia, particularly among African-American voters.
Secretary of State Karen Handel will post numbers on her web site tomorrow indicating that, in the last three months of 2007, African-Americans registered to vote at a rate three times that of whites in Georgia.
The numbers may be incremental, but they do show a definite trend. From Oct. 1, 2007 to Jan. 1, 2008, the number of black, registered active voters increased 1.6 percent to 1.2 million.
Over the same period, the number of white active voters increased .5 percent to 2.9 million.
African-Americans make up 27 percent of the Georgia electorate, according to the new figures. Whites make up 66 percent.
Which makes more important the fact that, even in raw numbers, new African-American voters outpaced white voters — 19,351 to 16,947.
Here’s the big surprise: When divided by race and gender, black males — who generally have a spotty voting record — increased their numbers the most, by 1.9 percent.
Mike Huckabee comes a-courtin’, uh-huh
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’re going to see a lot of Mike Huckabee on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
The Republican presidential candidate will be in Atlanta for Monday celebrations surrounding Martin Luther King Day. Whether he’ll have a speaking role, we don’t know.
On Tuesday, he’ll be one of many at an anti-abortion rally on the state Capitol steps. And he’ll have one-on-one time with Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Casey Cagle, and high-ranking legislative leaders.
Now that Perdue’s no longer chairman of the Republican Governors Association, there’s at least the possibility that the governor will be something less than neutral come Feb. 5. So he’s very well worth courting. The last word we got from Cagle was that the lieutenant governor fully intends to support….wait for it….the Republican nominee.
A Morrison Cafeteria of veto overrides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Sunday night, House leaders were talking about three or four overrides. By the end of the frenzy on Monday, we had a dozen.
What gives? The story told by Democrats is that House Republican leaders couldn’t get their counterparts in the Senate to commit to any of those handful of bills they were considering.
So they threw the doors open to give the Senate a set of cafeteria-style selections — with the expectation that in that dozen are one or two that the other chamber would accept.
We haven’t been able to get any Republicans to tell us that this is indeed the case.
One thing that does occur to us is that these history-making overrides have been thrown into the same Senate Rules Committee pot as the volatile guns-in-parking lot bill so desired by the National Rifle Association.
And it might increase Senate leverage on other, House measures as well.
State Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville) the APSRC. That’s All-Powerful Senate Rules Chairman to you laymen.
His committee determines what makes it to the Senate floor for a vote, and what doesn’t.
Last year, during debate over the bill to permit employees to keep guns in cars parked on corporate lots, Balfour was its strongest opponent —taking the side of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which declared the measure to infringe on the rights of property owners.
The bill foundered, and is back with a vengeance this year.
Balfour has scheduled a hearing on a new version of the bill, now mixed in with H.B. 89, for Tuesday afternoon, with a Senate floor vote later in the week.
That roughly coincides with the schedule for the 12 veto overrides sent over by the House on Monday. Balfour said he didn’t think his committee would be able to get to the overrides until Wednesday at the earliest.
And a floor vote wouldn’t come until well after the gun bill vote, he said. Which means, if one of those override bills is something that a senator wants to see become law — despite the governor’s opposition — that senator might want to consult with Balfour about his views on packing firearms in glove compartments.
The office of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle also apparently sees the advantage of something other than a speedy consideration of the overrides.
“At this time, no schedule has been set for a floor vote, although that is also a matter to which we will devote some attention. The bottom line is that these bills have broad statutory and budgetary impact, and we need to fully weigh the perspectives of the Governor and the House prior to a floor vote,” Cagle said in a prepared statement.
So on what vetoed bills did the House challenge the governor?
— H.B. 549, a bill to establish basic therapy services for children with disabilities. The vote was 161 to 12.
— H.B. 229, which set limits on when book allowances paid for by the Hope scholarship could be cut. The vote was 162 to 11.
— H.B. 91, which requires state departments to provide specific financial information to legislators and the public. The vote was 157 to 15.
— H.B. 529, another budget-related bill. The vote was 160-13.
— H.B. 162, which gives sales tax exemptions for performing arts centers. Think Alpharetta. The vote was 147 to 22.
— H.B. 441, an income tax bill. The vote was 155 to 16.
— H.B. 559, to permit public charter school teachers to sign up for state health insurance. The vote was 157 to 14.
— H.B. 807, to allow the city of Auburn to de-annex some property. The vote was 158 to 14.
—H.B. 413, a sales tax bill for counties and cities. It passed 152-18.
A match made in heaven or the other place?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our sister paper, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, has an interesting campaign item posted on its blog this morning about a potential presidential ticket that would truly shake up the 2008 race.
How about a ticket headed by Republican Sen. John McCain with Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic VP candidate who left the party and declared himself an independent, as veep?
The Post doesn’t place much credence on the rumor, but it does note an interesting development that points in the direction of a McCain/Lieberman ticket.
Has anyone ever voluntarily run for vice president on two different tickets?
The House is now on its ninth — oops, 10th — override. Heck, they’re up to a dozen now.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House just completed its seventh — you read that right — override of a veto by Gov. Sonny Perdue. We’ll shovel you the details as soon as possible. But keep in mind that you haven’t seen this in 34 years. And then it was just a pair of local bills.
And now they’ve started on an eighth. that’s passed. And now they’ve taken up the ninth one.
The Senate just adjourned, and House Speaker Glenn Richardson just made a reference to the Senate playing games and not taking the vetoes seriously.
It’s 11:20 a.m., and now they’ve taken up a 10th. And an 11th at 11:26 a.m.
And now they’re on an even dozen. No. 12 passed at 11:29 a.m.
And they’re done.
Here they come: Edwards on Friday, Obama on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The John Edwards campaign is headed to Atlanta on Friday afternoon, according to Macon blogger and Edwards supporter Amy Morton. Details to come. His last appearance was at the Depot.
And as predicted, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama will be in Atlanta on Sunday for the Martin Luther King festivities, his campaign said today.
Details of the Illinois senator’s visit have not been released, but one report on InsiderAdvantage, says Obama will appear at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
We’ve got an inquiry into Hillary Clinton supporters. You’ve got to think won’t want to be left out.
Not one or two overrides, but three or four
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re hearing that the House may be more feisty than we thought. Instead of the one or two veto overrides that will occur this morning, we’re now told that it will be three or four. Still trying to identify the bills.
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Now that we’ve sung ‘Kumbaya,’ it’s time to look at that veto
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For two days last week, Georgia’s trio of Republican leadership put on an aerial show of solidarity, hopping from runway to runway with the message that last year’s meltdown was gone and forgotten.
Yes, the two-plane fly-around was by some measure a publicity stunt. But it also held out the possibility of valuable face-time between two men who still need it — Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson. With Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle as a kind of referee.
Whether by plane, train or lifeboat, whenever traveling strangers are confined to the same space, there exists the possibility that the occupants will be forced to interact.
They might even speak to each other — about kids, wives, football, even public policy. The topic doesn’t really matter. The rules of social lubrication dictate that the more comfortable you become with a fellow in private, the less likely you are to knife him in public.
But the ice-breaking opportunity was never real. Richardson, a lawyer, missed the first day because of court appointments.
On the second day, the governor and the House speaker were never on the same plane. Not that conversation would have been possible.
On each leg, the governor climbed into the left-hand seat of the cockpit, slapped on the earphones, and — like Charles Lindbergh, the Lone Eagle — led both airships of state to their next destination. Richardson and Cagle were passengers.
