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Friday, October 31, 2008
‘You can vote however you like’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On ABC News tonight, the “Person of the Week” was — or were — the students of Ron Clark Academy, an innovative private middle school in southeast Atlanta.
Kids there have put together a “You Can Vote However You Like” video that’s everything “High School Musical 3” is not. Intelligent, for instance.
ABC doesn’t have an embedded video of the segment up, but the link is here.
On the other hand, CNN has already given the Ron Clark kids a bit of attention:
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The DSCC’s anti-Chambliss jingle: ‘Saxby economics don’t trickle down’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember the last U.S. Senate runoff between Democrat Wyche Fowler and an upstart Republican Paul Coverdell?
Coverdell had a terrible but resonating jingle by an elderly woman by the name of Margie Lopp: “Let’s put Paul Coverdell in the Senate and put Wyche Fowler out!”
Coverdell won, of course, and Lopp was given much of the credit.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, on behalf of Jim Martin, has cut loose its own country music jingle aimed at Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. It’s called “Trickle Down.” Part of a $5 million effort to make sure Martin gets into a runoff on Tuesday.
Key phrase: “Saxby economics don’t trickle down on me.”
Don’t have time to transcribe it, but you can listen here.
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U.S. Rep. John Lewis offers to help clear the way for emergency weekend voting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This from a statement by U.S. Rep. John Lewis this morning, during a state Capitol press conference to discuss those long waits to vote:
“We are requesting that the Secretary of State [Karen Handel] use Florida and North Carolina as an example. We ask that she extend early voting in Georgia through Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We believe the number of poll workers should be increased at polling sites where a large turnout is expected.
“She must increase the number of voter registration machines at locations where there is large turnout, and we are calling on Governor [Sonny] Perdue and Karen Handel to request emergency voting rights pre-clearance from the Department of Justice to clear the path for these changes.
“My office is preparing a letter right now, advising the Attorney General Mukasey of these issues in Georgia and encouraging him to grant emergency pre-clearance, when it is requested.”
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CNN/Time poll: Broader turnout throws U.S. Senate race into a runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The team of CNN/Time/Opinion Research is out with a three-day-old poll on the U.S. Senate race in Georgia — leftovers from the survey that gave us Georgia presidential stats on Wednesday.
Click here to download the memo.
The good thing about this survey is that, again, the CNN team measures both “likely” voters — i.e., those with a history of participation — and registered voters. So you have performance in a restricted, more traditional pool of voters, and then a larger one that could reflect the uncertain demographics of this voting season.
The bad thing about this survey: It does not include Libertarian Allen Buckley by name. Which at this late date could be important.
Among 690 likely voters, Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss leads Democrat Jim Martin, 53 percent to 44 percent, with 2 percent choosing “neither.”
But among 907 registered voters — that larger pool — the contest narrows and appears headed for a runoff, with Chambliss at 48 percent and Martin at 47 percent. Again, an important 2 percent choose “neither.”
In both scenarios, the polling margin of error is plus-or-minus 3.5 percent.
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Money to burn: Obama campaign says it’s back on Georgia TV
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After an absence of nearly two months, and with the state very much in play, the Democratic presidential campaign of Barack Obama says it has returned to TV in Georgia with the ad below — which appears to be aimed at expanding Obama’s support among pinched white suburbanites:
Read the AJC story on Obama’s return to the airwaves here. The campaign would not reveal the size of the advertising buy, or whether it will run statewide or in select markets.
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A robo-call for Chambliss from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You knew that the nominally non-partisan U.S. Chamber of Commerce had entered the fray to keep Democrats from reaching the 60-seat mark in the U.S. Senate.
The business group has taken its cause to Georgia this week, with a robo-call on behalf of Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
Click here to listen, but here’s part of the text:
”We all know that health care is vital. As our senator, Saxby Chambliss is helping Georgia families live longer, healthier lives. Chambliss supports health care tax credits to help us pay our bills. And Saxby Chambliss opposes government-mandated health care.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Chambliss, but the automated message skirts the actual definition of a political ad, presumably to preserve the tax status of the fund that’s paying for the call. The robo-call does not ask recipients to vote for Chambliss — but simply asks them ad to call Chambliss’ office and thank him for doing a fine job.
Funny thing about these ads. When the intention is to boost the guy, calls are directed to a district office, where they won’t disrupt the daily flow. When the purpose is to give him hell, the congressional number given is always to the Washington office.
