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Sunday, August 31, 2008
Is Gustav a Republican or a Democrat?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That’s the question asked on Beliefnet.com, a God-oriented blog.
This by Steven Waldman, the editor-in-chief:
For those who believe that God changes the weather to shape events, it might have seemed that He was favoring the Democrats when He ignored the prayer requests of those who beseeched him to rain on Barack Obama’s Invesco field speech.
At first, religious progressives saw Hurricane Gustav as a second Democratic endorsement, forcing a delay in the convention and reminding the world of one of George W. Bush’s greatest failures.
But no! As soon as I heard that Bush was cancelling his appearance at the convention, the Lord’s mysterious ways became clear. I’m sure McCain really didn’t want Bush to appear but couldn’t be so unpatriotic as to not invite the president. Now McCain gets to have less Bush at the convention, without seeming rude.
Meanwhile, on the jump is the press release from GOP convention organizers, announcing a reduced convention schedule.
RNC CHAIRMAN, CO-CHAIR ANNOUNCE CHANGES TO NATIONAL CONVENTION, HURRICANE RESPONSE
MINNEAPOLIS - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan and RNC Co-Chairman/Committee on Arrangements Chairman Jo Ann Davidson announced changes to the 2008 Republican National Convention schedule and activities due to Hurricane Gustav.
Tomorrow, all activities except for the official required business of the convention will be cancelled. The Committee will convene at 2:30 p.m. CDT to conduct this business as required by the Rules of the Republican Party, which state that the convention must proceed in order to ensure that the Party is able to place John McCain and Sarah Palin’s names on the ballot in November. On November 9, 2007, the RNC issued the 2008 Call for the Convention. The Call for the Convention requires the 2008 Republican National Convention to meet on Sept. 1, 2008 in order to select the Party’s President and Vice President.
“The safety and well-being of the people of the Gulf States remains our top concern. We are doing everything we can on the ground in Minneapolis-Saint Paul to ensure that the delegations affected by this storm have the resources and information that they need. As Senator McCain said this morning, we must redirect our attention and efforts. Our first priority is to help our fellow citizens in need,” Duncan said.
Additional information will be provided as events develop.
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Signs of an uptick in the fortunes of Georgia Democrats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since June, the Barack Obama campaign has spoken of Georgia as a prize within its grasp — if not low-hanging fruit, then at least a plum within tiptoe reach.
As a measure of their intentions, Obamites rattle off the number of county offices established throughout the state. Thirty-one, as of this writing.
Republicans scoff. Gov. Sonny Perdue last week portrayed his state as a powerful black hole of GOP influence, and invited Obama to send “millions and millions of dollars” here, so that Georgia might soak up each and every one.
But beyond those 31 leases that Obama supporters have signed for office space, there is evidence that Democrats, after a six-year sojourn in the wilderness, could be on their way back.
This spring, Democrats here and in Washington had to poke, prod and entice Atlanta attorney Jim Martin into the U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. The only Democrat with statewide credentials joined the race a mere eight months before the November vote.
By comparison, David Poythress might be called a leading market indicator. With two years to spare, the retired adjutant general and commander of the Georgia National Guard has declared the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor to be a prize worth the investment.
Poythress, 64, announced his candidacy last week. Other Democrats, including House Minority Leader DuBose Porter of Dublin, have expressed interest as well.
Politically, the 2010 race for governor is more important to Democrats than a seat in the Senate. With little chance of winning back either chamber in the state Legislature, the Governor’s Mansion is their only chance of a place at the table when — following the 2010 national census — the state’s all-important political boundaries are redrawn.
Poythress is particularly interesting because he fits the Democratic ideal of a statewide candidate in a post-9/11 world, as established by U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon — who is white, relatively conservative, and brimming with military experience.
This is Poythress’ second try for governor, having lost a primary race in 1998. He’s served as both state labor commissioner and secretary of state.
