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DEL.ICIO.USMartin makes appearance in Denver
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
Denver — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin arrived here Tuesday afternoon, saw Hillary Clinton’s speech to Denver and will head back to Georgia this afternoon.
In his 24 hours in the Mile High City, Martin said he wants to show support for the Georgia delegation, but said his focus remains at home.
His campaign, he said in a brief interview before the delegation breakfast, is “about our reaching out to Georgians about our message of standing up for middle class Americans and the impact of the Saxby Chambliss support of President Bush’s policies on working Georgians.”
Martin, who backed former U.S. Sen. John Edwards in the primary, also said he wants to show his support for nominee-to-be Barack Obama, although Martin will not be here for Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday.
When asked if he was also going to try and raise some money from the thousands of Democratic donors here, he said he is “talking to people about our message, principally talking to the Georgia delegation and showing support for the good work they’ve done.”
But, he will also meet today with leaders of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the national party’s campaign arm for Senate candidates. Other Senate candidates from around the country will be there, too, he said.
“There is interest in this campaign across the country,” he said, before adding, “but that’s not the focus of coming up here.”
The DSCC is targeting certain races across the country where they see a chance for Democratic gains. Thus far, the national party has not included Martin’s campaign to unseat Chambliss, the incumbent Republican, as one of those targeted races.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Aaron Gould Sheinin, Democratic National Convention
Comments
By Tom Ga Hunter
August 27, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
Jim Martin has really let me down…I had high hopes for his candidacy, but other than a few poorly produced TV spots in his primary (and some major rookie campaign mistakes), I have heard nothing from him. I hate to admit it, but his liberal positions just aren’t in line with average, hard working, conservative Georgians.
My recommendation to Jim Martin - stay with your buddies (Kennedy, Pelosi, Dean, Kerry, Reid) at the Convention all week. Standing next to them, he almost looks normal…almost.
By RandKnight2010
August 27, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
I supported Rand Knight in the primary because of his stance on Green Energy. And while I didn’t agree with many aspects of his plan, I liked that he at least had a plan. Too bad he lost.
Martin is opposed to off-shore drilling, opposed to drilling in ANWR, opposed to increasing nuclear production and recycling, opposed to the creation of new refineries. He has no plan for addressing our energy crisis and gas prices.
Martin is simply wrong on energy and I for one will not be voting for him this November.
By Robby
August 27, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this
I think it is very telling of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is awash in cash, that it hasn’t chosen to funnel money and resources towards Martin’s campaign. They know Chambliss will prevail and will instead choose to fund other Democrat senate campaigns where the candidates have a better chance of knocking off Republicans or picking up open seats. Unfortunately I must admit the socialists are poised to gain 5 to 6 seats this election cycle growing ever closer to the magic 60 seat filibuster proof senate that every party desires.
By Tom Ga Hunter
August 27, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this
Churchill & G T Republican have stole my name, Churchill you will never make out of the 9th grade if you don’t go to class, well maybe you will in Clayton County.
Saxby worked with his buds Kennedy, Pelosi, Dean, Kerry, Reid to over ride President Bush’s veto of Saxby’s Farm Bill. If re elected he will be he will work with them on AMNESTY & the $84 Billion WINDFALL tax on the oil indusrty.. Saxby bad for the GOP, Georgia, & USA.
By DoolyCoDoc
August 27, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this
I’m tired of Martin and his liberal views. Georgia voters rejected him in 2006 and will reject him again in 2008.
It’s kind of funny though how the national Democrats baited him into the race with promises of millions of dollars in contributions and outside help, only to go back on their word. If he weren’t such a wacko liberal, you could almost feel sorry for him.
By Robby
August 27, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
Tom Ga Hunter you’re smoking crack if you think Saxby Chambliss or any true Republican would touch a windfall profit tax. The very idea that it should be a function of government to determine business profits is utterly asinine and infuriating.
By RJ
August 27, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
All labels and scare tactics aside, the choice between Jim Martin and Saxby Chambliss is a simple one. If you want current conditions to remain the same then vote for Saxby Chambliss.
By Sunny Purdue
August 27, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
Saxby has been great for big agribusiness. They like illegal immigrant workers and big government subsidies. Too bad about your grocery bill … if you don’t like it, hire a lobbyist. Maybe you can get Saxby’s boy.