There is a metaphor in that.
The Legislature convenes Monday morning. The drought is high on the agenda. So is Richardson’s plan to eliminate school property taxes in favor of an expanded sales tax.
But it’s nearly certain that the first order of business will be a rare override of one of the many vetoes issued by Perdue last spring.
The House speaker was made nearly apoplectic by the governor’s veto of a tax rebate that Richardson backed. But tomorrow’s rebellion will be a token one — and will not touch on that sensitive topic.
Late last week, House leaders were still searching for one bill for the purpose, two at the outside. Perhaps on budget policy — something small but substantive. Small, because lawmakers don’t want to sour the entire session. Substantive, because they want to show that their actions matter, with or without the governor.
No big speeches are planned, no bombast. Just a quick vote and a plain message.
If it’s the right bill, House Democrats say they’ll be on board. Senate Republicans — both chambers must give two-thirds approval to the override — say the same thing. But Senate Republicans are closer to the governor, and have insisted that House Republicans take the first step.
Cagle, the lieutenant governor, will be something of a bystander in the drama.
“If there’s a legitimate reason to override, we’ll override,” said Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah). But Johnson said the Senate would not act out of pique over last year’s ugly finish.
Historically, the Legislature has been a tame creature, obedient to governors. The last override of a veto — two, actually — came 34 years ago this month, according to the astute research of House Clerk Robbie Rivers and his staff.
The governor’s name was Jimmy Carter. The vetoes originated in the House, where the newly sworn-in speaker was a fellow named Tom Murphy — who no doubt wanted to demonstrate that he, and his chamber, would be something to reckon with.
The bills themselves? They went directly into law after the override, and resulted in the abolition of school property taxes paid by senior citizens in two school districts, one of them Atlanta.
Sounds familiar.
The Big Guy goes to South Carolina for Edwards
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got a report from Mark Taylor, the former lieutenant governor, who was up in Greenville on Saturday — one of several Georgians who knocked on doors for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
“We got a great response. There’s a path for John Edwards, right up the middle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama,” said the Big Guy.
As in Georgia, polls in South Carolina have Edwards a distant third. But local newspapers reported the candidate drawing well on Saturday.
Taylor said the increased focus on the economy plays to Edwards’ strength, and that the former North Carolina senator had returned to his basic, “Two Americas” speech.
“There’s a lot of concern about the economy in South Carolina, just like there is in Georgia,” Taylor said.
After meeting at the state Capitol just after dawn, the Edwards caravan headed up I-85, and were handed a packet of 75 Democratic-leaning voters to contact. Taylor said the Georgia squad located perhaps half of them — to be expected on an unusually warm January day. They even tracked down a couple Bob Jones University students who had shown evidence of Democratic predilections.
In addition to Taylor, also making the trek to South Carolina were Steve Leeds, the state Democratic committee member; Chuck Byrd, Perry law partner with former House majority leader Larry Walker; and Macon blogger Amy Morton, who filed this report.
Taylor has kept a low profile since his lost to Sonny Perdue in the 2006 race for governor, and we couldn’t let the former lieutenant governor go without asking him about a return to public life.
The Big Guy waved the inquiry away. “Somebody told me the other day I look a lot better without a target on my back,” he said.
No Barack, but Michelle Obama will attend the Wild Hog Supper
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got this confirmed from the Barack Obama campaign: Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, will make a quick stop by the Wild Hog Supper in downtown Atlanta.
The feast is the traditional opener of the winter session of the Legislature.
Chaos is sure to reign as a result of her visit. Which means all will be normal.
The host of the evening, state Agricultural Commissioner Tommy Irvin, is a supporter of Hillary Clinton. But he’s already said that the visitor from Chicago would be welcomed with open arms. And a free ticket.
Barack Obama in Atlanta on Sunday? We’re hearing ‘no’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TV reporter Denis O’Hayer with 11 Alive is reporting that Barack Obama will join his wife in Atlanta on Sunday for the Trumpet awards.
We’ve tried to confirm this, but we’re running into all sorts of denials from the Obama campaign. They’re saying it’s certain that Michelle is going stag.
However, we were also told not to be surprised if Obama - the husband, not the wife — shows up in Atlanta on Martin Luther King Day. We already know he’ll be in South Carolina that day.
And Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have penciled in — no firm commitment yet from any of them — Jan. 30 for the state Democratic fund-raiser.
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Cobb County school system says it ain’t for what the Speaker’s for
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Cobb County school system, one of the largest in the state, has joined the ranks of those opposing House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s revised plan to eliminate school property taxes.
Which means the local board of education’s relationship with state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, Cobb’s most influential legislator and close friend to the speaker, isn’t likely to improve soon.
The note going around says:
The Cobb County School District is joining school systems across Georgia in announcing concern over efforts in the Georgia Legislature that may affect funding for local schools. Along with other members of the Georgia Education Coalition1, a year-old alliance of nine school systems representing 30 percent of Georgia’s public school enrollment, Cobb County has been following the development of certain tax reform initiatives with the hope that as the Legislature convenes, lawmakers will consider these concerns.
As the Cobb County School District continues to face the pressures of increasing growth in population, the district faces greater demand than most in keeping up with the pace of development. Additionally, the Cobb County community has a strong commitment to education, above and beyond the measures set out and funded by the State of Georgia.
Read the entire note on the jump.
Cobb Schools Join Coalition In Opposing State Changes To Local Control, Revenue Stability
The Cobb County School District is joining school systems across Georgia in announcing concern over efforts in the Georgia Legislature that may affect funding for local schools. Along with other members of the Georgia Education Coalition1, a year-old alliance of nine school systems representing 30 percent of Georgia’s public school enrollment, Cobb County has been following the development of certain tax reform initiatives with the hope that as the Legislature convenes, lawmakers will consider these concerns.
As the Cobb County School District continues to face the pressures of increasing growth in population, the district faces greater demand than most in keeping up with the pace of development. Additionally, the Cobb County community has a strong commitment to education, above and beyond the measures set out and funded by the State of Georgia.
While the State of Georgia provides funding for education, in recent years that funding has decreased as a percentage of the Cobb County School District’s overall budget. In fact, Cobb County taxpayers now fund the majority of the school district’s operating budget through local property tax. Currently, local property taxes provide 52.7 percent of the school district’s operating budget.
Local control of local dollars has resulted in a superb school system that outperforms state and national averages on standardized tests and provides an exceptional array of extracurricular programs. If the school system were to depend solely upon state funding for its schools, the money would be inadequate to support the many outstanding educational programs currently enjoyed by Cobb County students. Without local discretion and funding, Cobb County would not be able to provide the local supplement for teachers’ salaries that allows the district to hire the very best educators. Nor would it be able to provide the extracurricular activities such as band, art and music that citizens of this community want and have come to expect.
A tax reform proposal requiring a total dependency on a sales tax for education would further erode financial support for Cobb County schools and for schools throughout Georgia. Replacing the current system that funds schools through stable property taxes could result in a drastic year-to-year variation in the types of education programs available in Cobb County. It also would nullify the school property tax exemption currently enjoyed by Cobb seniors 62 and older. Seniors would join all other consumers in paying any new sales tax for schools.
