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Friday, October 17, 2008
That budding water war between Obama and Georgia Republicans? Never mind.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The water war between Barack Obama and Georgia Republicans is hereby called off on account of new evidence.
A five-paragraph Associated Press story out of Tallahassee on Friday declared that Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, had taken Florida’s side in the three-decade dispute over water with Georgia and Alabama.
Click here to read the entire Obama statement upon which that AP piece was based. But here is the relevant portion, which is so even-handed as to be meaningless:
Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have disputed the water allocation of the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint rivers for more than two decades. Attempts at negotiated settlements and previous compacts have failed and devolved into countless lawsuits. To date, the only winners in this dispute have been the lawyers….
Obama and Biden would call on the governors of Florida, Georgia and Alabama to once again convene a stakeholder-driven process to reach equitable water sharing solutions. The difference this time would be that Obama would direct the National Research Council to conduct a study….
The study would provide the scientific basis for reaching an equitable solution, a solution that protects the drinking water of Atlanta’s citizens and provides sustainable flows for productive agriculture in south Georgia and Alabama, and for the fish and wildlife that inhabit Florida’s northwest region and the industries they support….”
Nothing new here. Move along.
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Martin’s answer to Chambliss on the issue of dead kids
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jim Martin, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is about to defend himself from a round of attack ads thrown at him by Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
The 30-second spot below was posted not long ago on YouTube. It addresses Chambliss’ accusations that Martin’s departure as head of the state Department of Human Resources and the deaths of children under the care of the state were linked.
“For Saxby Chambliss to suggest that I was insensitive to the loss of a child, well, that’s just plain offensive,” Martin says.
Go here to see the Chambliss attack ad.
If you want to draw any meaning from the back-and-forth, it may be this: Martin is close enough that a firm response matters. And he apparently has the money to pay for it.
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On the Fair Tax, shifting cash, and another third party preparing to enter the Senate race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Notes on the U.S. Senate race:
— Supporters of the Fair Tax, with Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in attendance, predicted this afternoon that an attack on the national sales tax will backfire on Jim Martin, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
The Washington-based Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this week began running a television ad attacking Chambliss for supporting a 23 percent tax on every purchase — not mentioning that the Fair Tax also advocates elimination of the income tax.
(My AJC colleague Jim Tharpe was there. I’ll post a link to his complete file as quickly as possible.)
Chambliss can’t help but be delighted by this. One would have to guess that the Fair Tax crowd, by and large, is the same Republican-oriented group ticked off by Chambliss’ support of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. Which Martin opposes. By attacking the Fair Tax, the DSCC risks driving these fiscal conservatives back into the arms of the Republican incumbent.
On the other hand, the DSCC couldn’t exactly throw out a TV spot taking Martin’s side against the bailout. Most Democrats in Congress supported the rescue. The Fair Tax, meanwhile, has few Democratic defenders.
— Tom Baxter, who once served as the chief political analyst for a major metropolitan newspaper, included this paragraph in one of his files for the Southern Political Report:
While the Democrats have been expanding their sites in House races, Republicans have been pulling back and circling the wagons in the Senate. The National Republican Senatorial Committee this week dropped advertising for Republican challenger John Kennedy, who’s trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, reportedly to divert money to the suddenly troubled campaigns of incumbents Mitch McConnell in Kentucky and Saxby Chambliss in Georgia.
— My AJC colleague Ben Smith says he’s picked up some signs that the pro-Republican group called Freedom Watch is preparing to drop some big bucks on TV ads in metro Atlanta, presumably on behalf of Chambliss.
The group is already playing in the U.S. Senate race in Colorado. Last week, USA Today reported that Freedom Watch had already dropped $3.7 million on congressional races, on behalf of the GOP.
— Meanwhile, Julia Malone in our Washington bureau says the national AFL-CIO will join the fray as well — on Martin’s behalf, of course.
Richard Ray, Georgia’s AFL-CIO president, said the national union will assist in the mailing of 250,000 flyers and dialing tens of thousands of robo-calls. Ray said he expected the national organization to send more dollars to the state but said no specific amount has been allotted for the Georgia contest, which now ranks near the top among a dozen Senate races that the AFL-CIO has targeted.
Click here to see a union mailing that goes out Monday. It conveniently pictures Chambliss with a certain incumbent president.
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In the Georgia-Florida water wars, Obama sides with 27 electoral votes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s your political math question for the day: If you’re running for president, would you rather win Florida, with its 27 electoral votes, or Georgia, with its 15?