Appropriately, Poythress draws no connection between his chances and those of the Democratic presidential candidate this year. Like Marshall, who skipped the convention in Denver, Poythress is indifferent to the Obama surge — at least in public.
“Georgia is and always has been fundamentally conservative. It is not fundamentally Republican. Conservative voters in Georgia vote their own mind,” he said in an interview. “I think given the opportunity to vote for a relatively conservative — certainly fiscally conservative, social moderate — with a proven track record, they’ll take it.”
Poythress intends to run against the Republican gridlock that has built in the state Capitol over the last two years. “People who are politically attuned, people who are not politically attuned, say pretty much the same thing. They are not satisfied with what they are getting in the way of state government,” he said.
Transportation, education, and water will be his top issues.
The retired general has been trolling among dissatisfied business leaders. “The feedback is that they’re looking for something that they don’t yet see. Well, hopefully, they see it now,” he said.
Photo credit: David Poythress, by the Associated Press
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Greetings from Minnesota
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheinin@ajc.com
Minneapolis— Part two of the great political road trip of 2008 continues today in Minneapolis. That’s right, Minneapolis.
The Georgia delegation to the Republican National Convention is staying at a hotel in Minneapolis itself. And while the convention will take place at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, expect to see quite a few datelines from Minneapolis as well.
Appearances by Georgians on the podium of the Republican convention podium may not match the Democratic meeting in Denver — where prime slots were reserved for Jimmy Carter, John Lewis and two King children, among others.
Right now, the only two Georgians scheduled to speak to the entire Republican body are Rick Goddard, a retired Air Force general and a candidate for Congress and the Rev. Robert Certain of Marietta. Goddard speaks Monday; Certain on Tuesday.
Goddard, from Warner Robins, is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon for the central Georgia congressional seat.
Otherwise, Republicans have quite a line-up set for daily events at the Doubletree, where we’re all staying.
An early schedule features speeches or remarks from pollster Frank Luntz on Monday and oilman-turned-wind-power advocate T. Boone Pickens on Thursday. In between, state party leaders such as Secretary of State Karen Handel, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, House Speaker Glenn Richardson, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Gov. Sonny Perdue are all expected to address their fellow Georgians.
Things kick-off tonight with a welcome reception at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Shuttles leave from the lobby. Y’all come!
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The story of Sarah Palin and her brother-in-law, the trooper
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s Washington Post has the first extended take — at least in the lower 48 — of that investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin, now the GOP vice presidential nominee, pressured her underlings to fire an Alaskan state trooper who was married to her sister.
Writes the Post:
The trouble between Wooten and the governor’s sister broke into the open after an alleged incident in February 2005. Palin told an internal affairs investigator that she overheard on a speakerphone [trooper Michael] Wooten arguing with her sister and threatening to kill their father. Fearful for her family members’ lives, Palin said she drove to her sister’s house and watched the argument through a window.
“Wooten’s words were, ‘I will kill him. He’ll eat a [expletive] lead bullet, I’ll shoot him,’ if our father got the attorney to help Molly,” Palin said in an e-mail she wrote in August 2005 to the chief of the state police. “I heard this death threat, my 16-year-old son heard it (Track Palin), Molly heard it, as did their small children. Wooten spoke with his Trooper gun on his hip in an extremely intimidating fashion, leaving no doubt he is serious about taking someone’s life who disagrees with him.”
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So what’s Alaska? Roughly speaking, it’s Cobb County without Kennesaw
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the weekend, the editorial boys over at the Marietta Daily Journal had this snippet:
A population comparison: Alaska has 683,478 people. Delaware 864,764 and Cobb County 691,905.
Alaska, of course, is home to the new Republican candidate for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin. Delaware is the stomping grounds of U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, who holds the No. 2 position on the Democratic ticket.
And Cobb County is home to Commission Chairman Sam Olens, who’s pondering a run for governor of Georgia. But who also may be wondering why he’s thinking so small.
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