The Cobb County School District and Georgia Education Coalition are not opposed to the concept of tax reform, but are opposed to any specific type of reform that would limit local control over tax dollars and would change the current stable tax revenue stream. Therefore, it is critical that any tax-reform proposals considered in the General Assembly weigh all of the potential effects on the operation of local schools, and not limit the ability of the Cobb County School District to provide local supplemental funds for improving educational resources.
Hillary showed hers, and now Barack shows his
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last Friday, the Hillary Clinton campaign in Georgia put out its list of heavyweight support.
One week later, the Barack Obama campaign has done the same thing, unloading its roster.
Clinton collared the endorsements of Democrats elected statewide — Attorney General Thurbert Baker, Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, and Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin.
But clearly, Obama has the support of most African-American lawmakers serving in the state Capitol.
Clinton has Hank Aaron. Obama has Walt Bellamy.
See the entire list on the jump.
You have to wonder whether the Obama list has grown as a result of the Clinton/Martin Luther King flap leading up to the New Hampshire primary.
The New York Times has a piece today in which James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress and the bellwether of black politics in the state, said he’s reconsidering his neutral stance as a result of Hillary Clinton’s comments.
This from the Times:
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Mrs. Clinton, who was locked in a running exchange with Senator Barack Obama, a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, over the meaning of the legacies of President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., tried to make a point about presidential leadership.
“Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Mrs. Clinton said in trying to make the case that her experience should mean more to voters than the uplifting words of Mr. Obama. “It took a president to get it done.”
Quickly realizing that her comments could draw criticism, Mrs. Clinton returned to the subject at a later stop, recalling how Dr. King was beaten and jailed and how he worked with Johnson to pass the landmark law. Clinton advisers said her first remark had not captured what she meant to convey. And they said she would never detract from a movement that has driven her own public service.
Again, see the Georgia list of Obama supporters below. Compare it with the Clinton list here.
Members of Congress
Congressman Sanford Bishop, Georgia State Co-Chair
Congressman Hank Johnson, Georgia State Co-Chair
Mayors
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin
Albany Mayor Willie Adams
Camilla Mayor Mary Jo Haywood
East Point Mayor Joe Macon
Riverdale Mayor Evelyn Wynn Dixon
Washington Mayor Willie Burns
Waycross Mayor John Fluker (Ret.)
State Legislators
State Senator David Adelman
State Senator Gloria Butler, Georgia Women for Obama Co-Chair
State Senator Gail Davenport
State Senator Emanuel Jones
State Senator Ron Ramsey
State Senator Kasim Reed
State Senator Doug Stoner
State Senator Ed Tarver
State Senator Horacena Tate
State Senator Curt Thompson
State Representative Stacey Abrams
State Representative Roger Bruce
State Representative Bob Bryant
State Representative Hardie Davis
State Representative Karla Drenner
State Representative Virgil Fludd
State Representative Gloria Frazier
State Representative Craig Gordon
State Representative Keith Heard
State Representative Lester Jackson
State Representative Celeste Johnson
State Representative Sheila Jones
State Representative Darryl Jordan
State Representative Margaret Kaiser
State Representative Randall Mangham
Former State Representative JoAnn McClinton
State Representative Alisha Thomas Morgan
State Representative Howard Mosby
Former State Representative Dorothy Pelote
State Representative Robin Shipp
State Representative Georganna Sinkfield
State Representative Pam Stephenson
State Representative Roberta Abdul Salaam
State Representative Able Mable Thomas
State Representative Brian Thomas
State Representative Stan Watson
Local Elected Officials
Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders
Former Atlanta City Councilmember Michael Julian Bond
Former East Point City Councilmember Eddie Lee Brewster
Dekalb County Superior Court Clerk Linda Carter
Dekalb County Board of Education Member Jesse Jay Cunningham
Dekalb County District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming
Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard
Dekalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson
Dekalb County Tax Commissioner Claudia Lawson
Atlanta City Councilmember C.T. Martin
Dekalb County Commissioner Lee May
Macon City Councilmember Lonnie Miley
Atlanta City Councilmember Caesar Mitchell
Atlanta City Councilmember Felecia Moore
Savannah Alderman Mary Osborne
Albany Mayor Pro-Tem Tommie Postell
Clayton County Commissioner Wole Ralph
Atlanta City Councilmember Joyce Sheperd
Athens-Clarke County Board of Education Member Ovita Thornton
Atlanta City Councilmember Ivory Young
Macon City Councilmember Virgil Watkins Jr.
Dekalb County Board of Education Member Sarah Copelin Wood
Faith Leaders
Rev. Cameron Alexander
Rev. Rudolph Allen
Rev. Jonathan Alvarado
Rev. Dr. Michael Battle
Rev. Dr. Lawrence Carter
Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley
Rev. Jonathan Flakes III
Rev. William Flippin
Rev. Dr. Robert Franklin
Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale
Rev. Tony Hunter
Rev. W. Rod Johnson
Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Obama for America National Voting Rights Chair
Bishop Earl McCloud
Rev. Dr. Lester McCorn
Rev. Timothy McDonald
Rev. James Millner
Rev. Bennie Mitchell
Rev. Hannah Morrison
Rev. Dr. Marvin Moss
Rev. Dr. Anthony Motley
Rev. Dr. Monte Norwood
Rev. Craig Oliver
Rev. James Orange
Rev. Dr. Aaron L. Parker Sr.
Rev. Ezekiel Powers
Rev. Dexter Rowland
Rev. Raleigh Rucker
Rev. Dr. Kenneth Samuels
Rev. Dr. E. Dewey Smith
Rev. Dr. T. Dewitt Smith
Rev. Dan Stevenson
Rev. Scottie Swinney
Rev. Dr. Byron Thomas
Rev. Eric Thomas
Rev. Dr. Thurmond Tillman
Rev. Dr. Matthew Vaughn Johnson
Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian
Rev. Dr. Rafael Warnock
Community, Civic and Business Leaders
Henrietta Antonin
Joe Beasley
Walt Bellamy
Leona Barr-Davenport
Edward Dubose
Helen Butler
Lisa Cunningham-Johnson
Evelyn Gibson Lowery, Georgia Women for Obama Co-Chair
Christopher Goss
Cathy Hampton
Michael Hill
Sheila Maddox
Karol Mason
Vivian Moore
Mary Shy Scott
Sybil Scott
David Schutten
Patricia Wilson-Smith
Hank Stewart
Theresa Walker
A test vote from GOP base territory in Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While Republican presidential candidates were in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last night for their rugby scrum, the 11th Congressional District Republican Committee held an impromptu straw poll at its meeting in Paulding County.
Here are the results, as reported by vice chairman Jason Shepherd:
— Mike Huckabee, 10;
— Fred Thompson, 9;
— John McCain, 3;
— Rudy Giuliani, 3;
— Ron Paul, 2;
— Duncan Hunter, 1;
— Mitt Romney, 0.
Let national park visitors keep closer to their guns, Isakson and Chambliss say
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss are two of 47 U.S. senators who have put their names to a letter calling for the Bush administration to let gun owners carry handguns and other firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges, the Associated Press is reporting.
An Isakson spokeswoman said the pair signed the letter, sent to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, well before hiker Meredith Emerson was killed in the North Georgia mountains last week.
Even so, the issue is likely to resonate. “This is not only about protection of gun rights, but also about individual saftey. Even though this letter went out before the hiker in north Georgia was killed, it is more relevant now than ever because of that tragedy,” Isakson said.
The current, Reagan-era regulations “infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners who wish to transport and carry firearms on or across these lands,” the senators wrote.
