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Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Because nothing stirs the blood like a front-door confrontation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Politicians argue that complaints filed with the State Ethics Commission are often designed to embarrass candidates during the height of a campaign.
And sometimes that’s true.
On the other hand, very rarely does an office-holder track down the person who filed the complaint, and show up on his front door. But apparently this is what state Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) did.
The Dunwoody Crier, no friend to the lawmaker because of her arguments against cityhood, based its Wednesday article on a police incident report:
According to [Jeremy] Tanner, last Tuesday, Chambers herself came to his residence, took pictures of his house and yard, knocked on his door, and told him “you are in serious trouble.”
….The resident said Chambers also told him that it was “a very serious offense to accuse an elected official of bribery.”
Tanner said he told Chambers to leave the property, and closed the door, after which he said that the state representative continued to knock and say,”Come on out and talk to me, Jeremy.”
After a few seconds, Tanner said Chambers left. A few hours later, Tanner filed an incident report with DeKalb County Police.
Tanner has accused Chambers — part of House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s leadership team — of accepting campaign contributions that exceed the state’s single-source limits.
Tanner also said the source, a surgery center, would have benefited from legislation later introduced by Chambers that would have done away with the state’s licensing system for hospitals and other treatment centers.
According to the Crier, Chambers dismissed the incident — via e-mail — as “just a ridiculous attempt to get publicity for my opponent and to try to distract me from my own campaign.”
Her November opponent for the District 81 seat is Democrat Chris Huttman.
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Rasmussen: Chambliss shouldn’t pay attention to those other polls, but Perdue tanks on the gas shortage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rasmussen Reports has just posted its October analysis of the U.S. Senate race in Georgia. It offers some needed solace to U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Despite other polls that show Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin neck-and-neck, Rasmussen says “the U.S. Senate race in Georgia remains relatively unchanged this month.”
The polling firm puts Chambliss at 50 percent, and Martin at 44 percent — roughly the same distance that Rasmussen measurements have put the pair for months.
Rasmussen gives Chambliss a 70 percent chance of victory, but says Martin does have a lead among female voters, which could be important.
That said, the real news comes from Rasmussen’s polling on the post-Hurricane Ike gas shortage in Georgia:
— A majority of 61 percent said they had personally waited in line for gas, and 71 percent they’ve had to curtail their driving.
— Only 26 percent said Gov. Sonny Perdue — who was in Europe on a trade mission during much of the crisis — did a good or excellent job handling the shortage, while 37 percent said he did a poor job.
— On the other hand, it’s not exactly clear what people wanted the governor to do. Nearly half were opposed to an odd-even rationing system, while 30 percent favored it. More than half (52 percent) opposed limits on gasoline purchases, while 34 percent said it was a good idea.
— Overall, Perdue’s job approval rating is down to 39 percent, 10 points lower than a month ago.
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The new Obama button
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Obamites this morning are fuming over the inability of Republican presidential candidate John McCain to mention his Democratic opponent by name during their second debate.
Andrew Sullivan posted the image below on his web site last night.
Your reference point is this Associated Press article:
During a discussion of an energy bill McCain offered up a two-word phrase that drew a quick reaction from the Obama campaign.
“You know who voted for it?” McCain asked. “You might never know.
“That one,” McCain said, pointing at his opponent.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said after the debate, “John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as ‘that one’ — last time he couldn’t look at Senator Obama; this time he couldn’t say his name.”
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Draft bill: Give secretary of state the power to hand out carry-concealed permits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know that Senate Republicans are contemplating big changes in state gun laws, which include expanding the list of places where holders of concealed weapons permits could carry heat.
But apparently state lawmakers are also contemplating a major shift in who issues these permits. Someone, according to a draft bill floating through the Capitol, wants to take that power out of the hands of the dozens and dozens of probate judges across the state, and give it to Secretary of State Karen Handel.
Gun enthusiasts have been critical of probate judges, who can sometimes take weeks or months to issue carry-concealed permits. Under this draft, the secretary of state would issue those five-year licenses, and would be required to make a decision within five working days.
Applicants would still have to be 21, with no felony record, and would have to submit to fingerprinting. The legislation would permit Handel to hand over many of the chores to a private contractor.
One thought: Right now, because they’re distributed out of 159 county offices, it’s been hard to say how many concealed weapons permits have been issued in Georgia. Centralization would at least let us count them.
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Gingrich to McCain: Save yourself by dumping on the ‘Bush-Paulson’ bailout
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the weekend before the first bailout in the House, former speaker Newt Gingrich predicted that Republicans would reluctantly support it.
And in the minutes before the failed vote, the former Georgia congressman said that he himself would hold his nose and cast a “yes” vote, were he still in office.
Apparently, he’s changed his mind. On the Human Events web site, Gingrich says that dumping on the “Bush-Paulson” bailout plan is the only chance Republican presidential candidate John McCain has to win.
That’s a tactic that could have significant repercussions, especially in Georgia — and especially for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Not to mention the fact that it would cause McCain to backpedal on a much-watched vote that he cast only last week.
Writes Gingrich:
Senator McCain now faces the crisis of his career. He is behind. He will not catch up on a state-by-state basis.
He will either win the argument in the national media, suddenly growing stronger in many states or he will lose the national debate and gradually decline further in a number of states.
If Senator McCain is not prepared to separate himself from the Bush-Paulson economic program, he has no opportunity to win.
The country is deeply fed up with the Bush presidency and angry about the Paulson bailout. If McCain is confused or uncertain about how bad this economic performance is, he will never get the country to listen to him.”
Just as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (as well as the House Republicans in 1994 with the Contract with America) created a large argument which led to a decisive result, so McCain has an opportunity to reach beyond the daily attacks and clever tactics and spend the last 28 days of this campaign making a large argument over America’s future.
If McCain is prepared to declare that it is time for a fundamental change away from the failure of Bush-Paulson and away from the leftism of [Democrat Barack] Obama (a “clean rupture” as French President Nicolas Sarkozy described it in breaking with President Jacques Chirac …or “bold colors with no pale pastels” as Reagan described it in breaking with President Ford in 1976), then he has a huge opportunity….
If you go to the Human Events site, you’ll see that U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) has taken out a pair of ads on the page, advertising a 45-second video with the topic, “Why We Didn’t Have to Borrow $700 Billion.”
Or you can watch it below:
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Saxby Chambliss endorses T. Boone Pickens’ energy plan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saxby Chambliss, the Republican incumbent in the U.S. Senate race, has announced a “major endorsement” for Wednesday morning.
(Update: Pay no attention to the unfounded speculation in the next paragraph. The press conference will focus on a declaration of support by the Fraternal Order of Police.)
You have to wonder if a clue to the topic might be found in an Atlanta Business Chronicle article filed late Tuesday:
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., pledged Tuesday to push for congressional passage of an energy independence plan being pushed by billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens.
Chambliss said Pickens’ proposals to develop new domestic sources of energy while expanding proven American technology share much in common with bipartisan energy legislation he is sponsoring in the Senate.
“Boone’s got great ideas,” Chambliss said during a meeting with Atlanta Business Chronicle editors and reporters. “He knows I agree with him.”
…Pickens, the chairman of BP Capital Management, is calling on the 111th Congress, which takes office in January, to enact an energy plan that reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil by at least 30 percent within a decade.
Specifically, the series of national television ads he is bankrolling trumpets renewable energy, particularly wind power, and developing technology to power cars and trucks with natural gas.
See this earlier post on the topic.
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