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Tuesday, May 6, 2008
John Barrow brings five African-American lawmakers to his side
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The lack of public African-American support for Jim Martin in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate was duly noted this week — a side effect of the Obama/Clinton clash in the stratosphere of the presidential race.
Others aren’t having quite the same problem building that biracial coalition so essential to success for pale candidates in a Democratic primary.
Rand Knight, another white Democrat in the U.S. Senate race, has in his corner Denise Majette, the 2004 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate — who is, of course, black.
U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah has found himself challenged by state Sen. Regina Thomas of Savannah, an African-American Democrat.
But the incumbent Barrow, who is white, just announced his endorsement by every member of the Democratic delegation in upriver Augusta. State Sen. Ed Tarver, and state Reps. Quincy Murphy, Gloria Frazier, Wayne Howard and Hardie Davis are all African-American.
State Sen. J.B. Powell endorsed Barrow as well. He is white.
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More on Cagle and his support for a Sunday sales referendum
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Y’all are great. (Relatively) early this morning, I referred to the Blog for Democracy item that reflected an interesting statement, made in a letter to constituents, by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle on the Sunday sale of alcohol.
I asked for samples of the letter, and was much impressed by the speed of the response — which beat Cagle’s office by a good hour.
Here’s the official letter, in its entirety.
But this is the salient section:
“As a Georgian with strong religious beliefs, I oppose Sunday sales of alcohol for individual religious reasons. However, I recognize we live in a democracy where the wishes of the majority must be respected. For this reason, I have not opposed a referendum that will allow voters to choose whether or not to allow Sunday sales.
“While I would vote against such a change at the ballot box, I do not believe the Legislature should deny the voters of our state a chance to make this choice for themselves and their community.”
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A slip of the tongue could mean Perdue will sign the gun bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sonny Perdue apparently intends to sign H.B. 89, the bill that would let permit holders carry concealed weapons on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol and in state parks.
The governor let it slip during a signing ceremony for legislation to toughen Georgia’s prohibitions against dogfighting.
Perdue doesn’t usually talk in advance about whether he’ll sign this piece of legislation or that one. And at first, when questioned about the bill, the governor was properly wishy-washy.
“Actually, we were going line by line over lunch, on that legislation. There are certainly some ambiguities regarding employer and employee rights in the bill, that I’m a little concerned about,” the governor said.
But likewise, he declared himself “moved by the fact” that this law would only apply to license holders who have submitted themselves to fingerprinting and criminal background checks.
Then he said this:
“I do think it will be litigated and tested very soon after signing, because of the craftsmanship of some of the semantics in the language that creates some latitude and interpretation.”
Whoops.
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Vernon Jones: ‘The Duke lacrosse team was falsely accused, too’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On WGAU (1340AM) in Athens this morning, host Tim Bryant had Vernon Jones, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, on the line — and played for him the accusations that his rival, Dale Cardwell, made the week before.
What was Jones’ response? At first, none at all. Listen to a sound clip here.
“Gasoline is four dollars a gallon. A gallon of milk now is four dollars. The war has been mismanaged,” Jones began. “At the same time, 8,000 homes are being foreclosed on per day. Jobs are leaving America and going to other countries.”
The DeKalb County CEO spoke of fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets. “That’s what people are concerned with now, not baseless allegations, not [by] someone who doesn’t have a record to run on,” he said.
But Bryant persisted: “Dale Cardwell called you a rapist. If somebody called me that and I didn’t do it, I’m looking for that guy.”
Replied Jones: “Here’s what’s interesting. Those boys at [the] Duke University lacrosse team were called that, too. Their character and reputation was assassinated because of people who wanted to just blurt things out. I’m on your show to talk about issues that are hurting America.”
A good slice of the Cardwell interview from last week can be found here.
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Cagle: ‘I have not opposed referendums on Sunday alcohol sales’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blog for Democracy has this snippet of a letter on Sunday sales of alcohol, reportedly sent out by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle:
As a Georgian with strong religious beliefs, I oppose Sunday sales of alcohol for individual religious reasons. However, I recognize we live in a democracy where the wishes of the majority must be respected. For this reason, I have not opposed a referendum that will allow voters to choose whether or not to allow Sunday sales.
If you’ve got the entire letter, please send it on. A PDF would be quite handy.
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The guess here is that gender identification is slightly more confusing than with humans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Wednesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue, a licensed veterinarian and bush pilot, will conduct a health check and ultrasound on Dottie the Pregnant Elephant at Zoo Atlanta. Dottie is due in 2009.
Elephant pregnancies last around 22 months. The only creature with a longer gestation period is the immobilis atlantis, also known as the common transportation bill, which requires seven to eight years before delivery.