By Tom Ga Hunter
August 27, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
Robby—-I agree with you but as you can see in the below article from the WSJ Saxby & the gang of 10 Traitors are for a $84 Billion Windfall tax on the the oil industry. I’ll be voting AGAINST Saxby.
POTOMAC WATCH By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
Republican Energy Fumble August 8, 2008; Page A13 Politics has its puzzling moments. John McCain and most of the GOP experienced one late last week. That was when five of their own set about dismantling the best issue Republicans have in the upcoming election.
It’s taken time, but Sen. McCain and his party have finally found — in energy — an issue that’s working for them. Riding voter discontent over high gas prices, the GOP has made antidrilling Democrats this summer’s headlines.
Members of the “Gang of 10” discuss their energy plan, Aug. 1. Their enthusiasm has given conservative candidates a boost in tough races. And Mr. McCain has pressured Barack Obama into an energy debate, where the Democrat has struggled to explain shifting and confused policy proposals.
Still, it was probably too much to assume every Republican would work out that their side was winning this issue. And so, last Friday, in stumbled Sens. Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson — alongside five Senate Democrats. This “Gang of 10” announced a “sweeping” and “bipartisan” energy plan to break Washington’s energy “stalemate.” What they did was throw every vulnerable Democrat, and Mr. Obama, a life preserver.
That’s because the plan is a Democratic giveaway. New production on offshore federal lands is left to state legislatures, and then in only four coastal states. The regulatory hurdles are huge. And the bill bars drilling within 50 miles of the coast — putting off limits some of the most productive areas. Alaska’s oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still a no-go.
The highlight is instead $84 billion in tax credits, subsidies and federal handouts for alternative fuels and renewables. The Gang of 10 intends to pay for all this in part by raising taxes on … oil companies! The Sierra Club couldn’t have penned it better. And so the Republican Five has potentially given antidrilling Democrats the political cover they need to neutralize energy through November.
Sen. Obama was thrilled. He quickly praised the Gang’s bipartisan spirit, and warmed up to a possible compromise. Of course, he means removing even the token drilling provisions now in the bill. But he’s only too happy for the focus to remain on the Gang’s efforts, and in particular on the five Republicans providing his party its fig leaf.
Equally gleeful was Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu, the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrat. She had been sweating the energy debate, especially after her vote against more oil-shale production — a position her Republican opponent, John Kennedy, had used against her to great effect. Yet there she was, chummily standing with the Gang of 10 and boasting that she is working with “five Republicans” to “lower prices at the pump by increasing offshore drilling here at home.”
Mr. McCain, who had been commanding the energy debate, was left to explain why he, of all people, wasn’t more enthusiastic about a “bipartisan” effort on energy, especially one that includes “drilling.” His camp was forced to take refuge in taxes, explaining that their boss couldn’t sign up for a bill that included more. If this is what Mr. McCain’s good friend Lindsey Graham considers “helping,” somebody might want to ask him to stop.
And pity poor Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been working overtime to stanch GOP losses this fall and head off a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. His dogged efforts to highlight Democratic opposition to drilling has kept energy in the news and laid the groundwork for GOP candidates to use the issue to their advantage.
In the Colorado Senate race, Democrats had christened former GOP Rep. Bob Schaffer “Big Oil Bob” — hoping to smear his oil industry career. “Big Oil Bob” has instead embraced his pro-drilling positions and is pummeling opponent Mark Udall for his antidrilling stance. In recent weeks, Mr. Schaffer has erased Mr. Udall’s lead. Polls show Republican Sens. Norm Coleman (Minnesota) and John Sununu (New Hampshire) both climbing in the polls on the back of strong energy arguments. As two of the GOP’s most vulnerable senators, both might well have run for cover with the Gang of 10. Instead they’re fighting on the merits.
The “bipartisan” Republican senators have undercut these efforts, and boosted Ms. Landrieu. They’ve even put a smile on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s face. He’d been struggling to tamp down the energy debate through November, where he hopes to increase his majority and permanently shelve drilling. He’s now counting on the Gang to fruitlessly continue “negotiations” straight through the Senate’s short September session and solve his problem for him.
Not one of the five Republicans in the Gang is facing a tough election this year. That’s the sort of security that leads to bad decisions. And theirs is the sort of thinking that could leave Republicans in a permanent minority.