According to the AP, the current rules, adopted in 1983 under then-Interior Secretary James Watt, demand that national park visitors render their weapons inaccessible. Guns don’t have to be taken apart, but they must be put somewhere — like a car trunk — that is not easily reached.
Nothing like a kind word to kick off the ‘09 race for mayor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning, Mayor Shirley Franklin gave her state-of-the-city spiel to Atlanta business leaders.
It was an important crowd. These were the people who are most likely to bankroll the ’09 mayoral race. Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders was there, as were council members Mary Norwood and Ceasar Mitchell.
All three are interested in succeeding Franklin.
But Franklin mentioned none of them a specific mention. Instead, according to our colleague Eric Stirgus, the mayor bandied the name of yet another highly likely candidate for mayor — state Sen. Kasim Reed.
It was as she recalled her first address to the group:
“Kasim Reed — who was very nervous about that first presentation — was my campaign manager in 2001. I wasn’t known to be too much of a speaker.
“I was the behind-the-scenes person. I’m trying much harder to get this right. I only have two years and about 700 days, so I’m really on an accelerated course here.
“But the fact of the matter is Kasim was very nervous and he reminds me from time to time that that was his favorite speech,” Franklin said.
It could be called a casual, meaningless aside. Or perhaps not.
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Ralph Reed and John McCain: Together again, from a distance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Washington Post blog today ponders CNN’s decision to bring Republican strategist Ralph Reed on as an analyst for the GOP presidential race.
The newspaper dwells on the history between Reed and John McCain, winner of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
As chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, McCain uncovered much of the Jack Abramoff scandal, and detailed Reed’s association with now-imprisoned Washington lobbyist. The revelations cost Reed his shot at lieutenant governor in 2006.
McCain also won New Hampshire in 2000, trouncing George W. Bush. The GOP race then moved to South Carolina, where a hard-hitting rumor campaign sank McCain’s boat. Reed was in charge of direct mail for the Bush campaign in the state.
Reed was one of several analysts used by CNN as the votes rolled in from New Hampshire on Tuesday. CNN says the former state GOP chairman and ex-leader of the Christian Coalition was not paid for his appearance.
The writer of the Post item, incidentally, is Susan Schmidt, who picked up a Pulitzer for her coverage of the Abramoff scandal.
Isakson to Iraqi leaders: All bets are off once Bush leaves office
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fresh from a three-day trip to Iraq, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson on Thursday repeatedly spoke of the brief “window of opportunity” that exists for Iraqi leaders to get their act together, as a result of the yearlong surge of American troops into Baghdad.
How long will that window stay open?
Only as long as President Bush is in office. “There’s some parallel in those time lines,” he said in a conference call.
“The president has made a major commitment to that part of the world,” he said. “If the Iraqi government can’t respond within that time period, and [with] that kind of support, then I think that’s when that window begins to close — unfortunately, very quickly, for them.”
Isakson also said this:
“When that window closes, if they haven’t moved forward, then everything they’ve got could dissipate very quickly. And obviously there would be a huge loss of confidence on my part.”
Otherwise, Isakson said he was buoyed by what he saw on his third trip to the country. The senator said that Iraqi leaders he spoke to — Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurds — understood the urgency and expected some “substantial” progress on power- and oil-sharing agreements by the end of March.
Compared with his previous trips, Isakson said he saw “a remarkable difference. The road to the airport to the Green Zone was safe enough to travel. It hadn’t been before.
On previous trips, he hadn’t been allowed out of his armored personnel carrier. This time, he made the now obligatory walk through a market — this one in a western suburb of Baghdad.
Hop on a bus. See the wonders of Greenville, Spartanburg, and Walhalla
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blog for Democracy reports that the Democratic presidential campaign of John Edwards will have South Carolina-bound buses at the state Capitol at 8 a.m. Saturday, and is looking for volunteers to fill them for a day of canvassing.
Pass the news around. Given the fact that Edwards enjoys strong support in Georgia’s legal community, this could be a rare opportunity to export a few lawyers.
Huckabee shows the grease under his fingernails
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Michigan may show us what makes Mike Huckabee a sudden, formidable force in the Republican presidential primary.
In Iowa, he was buoyed by his appeal to Christian conservatives, the mainstay of the GOP there — and in Georgia.
Now, Huckabee has put up his first TV ad in rusting, job-challenged Michigan — and is showing off his blue collar background with what may be the best line of his campaign:
“Most Americans want their next president to remind them of the guy they work with — not the guy who laid them off.”
Not a bad message for a country on the edge of a recession — or already there. And it’s a less-than-sly dig at businessman Mitt Romney, for whom Michigan has become a must-win state.
The first signs of the Georgia primary season: Billboards and a nasty e-mail
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A flying billboard attempting to sell commuters on Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has suddenly appeared on I-75 southbound, near the North 120 Loop in Marietta. This isn’t the first Paul billboard in metro Atlanta, but it may be the most prominent.
With all that money Paul’s raised via the Internet, you think he’d at least be emphasizing cable TV.
Another sign of the coming Georgia presidential primary: A mass, inflammatory e-mail that one reader passed to us, railing against Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate.
The reader said the message was received Monday by every employee in a Valdosta bank.
We won’t pass on the entire contents. That would mean the terrorists win. But it is important to recognize that the debate in Georgia over the next few weeks will be intense — and that much of the conversation will be taking place out of sight, via the Internet.
Just so you recognize it, the e-mail declares Obama to be a secret Muslim, and accuses him of slouching during the Pledge of Allegiance. Of course, “allegiance” is misspelled. We never said the author was overly bright.
Dear Ms. Obama: Feel free to stop by for a bit of roast hog
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One rumor making the rounds declares that a certain Democratic presidential campaign wants Michelle Obama — who will be in town on Sunday — to attend that evening’s Wild Hog Supper in downtown Atlanta.
The Wild Hog is a feast of boar meat that has become the traditional opening event for each year’s session of the Legislature. The event is an easy way to meet nearly every lawmaker in the state. The gathering is also the province of state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, a Democrat who has declared for Hillary Clinton.
But that’s not a problem, Irvin said. Barack Obama’s wife would be greeted with open arms. “If she wants to come, we’ll get her a ticket. Matter of fact, I’ve got one in my pocket,” he said this afternoon.
Supreme Court eyes Indiana voter ID law
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments on the state of Indiana’s voter ID law. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, an observer, left the session believing her state’s law mandating photo identification will remain intact.
“I thought it went extremely well,” Handel said.
The Indiana law taken up by the Supremes is even more restrictive than Georgia’s. Lawyers on both sides were pummeled with questions about whether such laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud and whether requiring would-be voters to provide a government-issued photo ID has actually prevented anyone from voting.
Parts of Georgia’s voter ID law are modeled on the Indiana law, Handel said, with several key exceptions.
Indiana requires a photo ID to get an absentee ballot. Georgia does not. Indiana has stricter requirements for voters seeking a voter ID card. Georgia provides an ID card free to anyone who is registered to vote but lacks a driver’s license.
Bottom line: If Indiana’s law survives, Georgia’s should too. But even if the Indiana law is struck down, Handel said, odds are still high Georgians will stil be required to show ID cards at the polls.
“Whether or not the Indiana law stands,” Handel said, “I feel very optimistic about Georgia’s law.”