Doh.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have tipped his hand this week when he sided with the Florida panhandle in a three-decade water war that also includes Georgia and Alabama.
According to the Associated Press, Obama released a statement Thursday saying he would make protecting the Apalachicola River and Bay a priority.
He’s calling for a National Research Council study to ensure enough water comes into Florida to meet environmental and commercial fishing needs.
The Apalachicola, whether bay or river, is fed by the Chattahoochee River, metro Atlanta’s primary source of fluids. Florida believes Georgia uses too much water from the river system for municipal purposes.
You have to wonder whether Georgia could argue that Florida uses up too many electoral votes — 10 percent of the nationally required dose — for presidential purposes.
Republicans — in Georgia, anyway — quickly pounced on Obama for his failure to see things our way.
“It is unfortunate that you wish to undo the good work we have done to find a solution for all the people in the river basin and instead prioritize the needs of only the people of Florida,” wrote U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson in a letter addressed to Obama, which also noted his “recent and sudden interest” in the matter.
The entire missive appears on the jump.
Dear Senator Obama:
We are writing to express our disappointment with comments made yesterday by you and your campaign relating to water allocation issues in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River basins.
As you may know, these river basins serve Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. While we appreciate your recent and sudden interest in the tri-state water issues we have been working on for the past six years, the comments by you and your campaign reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of the nature of the problems in the ACF and ACT basins, a lack of understanding of the requirements of the Army Corps of Engineers with regards to the ACF and ACT basins under federal law, and a cavalier disregard for the needs of the residents of Georgia.
According to your campaign’s statement, you “would direct the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct a study to assess the water availability, supply options, and demand-management alternatives that factor into ACF River System usage, as well as the impact of freshwater flow on the ecology of the Apalachicola River and Bay.” You also said “As President, I will make protecting Florida’s water resources a priority.”
As you may know, the Army Corps of Engineers is required under federal law to update the water control manuals for the ACF and ACT basins, and recently announced it would begin doing so in the ACT basin.
We were pleased to hear from Secretary of the Army Pete Geren personally that the Corps is moving forward with updating these manuals, because it will allow the Corps to make smarter decisions in their management of these river systems. We have underscored to him how important this action is.
As you also may know such an update would include studies to assess water supply and demand, and environmental management practices for ALL the users and stakeholder in the basins, not just those on the Apalachicola River and Bay. To ask the Corps to ignore its responsibilities under federal law in favor of the residents of Florida is a clear affront to the residents of Georgia. To state that you will make protecting Florida’s water resources a priority over Georgia’s shows that you do not care about the needs of the people of Georgia.
We have continually worked to get Georgia, Florida and Alabama together and to force the Corp of Engineers to update a 20-year-old Water Control Plan for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa and Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins. In 2006 we held Senate hearings in Gainesville and Columbus to implore the Corps to keep its commitment to update its outdated water control plan for the two river basins.
On August 1, 2007, we met with Secretary Geren as well as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works John Paul Woodley, Lieutenant General Robert L. Van Antwerp and General Counsel Craig Schmauder. At the meeting, Secretary Geren indicated his desire to give mediation time to work before starting the update of the water control manuals.
When Secretary Geren gave his commitment to us that if and when mediation broke down and was not making progress, he would begin the update of the water control manuals, we held him to that promise. On September 28, 2007, after judges involved in the mediation announced that the talks had broken down, we sent a letter to Secretary Geren strongly urging him to honor his pledge to update the water control plan.
On October 18, 2007, Secretary Woodley told both of us by telephone that the Corps will start the process for updating the water control manual for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin.
We also facilitated meetings in Washington between the Governors of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, as well as meetings between the Governors and the Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, and Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Jim Connaughton. We continue to work with the Governors and their staffs to come to a solution so the states can take advantage of the productive talks they have had and agree on a resolution.
From Lake Lanier to Lake Allatoona, from Atlanta to West Point Lake, and from LaGrange to Columbus, we have worked to find a solution that benefits not only the people of our state, but all those who reside in the river basins. It is unfortunate that you wish to undo the good work we have done to find a solution for all the people in the river basin and instead prioritize the needs of only the people of Florida.
Sincerely,
Saxby Chambliss
United States Senator
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator
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Every politician needs a stunt double — shaking all those germ-laden hands can be dangerous
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blogs throughout Georgia are suddenly talking about last Saturday’s Sorghum Parade up in Blairsville, which featured a campaigning state Rep. Charles Jenkins.
