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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Martin picks up endorsement from South DeKalb senator
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the second consecutive day, U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin has sliced into the home turf of Democratic rival Vernon Jones, picking the endorsement of a prominent South DeKalb legislator.
In a telephone interview this afternoon, state Sen. Emanuel Jones was careful not to mention the name of Vernon Jones, the DeKalb County CEO.
But Emanuel Jones said Martin “has the termperament, he has the acumen, he has the experience.
“[Martin is] the type of person I would trust with my wife or my wallet,” Jones said. “He just has that integrity that’s crucial to the U.S. Senate.”
Interesting phrasing, that.
On Tuesday, DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown endorsed Martin.
The rap on Martin, a longtime party stalwart who came late to the race, has been his inability to pick up support among African-American leaders. But both Jones and Brown are black.
More important, the two have hefty networks in DeKalb, which is likely to provide more Democratic voters than any other county in the state on July 15. Brown is elected countywide, and Jones’ district includes both south DeKalb and a large swath of Clayton County.
The larger question, of course, is whether Brown and Emanuel Jones represent a crack in Vernon Jones’ base of support.
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Nunn: Open service for gays to come ‘eventually’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week, just before the Fourth of July, former Georgia senator Sam Nunn appeared with former secretary of state Colin Powell at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
In a videotaped forum, the pair talked of many things — Iraq, Iran, and China.
Nunn was asked about the possibility that he might be asked to serve as a Democratic running mate with Barack Obama. Powell was asked whether he’d endorse Obama — or Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
But one detailed exchange, largely overlooked, concerned the issue of gays in the military.
Both Powell and Nunn were pivotal figures in the 1993 adoption of the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Last month, Nunn said the policy, which requires homosexuals to keep their sexual preferences under wraps, was ripe for review. In Aspen, Nunn predicted the policy’s ultimate end.
Nunn said:
“If you’re going to have open service by gays and lesbians — and I think we will eventually have that, the question’s timing. But if you’re going to have that, you have to have a very carefully calibrated set of rules.
“I think it’s appropriate to review it now. We certainly are having a lot of people who are getting out because of it. But on the other hand, there are an awful lot of people that may be affected the other way.
Powell would not go so far as Nunn, but admitted that “the country has changed enormously in 15 years.”
See for yourself below:
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The Georgiacarry.org lawsuit against Atlanta and its airport
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You already know that Georgiacarry.org has filed a federal lawsuit against Atlanta and its airport, seeking a restraining order that would block officials from carrying out threats to arrest anyone caught packing in the non-secured areas of Hartsfield-Jackson.
But if you want a look at the lawsuit itself, click here.
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Senate leadership lines up behind Chapman — despite his Jekyll Island stand
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) has bent some noses over his attempts to modify redevelopment plans for Jekyll Island.
It hasn’t helped that the island developers in question are major Republican donors. There’s word that Chapman had a confrontation or two with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle himself during this last legislative session.
Chapman’s stand on Jekyll Island has earned him opposition in next Tuesday’s GOP primary. He’s opposed by local developer Terry Carter.
But it looks like the Senate leadership is lining up behind Chapman. A YouTube video has just been posted, of Majority Leader Tommie Williams’ endorsement of Chapman.
“He’s for the little guy. Almost every bill he considers — he’s not considering whether a major corporation is going to profit. He’s considering just what it means to the poor guy out there that’s working 9 to 5,’ Williams says.
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‘Beautiful words’ and the ‘Summer of Love’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Because everyone’s talking about it, below is a link to the “Summer of Love” ad put up by Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
The McCain campaign isn’t buying any time on Georgia TV stations for it, but you might see it through some network cable purchases.
This is the active phrase:
“Beautiful words cannot make our lives better. But a man who has always put his country and her people before self, before politics, can.”
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Gingrich on Jindal: A case for choosing the new governor of Louisiana as McCain’s running mate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a piece posted at Human Events, Newt Gingrich makes the case for Bobby Jindal, the new governor of Louisiana, as a running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain:
”He is the most transformational young governor in America today. The principles that motivate his Louisiana Revolution are the same pro-innovation, pro-competition, anti-bureaucracy and anti- big government principles that I urge each week in this newsletter - the same principles that are so desperately needed in Washington, D.C.”
On the Democratic side, several of you have pointed to this Newsweek column by Jonathan Alter, who makes an argument for former Georgia senator Sam Nunn:
Selecting Nunn would be a defensive move but not a weak one. That’s because the choice would have its own doubling down effect, reinforcing Obama’s support for ending the war in the context of greater support for veterans and the military, and for shifting the Pentagon’s emphasis in the Middle East from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Nunn also makes it clear that he backs Obama’s position on talking to Iran. “You can’t have a dialogue when you have a pre-condition to beginning that dialogue,” he said in Aspen, sounding like a man who could dispense with John McCain’s appeasement analogies with a wave of the hand.
And Nunn might offer a bit more boldness than those who covered him in the Senate may remember. When asked about the U.S. embargo against Cuba, he said: “To show that I’m not running for anything, the policy is counter-productive and should have been changed long ago. It’s biggest beneficiary is Castro.”
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