Shirley Franklin says she’s ‘150 percent’ for Barack Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With New Hampshire over, the Georgia primary began in earnest this morning.
On an Atlanta morning radio show, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin just declared Barack Obama to be her choice in the Democratic race for president — putting herself opposite John Lewis, her mentor Andrew Young, and members of the Maynard Jackson clan. They’re on the side of Hillary Clinton.
Here’s the two-minute sound clip, courtesy of WVEE-FM. Franklin was on the station’s “Frank and Wanda Morning Show.”
“There’s no question that Hillary is a strong candidate. What I like about Obama is that he is reaching - he is energizing a population that is not typically energized. There’s a lot of talk about whether he’s got enough experience,” the Atlanta mayor said. “It’s as if we’ve forgotten that Dr. [Martin Luther] King was a global leader at 34.”
So much for Clinton’s comment that Obama was no MLK.
“So I am 150 percent pulling for Barack Obama. Now, that is a new position for me,” Franklin admitted.
The mayor had heretofore declared herself a neutral in the fight, citing her position as one of the co-chairs of this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. Bottom line, this means Georgia will be watching Franklin on one side of the Democratic presidential race, and two lions of the Civil Rights movement on another.
Franklin’s declaration was foreshadowed on Monday by an endorsement of Obama by state Sen. Kasim Reed, one of her top political strategists.
In the same interview on V-103, Franklin also plugged a local option sales tax for the city sewer system — which will also be on the Feb. 5 ballot.
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.
Blogwatch: Oh, dear. The tears
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For Georgia blogger Sid Cottingham, a Democrat, the sight of Hillary Clinton fighting off tears today brought back memories of Ed Muskie. He’s found a good account of the ‘72 incident in the New York Times obituary of Muskie, who died in 2004.
Read about it here. See the AJC video clip of a dewy-eyed Clinton here.
Nunn-Boren group: Regardless of who wins in ‘08, they want the next president to appoint a bipartisan cabinet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Norman, Okla. — Here’s the headline from the Nunn-Boren meeting, just finished: The 17 political figures — most Republican and Democrat — demanded that the entire presidential field commit to a bipartisan Cabinet if elected, and called for cross-party approaches to crucial national issues — most specifically foreign policy.
Former Georgia senator Sam Nunn read the manifesto that begins like this:
“America is in danger. Our ability to meet and solve the problems that face us is seriously compromised. National surveys reveal that an unprecedented seven out of 10 citizens believe that life for their children will not be as good as their own. We are headed in the wrong direction. We share their deep concern and frustration. Our nation is indeed at risk.”
The 1,000-seat auditorium was standing-room only, with not quite 150 media members in attendance. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s toying with an independent candidacy, took a relatively low profile.
After the event, Nunn said the group intends to get together again this spring, regardless of who the Republican and Democratic nominees are. And he said there was significant resistance in the group toward backing en masse an independent candidate for president.
More later.
Fortunately, if anything untoward happens, there’s a medical writer in the house
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Norman, Okla — We’re here at the Nunn-Boren-Bloomberg meeting at the University of Oklahoma. The public portion starts in 90 minutes or so. The participants are currently locked away in the president’s house getting their game plan together.
About 50 people are gathered outside, waiting for a portion of the program that will allow them to question the 17 figures, most of them retired politicians, who will address the shortfalls of the current presidential debate.
The media number more than three times that. All the standard heavyweights — E.J. Dionne, columnist Kathleen Parker, etc. — plus representatives from Al Jazeera, Executive Intelligence Review magazine, and the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Thirty-eight reporters, camera people and techs are from New York, here to catch whatever billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg cares to say about an independent run for the presidency.
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Kasim Reed joins Obama’s supporting ranks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s no surprise, but state Sen. Kasim Reed of Atlanta just endorsed Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race.
“I have been inspired by the coalition of supporters of all ages, races, and walks of life he built in Iowa and is building around the country, and I believe he gives Georgia Democrats our best chance of retaking the White House in 2008 and building the coalition necessary to bring change as President,” Reed says.
The significance? Reed is a key strategist for Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, whose Democratic machine could play a huge role in the Feb. 5 presidential primary. Reed is expected to announce his ‘09 candidacy for mayor any day now.
Guns in company lots would jeopardize national security, says chemical group
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Capitol is all about guns today.
Wayne LaPierre and his co-horts from the National Rifle Association are here doing some personal lobbying to push their all-important (to them) guns-in-parking-lots bill.
How intense is the opposition? The Georgia Chemistry Council just declared defeat of the bill a matter of national security.
“The nature of some materials produced in the chemical industry make our workplaces higher-risk targets for potential terrorist attacks,” said council executive vice president Rudy Underwood. “A mandate by state government to force our member companies to relax the necessary security measures adopted by the chemical industry would be counterproductive to ensuring safety and security for our employees, neighbors and essential products.”
The word from REM: Huckabee’s a ‘charming’ creationist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Sirius satellite radio PR machine was late getting out the word, but here’s what REM frontman Michael Stipe of Athens, known for his political activism, had to say about Republican Mike Huckabee last week — after Stipe saw him on “The Late, Late Show” on CBS:
“I’ve never seen the guy [Mike Huckabee] talk, not even online. I have never seen him talk for 30 seconds…[and] he’s really charming. I instantly wanted to call [Generation X author] Doug Coupland and say ‘OK, project one year into the future for me: what the hell does this mean?’
“Because he’s a creationist, he’s a Baptist minister. I can’t think of probably a single issue in which I am even remotely in the same universe as that guy. And yet, he was kind of charming and…self-deprecating. He was actually kind of a good sport, and funny, and I don’t know what that means. Maybe it’s a good thing that’s he’s being lauded right now by the right. He’s an evangelical.
“May God bless all living creatures, but my God — how weird.”
Stipe made the comments Friday on something called “Jane Radio” hosted by Jane Pratt.
Cardwell stunt latest in long line
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s getting close to a week since U.S. Sen. Candidate Dale Cardwell perched himself more than 300 feet above the streets of Atlanta to draw attention to his nascent campaign.
And while he sits by himself, Cardwell, a Democrat, is not alone.
Eager to gain name recognition and to raise money for long-shot campaigns, untold numbers of candidates have pulled stunts of their own, from selling handyman services on e-Bay to faking their own disappearance.
The late Lawton Chiles, who would go on to become governor of Florida, was running for the U.S. Senate himself in 1970 when he decided to walk 1,000 miles across the state in 91 days to meet voters personally.
Chiles won the Senate seat and earned the nickname that would follow him throughout his political career, “Walkin’ Lawton.”
A virtually unknown write-in candidate for governor of Ohio, Larry Bays, put himself up for bid on the internet auction site e-Bay to raise money for his campaign. He’s No. 8 on the linked site.
Bays offered to do handyman tasks around voters’ homes in exchange for campaign cash. He got one bid and 73 votes in the election. He was overshadowed, however, by a heated auction over a cutting board signed by actor Tony Danza.
Then there’s the story and a few pics of Mike Weaver, a 2006 congressional candidate in Kentucky who took over a Marathon gas station and sold gas for $1.20 a gallon, less than half the actual cost at the time.
Cars were lined up for blocks. And Weaver was out $1,500 - the difference between the full cost and his cut-rate price. Locals deemed the stunt a success.
And finally there’s the case of Gary Dodds.
Dodds was running for Congress in New Hampshire in 2006 when his car, a Lincoln Continental with “Dodds for Congress” painted on it, crashed into a turnpike guardrail and Dodds himself disappeared.
