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Friday, August 15, 2008
The Obama campaign does some grassroots work
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Obama presidential campaign caught some grief in this space on Thursday for its reluctance to part with any statistical data to back up its contention that Georgia remains “very, very, very” much in play.
This evening and on Saturday, at numerous locations throughout the state, supporters will engage in “neighbor-to-neighbor” volunteer training in “the skills Barack Obama learned during his days as a community organizer in Chicago.
The question to Caroline Adelman, spokeswoman for the campaign, was simple. How many people do they expect to show up?
Three thousand, she replied, rather proudly. “Now, how often do you see a number like that in a presidential campaign?”
Locations are on the jump.
Atlanta Metro
Friday, August 15 at 6 pm
1080 Spring Street
OrTabernacle Church
47 Howard Ave
Saturday, August 16 at 9 am
Central United Methodist Church
560 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Athens region
Friday August 15at 6 pm
Hartwell Public Library 1050 Benson Street,
Hartwell, GA
Saturday 16th Clarke County Public Library at 9 am
2025 Baxter St
Athens, GA
Augusta Friday August 15 at 6 pm and Saturday, August 16 at 9 am
Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta
3501 Walton Way Ext
Augusta, GA
Columbus
Friday, August 15th at 6 pm and Saturday, August 16 at 9 am
Liberty Theater and Cultural Center
813 8th Avenue
Columbus, GA
Albany region
Friday August 15 at 6 pm
Office 407 South Slappey Blvd
Albany, GA
Saturday August 16 at 9 am
Mother East Baptist Church
1400 West Central Avenue
Moultrie, GA 31768
Savannah
Friday August 15at 6 pm
3219 College St.
Savannah State University (Jordan Building)
Savannah, GA
Saturday August 16 at 9 am
3219 College St
Savannah State University (Whiting Building)
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Barr goes to court to demand entry into Saddleback Church
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barack Obama and John McCain are scheduled to make a joint appearance Saturday at Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif.
No other candidates have been invited, which has ticked off Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr.
Russ Verney, campaign manager for the former Georgia congressman, has just sent out a mass e-mail saying Barr will seek a court order to require the church to invite him, too.
Which perhaps is an odd thing for a Libertarian to do — asking a judge to determine whom a church should invite into its sanctuary.
Here’s a portion of the note:
After weeks of negotiations and calls to Saddleback Church from leaders from every corner of the political spectrum supporting Bob Bar’s inclusion, we’ve been left out in the cold.
The only people getting into the event are Obama, McCain and those who reportedly paid $500 to $2,000 to the church to sit in the audience.
Yesterday, I reported to former Congressman Barr that we’ve exhausted every avenue. I told him, “We’ve had calls placed to Pastor [Rick] Warren from very powerful leaders from the left and the right, we sent in our personal request, and placed numerous phone calls that have not been returned. You are not going to be included.
“Our only option left is to threaten to file an temporary injunction as our attorney’s believe they are in violation of the law.”
Bob responded by saying, “No, don’t threaten to do that … Just do it.”
As you read this, our attorneys are filing an injunction against Saddleback Church to include Bob Barr in their forum this Saturday.
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Move over, Rush Limbaugh
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last month, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle sat in for Martha Zoller on her talk radio show up in Gainesville.
The experience couldn’t have been too dreadful.
Cagle will try again this afternoon, this time filling in for Austin Rhodes down in Augusta, on WGAC (580AM). You can listen by clicking here.
The lieutenant governor’s three-hour shift begins at 3 p.m. Be sure to ask exciting, penetrating questions — Cagle specifically likes to discuss the ins and outs of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
He lives for that kind of stuff.
Earlier this week, Rhodes sent the Insider a note, pointing out that Herman Cain got his start in the same chair.
Cagle might not want to explore that parallel. Cain had to lose his U.S. Senate race in 2004 before he got his current gig at WSB.
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The Democratic video take on John McCain and Ralph Reed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Surely you didn’t think that Democrats would let this go.
This morning, the Democratic National Committee will release a video highlighting Monday’s Atlanta fund-raiser for Republican presidential candidate John McCain — and Ralph Reed’s role in gathering up some of the cash.
“But, now, desperate to raise campaign cash to run more negative attack ads, John McCain is cozying up to Jack Abramoff’s cronies,” says the narrator. “Ralph Reed, a key business partner of Jack Abramoff, helped the convicted former Republican lobbyist launder $2 million through a front group to finance a gambling campaign.”
In June 2006, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by McCain, concluded that casino-owning Indian tribes, at Abramoff’s direction, filtered more than $5 million through a series of corporations to satisfy what they said were Reed’s political concerns that he would be linked to the cash.
Actually, the money for Reed went not to gambling campaigns, but to Christian-oriented, anti-gambling campaigns — meant to frustrate competitors trying to establish gambling concerns. Reed was never accused of wrong-doing, and there was never any indication that the money sent to Reed was used for other purposes.
Here’s the video:
So far as we know, the video will appear only on YouTube. But you never know.
To read the script, go to the jump.
VOICEOVER: “On the campaign trail, John McCain claims that he fought to expose Jack Abramoff and his corrupt cronies…”
MCCAIN: “And I led the investigation.”
VOICEOVER: “It was a scandal that rocked the country, linking all the way to the Bush White House and Republicans in Congress, sending two former Republican Congressmen to prison.
“But, now, desperate to raise campaign cash to run more negative attack ads, John McCain is cozying up to Jack Abramoff’s cronies.
“Ralph Reed, a key business partner of Jack Abramoff helped the convicted former Republican lobbyist launder 2 million dollars through a front group to finance a gambling campaign.
“Now, Ralph Reed has signed up to raise money for John McCain. Reed has even been appointed to McCain’s Victory 2008 Team.
“Ralph Reed’s murky connections to Jack Abramoff run so deep, it cost him a race for Lt. Governor in Georgia.
“While most people now see Ralph Reed as a tainted man raising tainted money, John McCain sees him as a source of campaign cash.
“John McCain - more of the same old politics.”
