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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Joe Lowery set to endorse in U.S. Senate race, and he’s not backing Vernon Jones
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democrat Jim Martin is on the verge of receiving the biggest endorsement of his U.S. Senate race — a primary contest that has seen many African-American leaders shy away from standing against DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones.
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, the grand old man of the Civil Rights movement, has scheduled an 11 a.m. Wednesday press conference to make an endorsement in Tuesday’s Democratic run-off.
Now, when the Insider caught him at home, Lowery, 86, wouldn’t say who he’s going to endorse. But he dropped two big hints.
First, as John Lewis knows, Lowery is a big supporter of Barack Obama in the presidential contest. And he said the Obama campaign should be about inclusion. It should be multi-racial.
Then there was the other hint. “I’m not supporting Vernon Jones,” Lowery said.
All this week, word has been going out through the back channels of the state Democratic party — that Obama would rather not appear on the same platform with Jones. Lowery’s endorsement of Martin would be a major piece of evidence of this talk.
Ellery Gould of the Martin campaign would only say this:
“I can only confirm on the record that we are planning a press conference tomorrow and that Jim believes Rev. Lowery to be a leader of tremendous vision and accomplishment, and one of the great American voices for equality and justice.”
Jones was also busy Tuesday, displaying the support he’s pinned down in the state’s African-American community. He, too, produced a Civil Rights veteran to endorse his candidacy.
The DeKalb County CEO appeared on the steps of the old DeKalb County courthouse with about a dozen elected officials.
But my AJC colleague Jim Tharpe, who was there, said it was the Rev. Willie M. Bolden, a Cedartown Baptist minister who participated in the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march in the mid-1960s, who gave Jones his most ringing endorsement.
Bolden said he never dreamed in the ’60s that Georgia might one day have a black U.S. senator. “But we’re going to have one,” he said.
Jones thanked Bolden for his efforts to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which Jones said has made his run for office possible.
Among the elected officials named by Jones as supporters:
— State Reps. Roger Bruce of Atlanta; Michele Henson of Stone Mountain; Keith Heard of Athens; Carolyn Hugley of Columbus; Lester Jackson of Savannah; Lynmore James of Montezuma; David Lucas of Macon; Randal Mangham of Decatur; Billy Mitchell of Stone Mountain; Howard Mosby of Atlanta; Quincy Murphy of Augusta; Robbin Shipp of Atlanta; Pam Stephenson of Atlanta; Able Mable Thomas of Atlanta; Al Williams of Midway; and Earnest “Coach” Williams of Avondale Estates.
— State Sens. Steve Henson of Tucker; Gail Davenport, who represents Clayton County; and Ed Harbison of Columbus.
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The man behind the Bridge to Nowhere gets himself indicted
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Read more here, but this is the gist of the first Associated Press report:
Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.
Stevens, 84, has been dogged by a federal investigation into whether he pushed for fishing legislation that also benefited his son, an Alaska lobbyist.
Consider this one more reason why U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss is running like a man possessed, against a Democrat who — regardless of next Tuesday’s outcome — will have no money.
Democratic chances of getting to a 60-member majority in the Senate just got a little better.
Photo credit: Associated Press
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Today’s must-read: McCain’s hate affair with ‘ultimate’ fighting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The New Republic has a revealing piece on Republican presidential presumptive John McCain’s love affair with the gentleman’s art of boxing, and his moral outrage over today’s no-holds-barred — and highly televised — substitute.
Here’s a taste:
John McCain has made plenty of political enemies in his day, but among the most surprising is Eddie Goldman. The New York resident doesn’t fixate on McCain’s position on campaign finance, or his religious views, or his support for the Iraq war.
What upsets Goldman is the way John McCain treated ultimate fighting.
Yes, ultimate fighting—that no-holds-barred hybrid of boxing, wrestling, and martial arts immortalized in the hit movie Fight Club. Ultimate fighting sprang up in the early 1990s with a flurry of neck chops, spleen blows, and roundhouses to the face.
Goldman, a longtime sports commentator, was an early fan and evangelist; McCain was an early and vociferous critic. He condemned the sport as “human cockfighting,” leaned on cable companies not to televise it, and sought to ban it nationwide. “It’s an abuse of power story!” fumes Goldman. “The vehemence of McCain’s position had no rational explanation.”
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