Dodd was missing for 27 hours before police found him covered in leaves along a riverbank. Dodds claimed he swam across the river, but police got suspicious because only Dodds’ shoes were wet when he was found.
Opponents quickly asserted that the whole thing was a stunt by a candidate badly in need of attention and cash. Dodds denied it and called it a “politically motivated witch hunt” by critics and the media.
“It’s an election year,” Dodds said without any hint of irony, “and I think it’s interesting timing that (widespread coverage of his accident) are now front-page news.”
A case for history repeating itself
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In early 1992, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton couldn’t find a victory in Iowa or New Hampshire.
Fortunately, his political advisor was James Carville, who had seen Zell Miller into the Georgia governor’s office two years earlier. The state’s primary was conveniently moved a week ahead of Super Tuesday.
Bill Clinton won Georgia, then claimed frontrunner status the next week as “the comeback kid.”
If Hillary Clinton performs poorly in New Hampshire next week, Georgia — not South Carolina — could become the place where a Clinton again must rescue herself.
Her people understand this. See below the list of Georgia supporters the Clinton campaign put out this morning.
Obama’s people are also familiar with the Clinton track record in Georgia, and are preparing accordingly.
We’ve just found out they’re negotiating leases on seven more offices statewide — in Savannah, Augusta, Athens, Macon, Albany, Columbus and Decatur. The Obama office in Atlanta has been operating since this fall.
Clinton’s Atlanta office just opened.
Jones: In the Senate race to the end
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones said he’s in the 2008 U.S. Senate race to stay and has absolutely no plans to run for the House against fellow Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson, the freshman congressman.
“I have - or had - no intention of running for the United States Congress,” Jones told us a few minutes ago.
“Let me be clear,” he said, “Hank Johnson, in my opinion, is doing a fine job as the representative of the [Fourth] District so far. … I consider him a friend.”
It was Jones’ first public comment on rumors that have been circulating for weeks that he was about to drop out of his race against incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and challenge Johnson instead.
Jones said the rumors may have been fueled by Republicans or by DeKalb County Democrats who have been bashing Johnson for siding with a Republican in the fight over a seat on the Democratically dominated county commission.
“There are folks who probably believe I can win this race and they probably want me to get out of it,” Jones said.
Jones’ run against Chambliss has been portrayed as a long shot, even by fellow Democrats, while Johnson’s House seat looks much more winnable.
But Jones insists that the public’s desire for real change in Washington coupled with his right-of-center proposals on immigration and budget matters will win over the red state’s voters.
“I saw this coming a while back,” he said. “This country wants to go in a different direction.”
UPDATE: Just after we talked to Jones, we received a statement from Johnson, offering his first public utterance about the rumors of a Johnson-Jones showdown.
Here’s what Johnson had to say:
“Vernon is serious about his Senate bid and I am confident that he will perform admirably. I serve on one of his fundraising committees, I appreciate his continued support, and I look forward to working with him in Washington.”
And so, another really good political rumor bites the dust. But don’t fret. Election day is 11 months away, plenty of time for a few more.
Clinton campaign rolls out its Georgia list of supporters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If your campaign has lost its inevitability cloak, and the other guy has picked it up, what do you do as the campaign heads South?
If you’re Hillary Clinton, you roll out your network of support. Fast.
The Clinton campaign just put out a list of 125 Democratic heavyweights in Georgia who have signed on.
From Hank Aaron — not a surprise since brother-in-law U.S. Rep. David Scott had already endorsed her — to younger African-Americans like state Rep. Billy Mitchell of Stone Mountain and Kwanza Hall, the Atlanta city council member.
Andrew Young does not appear on the list, but his brother Walter does. Some prominent names in Atlanta’s gay and lesbian community are also included. See the entire list on the jump.
NEWLY-ANNOUNCED MEMBERS OF HILLARY’S GEORGIA LEADERSHIP:
Hank & Billie Aaron, Baseball Hall of Fame Recipient and Automobile Dealer; Atlanta
Modupe Aina Akinpelu, Community Activist; Decatur
Donna Aker, Community Activist; Loganville
Elaine Alexander, Community Activist; Atlanta
Banke Ayedun, Community Activist; Augusta
Lisa Baker, Chief of Staff for the Atlanta City Council; Atlanta
Dewana Ball; IT Consultant; Lithonia
Vivian Creighton Bishop, Chair of Congressional Spouses; Cairo
Danielle Blackwell, Community Activist; Cairo
Ken Britt, Attorney; Atlanta
Ruth Bullard, Retired Community Activist; Cumming
Dr. Constance Burkes, Educator; Albany
Shirley Chancey, Community Activist; Atlanta
Luanne Clarke, Attorney; Atlanta
Dr. Bill Cleveland, Nephrologist; Atlanta
Hon. Terry Coleman, Former Speaker of the House; Easton
Michael & Donna Coles, Democratic Activists; Atlanta
Miranda Compton, Community Activist; Athens
Dr. Larry Cooper, Retired Surgeon; Atlanta
Beth Cope, Media Relations Consultant; Atlanta
Donna Cummins, Community Activist; Decatur
Samara Cummins, Community Activist; Decatur
Anne Darby, Community Activist; Athens
Stephanie Davis, Event Planner; Atlanta
Deborah DeMarchis, Nurse; Savannah
Lawrie Demorest, Attorney; Decatur
Terence Dicks, Democratic Activist; Augusta
Thomas W. Dortch, Jr., Former President, 100 Black Men; Atlanta
Linda Edmonds, Democratic Activist; Decatur
Dr. Chris Edwards, Surgeon; Atlanta
Susan Evans, Community Activist; Hampton
Hon. Anne Fauver, Atlanta City Council Member; Atlanta
Lisa Favors, IT Specialist; Atlanta
Hon. Henry Ficklin, Former Macon City Council Member, Macon
Mischelle Fortson, Community Activist; Fortson
Will Fowlkes, Communications/IT Manager; Marietta
Brenda Foye Cornelius, Public Affairs Consultant; Decatur
Hon. Pat Gardner, State Representative; Atlanta
Gordon Giffin, Former United States Ambassador, Attorney; Atlanta
Melanie Goux, Graphic Designer; Atlanta
Gloria Greenbaum, Democratic Activist; Augusta
Dorothea Dawkins-Haigler, Pastor; Lithonia
Dr. Alda Underwood Hall, Dentist; Stone Mountain
Gunner Hall, Media Consultant; Savannah
Hon. Kwanza Hall, Atlanta City Council Member; Atlanta
Beth Stone Hand, Mediator; Cumming
Judy Hanenkrat, Event Planner; Atlanta
Carlotta Harrell, Democratic Activist; Jonesboro
Debbie Hatmaker, Community Activist; Bishop
Lisa Hawkins, Attorney; Atlanta
Gail Hicklin, Community Activist; Jonesboro
Darryl Hicks, Chief of Staff/County Commission Chair; Fayetteville
Hon. Betty Hill, Former County Commission Chair; Sparta
Hon. Carolyn Hughley, State Representative; Columbus
Betty H. Hunt, Community Activist; Moultrie
Lindsey Hunt, Community Activist; Atlanta
Hon. Edna Jackson, Savannah Mayor Pro-Tem; Savannah
Valerie Jackson, Former First Lady of Atlanta and Radio Personality; Atlanta
Hon. Carol Jackson, Former State Senator; Cleveland
Brooke Jackson Edmond, Atlanta Entrepreneur; Daughter of Former Mayor
Carol Jackson, Former Banker; Atlanta
Pamela Jackson, Community Activist; Albany
