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Monday, June 30, 2008
Honeycutt’s mail firm under fire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Washington, D.C.-based direct mail firm that raised $1.1 million for Republican Deborah Honeycutt’s 2006 congressional bid spent very little of it on her campaign, according to a newspaper report.
The Boston Globe reported in its Sunday editions that the company, BMW Direct, raised millions of dollars from conservative donors across the country for political candidates, including Honeycutt. But most of the money, according to the Globe, BMW Direct kept or spent on vendors and affiliated companies.
In one case, BMW Direct raised $700,000 for a Republican congressional candidate in Massachusetts. The candidate, Charles Morse, who never appeared at forums or other events and never paid for political advertising or phone banks, only saw $30,000 of that money, the Globe reported.
Honeycutt refused to comment on the article.
— Ben Smith
Jim Galloway is on vacation. If you’ve got news, pop an e-mail to our political team: editor Susan Abramson at sabramson@ajc.com; staffers Aaron Sheinin at asheinin@ajc.com; James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com; Ben Smith at bsmith@ajc.com; and Jim Tharpe at jtharpe@ajc.com.
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Wednesday debate won’t include Lewis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Lewis will be a no-show for the Wednesday night’s Atlanta Press Club debate. He has a prior commitment, said Tharon Johnson the Fifth U.S. District Democrat’s campaign manager.
“I hope the press club and the Atlanta voters understand that we want to keep our commitments to the people,” Johnson said.
Instead of sparring on TV with challengers Markel Hutchins and “Able” Mable Thomas, Lewis, is scheduled to attend a public meeting with East Point constituents. Johnson said Lewis had agreed to attend the East Point gathering before he received the press club’s invitation to the debate.
Johnson said the “press club first sent us a debate request for July 9th, a day when Congressman Lewis was going to be in D.C. voting. They came back with July 2, but we had a prior planned event on July 2.”
Thomas said she isn’t buying Lewis’s excuse.
“What he wants to do is duck and hide,” Thomas said. “He’s not interested in debating, so any excuse’ll do.”
Hutchins said “we are disappointed and a little taken aback that the Congressman doesn’t think it’s necessary to debate the critical issues of our time … Perhaps the Congressman is not confident in his ability to articulate his positions on the issues and his record of accomplishment for his constituents — or lack thereof.”
UPDATE: Johnson replied to the criticism: “They just want an opportunity to take cheapshots, but we welcome the opportunity to talk about the Congressman’s record if that’s what they want to talk about.”
— Ben Smith
Jim Galloway is on vacation. If you’ve got news, pop an e-mail to our political team: editor Susan Abramson at sabramson@ajc.com; staffers Aaron Sheinin at asheinin@ajc.com; James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com; Ben Smith at bsmith@ajc.com; and Jim Tharpe at jtharpe@ajc.com.
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More on that Linder 911 call
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our Cox colleague in Washington, Julia Malone, has more details today on the May 15 incident in which U.S. Rep. John Linder (R-GA) had to be helped outside a Capitol Hill bar and restaurant.
You can get the full account here.
The highlights or these: 911 records show that Linder suffered from “difficulty breathing” or an “allergic reaction.”
Linder’s reaction to the 911 report are that a bum knee had been giving him trouble.
“This is a knee that was injured in February, and I re-injured by slipping on something,” Linder told Malone. “It could have been allergic reaction or trouble breathing. All I know is that I was hurt badly. I was helped out of the place.”
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Jim Galloway is on vacation. If you’ve got news, pop an e-mail to our political team: editor Susan Abramson at sabramson@ajc.com; staffers Aaron Sheinin at asheinin@ajc.com; James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com; Ben Smith at bsmith@ajc.com; and Jim Tharpe at jtharpe@ajc.com.
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Obama launches second Georgia ad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barack Obama apparently is not too concerned with that new Rasmussen Reports poll showing him trailing John McCain by 10 points in Georgia.
The Democratic presidential hopeful on Monday launched his second television ad in the state, this one called, “Dignity.” You can watch it below.
It is, just like his first ad, running in 18 states, the overwhelming majority of which went overwhelmingly for George W. Bush in 2004. That, of course, includes Georgia.
The new ad highlights Obama’s promise to be an advocate for children and workers. The ad will air statewide in Georgia and in Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Jim Galloway is on vacation. If you’ve got news, pop an e-mail to our political team: editor Susan Abramson at sabramson@ajc.com; staffers Aaron Sheinin at asheinin@ajc.com; James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com; Ben Smith at bsmith@ajc.com; and Jim Tharpe at jtharpe@ajc.com.
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Poll shows McCain dominating Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rasmussen Reports has been busy in Georgia, and continues to send bad news for Democrats.
We’ve told you already this morning about the Rasmussen poll showing no Democrat within shouting distance of knocking off Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. But Rasmussen is also throwing cold water on the notion of a Barack Obama surge in the state.
The firm’s latest presidential poll shows Republican John McCain holding a 10-point lead over Democrat Obama in Georgia. It also shows Libertarian candidate Bob Barr pulling just a single percentage point in the state. In the poll, of 800 likely voters, McCain gets 53 percent to 43 percent for Obama.
The survey found, however, that up to 6 percent of voters might consider casting a ballot for Barr. If all 6 percent did, it’s possible the state would be competitive.
“However,” the report concludes, “unless McCain is clearly headed for defeat nationally, it is unlikely that Barr will make enough of an impact to threaten the Republican winning streak in the state.”
No Democrat has carried the state in a presidential election since 1992.
Rasmussen’s poll comes on the heels of a survey by Atlanta-based Insider Advantage a little more than a week ago that found the race much tighter. Insider Advantage’s survey showed McCain leading by just 1 point.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Jim Galloway is on vacation. If you’ve got news, pop an e-mail to our political team: editor Susan Abramson at sabramson@ajc.com; staffers Aaron Sheinin at asheinin@ajc.com; James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com; Ben Smith at bsmith@ajc.com; and Jim Tharpe at jtharpe@ajc.com.
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Dems face long odds against Chambliss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The five Democrats trying to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss went into Sunday debate at Fox 5 TV in Atlanta with a piece of sobering knowledge — a new poll shows them all trailing Chambliss by double digits.
“As they enter the debate, all five are trailing Chambliss badly in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the state,” Rasmussen Reports noted on Sunday. “Against each of the Democrats, Chambliss attracts between 52% and 57% of the vote. The Democrats attract from 30% to 39% support and trail by margins ranging from thirteen to twenty-seven percentage points.”
Rasmussen gives Chambliss a “97 percent chance” of winning in November.
That’s the bad news for Democrats. The good news is that trying to poll political primaries like the July 15 election is essentially a futile exercise. It’s nearly impossible to gauge turnout, and the margins of error — despite what the pollster tell you — are so large that the results can be meaningless.
In the Rasmussen survey, former Democratic state lawmaker Jim Martin scored best against Chambliss with 39 percent to Chambliss’ 52 percent. Coming in second was former WSB-TV investigative report Dale Cardwell in a 33 percent to 53 percent match-up. Atlanta businessman Rand Knight and Josh Lanier of Statesboro both scored 31 percent against Chambliss. And DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones came in with 30 percent.
— Jim Tharpe
Jim Galloway is on vacation. If you’ve got news, pop an e-mail to our political team: editor Susan Abramson at sabramson@ajc.com; staffers Aaron Sheinin at asheinin@ajc.com; James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com; Ben Smith at bsmith@ajc.com; and Jim Tharpe at jtharpe@ajc.com.
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