Except that it wasn’t Jenkins. The switch was first noted on blairsvillecity.com:
Jenkins was seen at the Sorghum parade before it began but his Explorer was seen leaving. Jenkins’ parade car, however made the rounds with a man of similar appearance perched on the back, waving with a cap pulled low over his face.
InsiderAdvantage extracted the confession. The state lawmaker had ducked out to the Georgia-Tennessee game in Athens:
Jenkins tells us his cousin, Leon Davenport, subbed for him in the parade while he took his son and grandchildren to UGA. The son is a missionary in the West Indies. “He was here with two of his children. I spent some time with them. My cup was full … my cousin said he would ride for me.”
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Sarah Palin: Doesn’t know if she’ll play Tina Fey on SNL, but ‘I should.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said she doesn’t know whether she’ll play Tina Fey this week on “Saturday Night Live.”
But she should, the Alaskan governor said in an interview with Neal Boortz on WSB Radio this morning.
Listen to the eight-minute sound clip here.
Palin accused the media of subjecting her to a “double standard,” but vowed not to complain. “Those political shots that I take or my campaign takes, it’s nothing compared to the real, effective shots that too many Americans are taking right now,” she said.
In what’s likely to be her only interview with anyone in the Atlanta media during the campaign, Palin phoned into Boortz’ syndicated talk show.
Boortz tried to press Palin on her appearance on SNL, which has produced some hilariously brutal skits built around the vice presidential nominee and national novice’s early statements on foreign policy, her belief in creationism, and her disbelief in global warming:
Boortz: Aaaww. You’ve seen the script. C’mon.
Palin: I haven’t seen the script. Not at all. We haven’t been hinted, even, toward what that script’s going to say.
But I just want to be there to show Americans that we’ll rise above the political shots that we take, because we’re in this doing serious business for serious challenges that are facing good American people right now….
“[If] we can do that even, I guess, through a skit or two on “Saturday Night Live,” then so be it….
Boortz: Has the media been giving Sarah Palin a fair shake?
Palin: I think there’s certainly been some double standards at play here. That’s been very, very obvious.
But I’m not going to complain about it, because those political shots that I take or my campaign takes, it’s nothing compared to the real, effective shots that too many Americans are taking right now, those who are fearing losing their home or losing their job or fearing perhaps losing someone in the war zone.
Those are the things that really matter and I’m keeping things in perspective.
Political shots taken my way — if we can’t handle that now, then we have no business running for v.p. and president.
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Libertarian Allen Buckley on TV: The Iraq war was a ‘fraud’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Libertarian candidate in a U.S. Senate race that’s getting ever more complicated says he’s about to launch two TV ads.
In the one posted below, Smyrna attorney Allen Buckley makes passing references to the economy and the bailout, but concentrates on the issue of the Iraq war, which he calls a “fraud.”
He mentions neither of his two opponents, Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin.
The Buckley campaign says the ad is running on cable in Columbus and in metro Atlanta. But you’re more likely to see his ads here than anywhere else — Buckley says he had only about $4,000 in the bank as of Sept. 30.
That said, in this tightening contest, everything matters.
Allen Buckley Commercial #1 from Allen Buckley on Vimeo.
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Because you went to bed so early: John McCain and Joe Biden on late-night TV
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday night was make-peace night on CBS’ “The David Letterman Show.”
Republican John McCain had canceled on Letterman after suspending his campaign to address the financial crisis on Wall Street, and he was back to make amends.
“I screwed up. What can I say?” the Republican presidential nominee said.
Best line: “I haven’t had so much fun since my last interrogation.”
CBS wouldn’t embed the video, but you can click here to watch.
On NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden was only slightly more serious. The topic was negative campaigning. Watch below.
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Let’s bet on who’ll be more outrageous: Palin to be on Boortz this morning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, is to give WSB Radio and Neal Boortz a phone call at 11:05 a.m. this morning. That, at least, is the word going around.
One thing Boortz should ask John McCain’s running mate is whether her handlers have treated her properly.
In a TV interview in Kansas City on Thursday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich said they haven’t:
Gingrich said the campaign shouldn’t have set up Palin with high-profile network interviews so quickly.
“I have no idea why they decided why they ought to start with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. It just strikes me as suicidal,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich claims Palin was a news story and a target in those interviews.
“They should have taken her to local interviews all over the country, which all of them would have been relatively favorable because local reporters would have been actually curious about her. I have no particular concern about her as a potential vice president, but I think the way she was introduced was destructive,” Gingrich said.
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