Stacii Johnson, Businesswoman; Atlanta
Coco Johnson, Event Planner; Atlanta
Gordon & Judie Kenna, Democratic Activist; Atlanta
Rev. Dr. Barbara King, Pastor; Atlanta
LeAnne Lawton-Tancred, Community Activist; Powder Springs
Hon. Liane Levetan, Former CEO; Dekalb
Hon. Elaine Lucas, Macon City Council Member; Macon
Keith Mason, Attorney; Atlanta
Dyan Matthews, Chief of Staff County Commission; College Park
Dr. Calvin & Sarita McLarin, Community Activists; Atlanta
Jeffrey Meeks, Democratic Activist; Lithonia
Hon. Billy Mitchell, State Representative; Stone Mountain
Barbara Mitchell, Community Activist; Albany
Gloria Moore, Community Activist; Atlanta
Nancy Moynihan, Community Activist; Atlanta
Linda Muir, Attorney; Atlanta
Joan Neal, Community Activist; Fayetteville
Claude Nogess, Democratic Activist; Snellville
Rachelle O’Neil, Community Activist; Atlanta
Hon. Mary Margaret Oliver, State Representative; Decatur
Erin O’Neil, Graduate Student/Activist; Atlanta
Susan Pennington, Community Activist; Atlanta
Brian Poe, Attorney; College Park
Rhonda Prather, Community Activist; Smyrna
Tina Ann Price, Community Activist; Atlanta
Terri Provancher, Community Activist; Rossville
Pat Pullar, Democratic Activist; Ellenwood
Anna Purcella-Doll, Teacher; Cumming
Hon. Nikki Randall, State Representative; Macon
Aayesha Reese, Community Activist; Lithonia
Helen Richter, Nurse; Atlanta
Loretta Ross, Community Activist; Atlanta
Paul Rosser, Retired Military, Retired Architect; Atlanta
Herman J. Russell, Sr., Developer; Atlanta
Dr. Donya L. Sartor, Educator; Jonesboro
Michelle Schurig, Community Activist; Atlanta
Janet Seelen, Community Activist; Hawkinsville
Temi Silver, Democratic Activist; Atlanta
Paige Colwell Swartz, Community Activist; Blairsville
Daisy Taste, Community Activist; Atlanta
Mary Rose Taylor, Community Activist; Atlanta
Carol Thompson, Community Activist; Warner Robins
Terrez Thompson, Corporate Executive; Atlanta
Allen Thornell , Media Consultant; Decatur
Suzie Tindall, Retired Physician; Decatur
Angela Trigg, Website Developer; Atlanta
Lila Vaughn, President, 100 Black Women; Atlanta
Sonny Walker, Former President, 100 Black Men; Atlanta
Angela Walton, Democratic Activist; Atlanta
Charmaine Ward, Corporate Executive; Atlanta
Sandra Ward, Judge; Atlanta
Hon. Coach Williams, State Representative; Stone Mountain
Franklin Williams, Real Estate Management; Augusta
Keath Williams, Community Activist; Stone Mountain
Rev. Jasper Williams, Pastor; Atlanta
Cheryl Williams, Democratic Activist; Duluth
Keith Wilson, Political Consultant; Atlanta
Hon. Cathy Woolard, Former Atlanta City Council President; Decatur
Carolyn Young, Community Activist; Atlanta
Dr. Walter Young, Dentist; Atlanta
Joe Stauffer, Teacher, Jasper
This Giuliani ad gives you a glimpse of what’s to come
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you watched Fox News as the Iowa results came in, you might have caught a glimpse of what’s headed Georgia’s way in the month-long run-up to its presidential primary.
The Rudy Giuliani campaign put up this ad, the second to hit the state as part of a national cable buy, according to Giuliani spokesman Elliott Bundy.
It’s intended to scare the bejeezus out of you — but it’s very topical, incorporating the Bhutto assassination. (Hat tip to Peach Pundit.)
Tidbits from around the Capitol
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just a few snippets to keep you ahead of the traditional news cycle:
— Phil Kent, spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control, points us to a Rasmussen poll that shows Republican use of immigration as the issue that kept them from losing even more ground to Democrats in 2007.
Which is why he’s predicting that the coming session of the Legislature will see the return of a bill by state Sen. John Wiles (R-Kennesaw) to toughen penalties for driving with out a license. The measure was vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue last year.
Also, Kent predicts a bill barring municipalities from establishing themselves as “sanctuary cities.” Not that this is an issue in Georgia. But it has become part of the debate in the Republican presidential contest.
— Secretary of State Karen Handel will be in the audience next Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments over an Indiana law requiring voters to present a photo ID at the polls.
The Indiana statute is very much like Georgia’s. Last month, Handel filed an amicus brief in support of it.
— On Sunday, state Court of Appeals Judge Charlie Mikell heads to MD Anderson Clinic in Houston, Texas for treatment of multiple myeloma. The cancer had been in remission.
Mikell announced his re-election campaign two months ago. “Through the wonders of modern communications and the support of my colleagues,” the judge said he’d be able to keep up with both his campaign and his judicial responsibilities.
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Because of Iowa: A bit of bragging, and hefty price increases
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A victory in Iowa gets you two things.
First is the right to crow, at least for a night. We got a late night call from Kirk Dornbush, a Barack Obama enthusiast in Atlanta, who began the conversation not with “Hello” or “Good evening” but with this pronouncement:
“Barack Obama is the Ronald Reagan of the Democratic party.”
We’ll let you debate that one.
The second result of an Iowa win is rampant inflation.
Within minutes of being announced the winner of the Iowa caucuses by CNN, the Georgia chapter of the Mike Huckabee issued a communication reminding the world that Huckabee would be in Atlanta on Jan. 22 for participate in an anti-abortion rally and parade.
We already knew that. But added to the schedule is a 7:15 a.m. fund-raiser — yes, that time is correct — that will run to $1,000 a head. A photo with Huckabee will cost you $2,300.
Only three months ago, $50 would have gotten you into any Huckabee event, plus a free car wash from the candidate.
Wayne LaPierre and the NRA come calling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last year, Republicans in the state Senate were torn apart by a bill backed by the National Rifle Association, demanding that employees be permitted to keep handguns and such in vehicles parked on corporate lots.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce fought the organization to an ugly standstill, protesting what it called an infringement upon private property rights.
Round 2 will commence Monday, a full week before the Legislature convenes.
Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA and the organization’s biggest gun, will head down to Atlanta for a day of pre-emptive meetings with “key legislative leaders,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
LaPierre will be pushing H.B. 89, the current vehicle for the parking lots bill — though that’s open to change.
On LaPierre’s schedule is a noon press conference and an evening banquet. And no, he doesn’t do this often. “Him coming down to Atlanta to meet with state legislators is an indication that this is a very important bill for the association,” Arulanandam said.
Chamber spokesman Joe Fleming lays out his group’s objections in this AJC op-ed piece today.
Your daily Dale Cardwell update: He was feeling a bit warm
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Finally, we hit Dale Cardwell at a time when the cell phone and his webcam were operating at the same time.
The former TV journalist and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate is well into his third day on top of that smokestack near the state Capitol. And he had a complaint.