By Robby
August 27, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
And if you want higher taxes, more regulations, a proliferation of unions into the service sector with the passage of the “Card Check” bill, and rationed socialized healthcare vote for Jim Martin and any other left wing Democrat or as I now refer to them all as Socialists because, let’s be honest, they all are. Let’s call a spade a spade. It is what it is.
By Ga Values
August 27, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
DoolyCoDoc August 27, 2008 11:00 AM If you are worried about a wacko LIBERAL you need to worry about Saxby the BIG spending, Big Government, Pro Amnesty Liberal. How about the money he has raised from special interest::Where Saxby Chambliss gets his money::
Agri Business—-$1,368,000 Banks, Insurance, Real Estate—-$1,332,000 Lawyers & Individual Lobbyist——$641,000 Misc Business —-$679,000 The Agi Business got a gift of $20 billion waste from Saxby’s Farm Bill. The Banks, Real Estate & Lawyers just got a $2 TRILLION gift from the Bail Out the Banks act which Saxby & Johnny voted for. Not a bad return on Special interest money but it comes out of the TAXPAYER’s pocket.
By Aaron Burr V. Mexico
August 27, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this
Obama MIGHT raise taxes.
McCain WILL keep driving the economy into the ground. Doesn’t really do much good if you have ‘lower taxes’ if your job is sent to India.
But Redumblicans don’t understand anything their party doesn’t tell them to believe.
By Morehouse Man
August 27, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
I am an OBAMA supporter & I like Senator Chambliss. He with the Gang of 10 have blunted the Republican Drill Here, Drill Now lie. Wind fall taxes on oil are the only way to fund the social programs necessary for America. Chambliss is a man President Obama can work with but to be truthful after listening to Chambliss bob & weave on the radio, I wonder if he is honest? If Chambliss keeps working for Obama he will have my vote come November.
By Morehouse Man
August 27, 2008 1:07 PM | Link to this
Robby — looks like Saxby not Martin to me. This race is about Saxby.. What he says he is vs. what he does in Washington. Do you want a Senator who repesents out of state special interest or Georgia. Your choice OBAMA/Saxby or McCain/none of the above. Saxby has been in Washington 14 years & thinks he repesents his son & the Chicago Merc. Board not the taxpayers of Georgia. Look at his big spending, big government, pro amnesty record.
By Ga Minuteman
August 27, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this
Georgians, Don’t forget that Saxby was a Chairman for one of the congressional Judicial subcommittes. Judicial Chairmanship is the most sought after position in Congress because that one position controls all the legislation that goes b4 congress. Saxby was the Chairman for the Jusicial subcommittee for Immigration, Citizenship and Border Protection. Saxby was the root cause for the mess we are in with regard to criminal aliens in not only Georgia but the entire US of A. He has to go!!
By David Schwalje
August 27, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this
Responsible voters, especially Republicans, will surprise Saxby Chambliss by kicking him out of office. He shirked his duty when it was his time to serve in Vietnam, multiple times his draft numbers came up and multiple times he asked for and got deferments. This forced other kids to serve in his place. Did those kids come back? Did they get to have a nice life, get married, have kids of their own? Would be interesting to determine who did serve in Saxby Chambliss’ place. And what became of them.
By MT
August 27, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
(1) Saxby is a wonderful Senator! (2) I am a proud conservative who looks forward to voting for he and Sen. McCain in November. (3) Saxby will win this Election. (4) Ya’ll whining liberals will still be whining.
By Aaron Burr V. Mexico
August 27, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this
And you conservatives will still be deluded.
And they say Obama fans drink the cool aid….
Last I checked Jim Jones wasn’t a hippy.
By Jim Wooten
August 27, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this
Just as House Republicans, prompted by U.S. Reps. Tom Price of Roswell and Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, were about to crystallize the $4 gas issue for the nation, Georgia’s two senators —- Chambliss and Johnny Isakson —- joined to offer a compromise on offshore exploration that has been widely criticized as providing cover to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Sierra Club Democrats.
Their compromise would allow drilling with state approval more than 50 miles off the coasts of four states —- Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas —- while raising subsidies for ethanol and other alternative fuels to the tune of $84 billion. Another $30 billion in taxes would be levied on oil companies. Writes Blackburn:
“Like the immigration compromise, it is designed to convince conservatives that the plan accomplishes what they want, while in fact, both plans simply capitulate to the special interest groups who fund the Democrats. … If immigration and the drilling ‘compromise’ is their idea of solving problems, then conservatives don’t need them.”