The temp hit 16 degrees this morning, and he was too hot. “The electric blanket was burning me up,” Cardwell said.
Yes, he has current. Workers pulled a 220-volt line from the anti-aircraft lights, to allow him to operate his electric blanket, keep his cell phone charged, and work the laptop.
He gave us a small tour of the place with the camera. Terrific view, of course. The camp toilet is behind his tarp, out of camera range. But yes, he’s had to use it.
He’s tethered to a safety harness in case things go awry. One scaffold worker is up there with him round the clock, on eight hour shifts — with Cardwell footing the bill.
Cardwell said he’s enjoying a little success. He did three drive-time radio shows this morning. If you think about it, he’s well positioned for traffic-spotting.
And he says he’s seen an uptick in the $20-$30 donations from real people who he says have been cut out of the political process. Which is why he doesn’t want to say when he’ll come down.
“There’s no way I’m coming down as long as the arc is going up,” he said.
Cardwell also said he’s picked up some interest from NBC’s “Today Show.”
The news from Iowa — via Georgia foot soldiers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Heard this morning from three Georgians — two Democrats and a Republican — who have spent the last three days or so trudging through Iowa snow for their candidates.
All seem to be concentrating their efforts around suburban Des Moines, where the votes are.
Steve Leeds, a Democratic committee member and close associate of Max Cleland, is up there on behalf of John Edwards — mostly around Indianola on the south side.
“I think it’s going to be close. There’s been a tremendous amount of voter contact,” he said. Amy Morton, the blogger from Macon, has been out there as well for Edwards, sending regular reports.
State Sen. David Adelman of Atlanta and his wife Caroline have been working the northern Urbandale area, but for Barack Obama. It’s an upper middle-class area that has begun trending Democrat. Not unlike Adelman’s senate district.
Adelman says he’s had a helluva good time knocking on doors — and being commanded by Obama’s crew of young volunteers. By young he means late 20s and early 30s — not college kids.
“It’s been a lot of fun. Serious voters. Very serious voters,” Adelman said.
Polling shows a higher turnout for the caucuses — which require an entire evening of commitment from voters — than normal. All along, Obama has talked of bringing new voters into the process.
“In a few hours we’ll know whether he has or not,” Adelman said.
Both he and Leeds plan on attending caucuses as observers this evening. So will Joel McElhannon, the Georgia GOP political strategist. He’s been up in Iowa since Christmas, working for the Fred Thompson campaign.
McElhannon said the Thompson campaign — a latecomer to Iowa, remember — has been relying less on door-knocking and more on events and phone banks. He’s been acting as an advance man for many of the events.
Today, he’s also been been combating the aftermath of an article in The Politico which says Thompson is close to bowing out of the race, and will throw his support to John McCain.
Thompson’s people, McElhannon included, are denying it.
On top of that, which McElhannon didn’t tell us: the Wall Street Journal reports today that the Des Moines Register made a decision not to staff the Thompson campaign in Iowa. It’s letting the wires bear the load.
The newspaper’s poll shows Thompson fourth in the Republican field.
Thompson has to finish at least third, says conventional wisdom, to stay in the hunt. McElhannon has pitched this for his bar bet tonight: Mitt Romney at 32 percent, Mike Huckabee at 27 percent, and Thompson at 15 percent.
Romney’s organization has been taking a toll on Huckabee’s understaffed surge, he said.
On Wyche Fowler, Barack Obama, and Iowa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sat down with Wyche Fowler, the former U.S. senator, over the holidays.
The details of the conversation will have to come later, but Fowler mentioned that he’d just gotten back from Iowa, where he was doing some campaigning for his candidate in the Democratic primary — Chris Dodd of Connecticut.
Dodd was a neighbor of his in Washington, he explained.
In any case, this thought occurred to Fowler in the middle of the conversation:
We’ve had many African-Americans in Georgia debate whether to support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the contest. Michael Thurmond, the state labor commissioner, famously pitched the decision as a competition between racial optimists and racial realists.
In other words, those who think America is ready and willing to elect a black man for president support Obama. Those who don’t support Clinton. Perhaps they remember Andy Young’s run for governor in Georgia in 1990.
The man polled well, but in the end the Democratic vote broke down along racial lines. Young, as we all know, is supporting Clinton.
Several days have passed since that lunch with Fowler, which means the Democratic lead in Iowa has changed hands seven or eight times. But Fowler’s observation remains:
If Obama should win or place well in lily-white Iowa tonight, will this constitute proof of the Illinois senator’s appeal to white America, and does this change the debate within the African-American community?
Von Spakovsky says good-bye to that job at the FEC
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hans von Spakovsky threw in the towel on New Years Eve, in an e-mail sent out to supporters.
The former Fulton County GOP chairman became the centerpiece of a tit-for-tat shutdown of the Federal Elections Commission — forced out for lack of U.S. Senate confirmation.
The six-member FEC now has just two commissioners — and four votes are needed for any official business.
“Today was my last official day as a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission,” he wrote. “The Senate officially adjourned today without acting on my nomination… I wanted to thank everyone for their support over the past two years while I was going through this confirmation battle. All of the telephone calls, emails and notes I received from people were great encouragement for me.”
Von Spakovsky attached an endorsement by the Wall Street Journal, though he added that “it did not help in the end in convincing the Democrats to vote to confirm me.”
Democratic senators blocked von Spakovsky’s appointment, over concern about his tenure in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, where he sided with efforts of Georgia Republicans to require that voters present a photo ID.
Republican senators retaliated by blocking the appointments of two Democrats to the FEC.
And the winner will be …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Sen. John Edwards could walk out of the Iowa caucuses a winner Thursday night, according to a new poll by InsiderAdvantage and Majority Opinion Research of Atlanta.
Using the same methodology the group used in 2004 to correctly predict a comfortable victory for then-Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, the new poll shows Edwards taking 41 percent of the votes by the time balloting is complete.
The group has been conducting a daily tracking poll in Iowa since Dec. 26 and found a statistical tie between Edwards and front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) with Sen. Barack Obama a few points back in third.
But Edwards is the overwhelming second choice for voters whose favored candidates fail to reach the benchmark 15 percent of the vote. And once the poll is adjusted to reallocate such factors, Edwards wins.
InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery said the reallocation of delegates on a second ballot “gives rural areas, where Edwards is running strong, the opportunity to have a disproportionately significant impact on the ultimate outcome.”
Which means this: Edwards, 41; Clinton 34; Obama, 25.
In contrast to Democrats, Republican numbers in Iowa are an unpredictable mish mash.
“As for Republicans,” he said, “I’m not comfortable releasing numbers yet. … The numbers probably won’t settle until immediately prior to voting.”
A frigid Cardwell on a stick — he made it through the night
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dale Cardwell is alive, though slightly frozen. We just got off the phone with him.
The Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate had himself hoisted to the top of the Corey smokestack yesterday, and vows to stay there until people start paying attention to his message.
He just happened to pick the coldest night of the winter to start his stunt. “It was bitterly, bitterly cold. But I made it through the night,” Cardwell said.
Right now, he’s huddling beneath a tarp in a sleeping bag — and not on his web cam.
“I’m going to try to wait for it to warm up a bit before I emerge,” he said. Cardwell suspects that will be about noon, when the sun gets to his side of the tower — which he found wobbles a bit in the wind.
You can find his web cam here.
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