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Thursday, November 13, 2008
The DSCC attacks Chambliss on the issue of children’s health insurance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has chosen the day of John McCain’s visit to Georgia to launch a round of TV commercials attacking Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
The ad below specifically notes Chambliss’ vote against the expansion of the federal-state children’s health insurance program — which in Georgia is called PeachCare.
The operative language:
Congress tried to pass better health care for children. But he voted no. Lower drug prices for seniors. He said no. Tax cuts for middle-class Georgia families. He said no.
“For six years, Saxby Chambliss has been part of the gridlock that’s hurt the middle class.”
Once McCain, the former GOP presidential candidate, has left town and clears the airwaves, look for Chambliss or his surrogates to respond in kind.
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Live blogging: McCain warns that he’s an example of what Democratic organization can do
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
5:53 p.m.: John McCain has left the building, and is headed for a big-dollar, Saxby Chambliss fund-raiser at the 191 Club in downtown Atlanta. A few wrap-up points:
First, the former presidential candidate was a fairly soft-edged when it came to his criticism of Democrats. My AJC colleague Jim Tharpe pointed out something I hadn’t noticed — that McCain never mentioned Barack Obama by name.
Perhaps most important, McCain warned Republicans in Georgia that he serves as an example of what Democratic organization accomplished this political season, and urged them not to take the Dec. 2 runoff lightly.
5:50 p.m.: Defeated Republican nominee John McCain cracked jokes with an enthusiastic Cobb County crowd here, telling them that he now sleeps like a baby.
“Sleep two hours, wake up and cry. Sleep two hours, wake up and cry,” McCain said. He told the same joke on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” two nights earlier.
He also listed the presidential candidates from Arizona: himself, Barry Goldwater, Bruce Babbit, and Mo Udall. “Arizona may be the only state in the union where mothers don’t tell their children they can grow up to be president,” he said.
On the Republican incumbent: “Saxby Chambliss has been doing what we Republicans should have been doing for these past eight years, and that’s cut spending,” McCain said.
“I ask you to go into battle one more time. The eyes of the country and the world will be on the state of Georgia on Dec. 2.
The first praise from McCain about Chambliss was on agriculture exports…
5:26 p.m.: Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain is on the stage. Saxby Chambliss is speaking. Boos from the crowd of 1,500 when he mentioned President-elect Barack Obama. Chambliss says he’d pray for him — but not his agenda.
“It only takes one U.S. senator to stop that,” Chambliss said.
5:25 p.m.: Until this evening, Zell Miller had stayed out of the U.S. Senate race — and the presidential race, too, for that matter.
But he just unloaded on Democrat challenger Jim Martin, and gave Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss an unqualified endorsement.
“It’s critical for us to keep Saxby’s voice and vote in Washington,” Miller said. “Saxby could well be the last man standing between us” and the Democratic agenda.
Now, there’s some irony here, because Miller, when he was a senator, constantly expressed frustration at U.S. Senate rules that allowed Democrats — then in the minority — to stop the Bush administration with a cloture vote.
Miller told of his proposal for a $100 million tax cut when he was governor, and named Martin as “the very first legislator” to speak out against it.
“And another thing. I don’t like this spread-the-wealth, income distribution. To steal from Peter even if it gets Paul to vote for you is wrong, wrong, wrong,” Miller said.
“I’ve served with both of these men in the race. And there’s no question in my mind which one is best to serve our state and our country,” he said.
4:58 p.m.: A number of heavyweights have climbed to the stage — foremost among them former U.S. senator and governor Zell Miller. Public Service Commission candidate Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, also in a runoff, is on the stage.
Gov. Sonny Perdue is not here — he’s at the Republican Governors Association in Miami. U.S. Rep. Tom Price has joined Westmoreland here. U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, over from South Carolina, is here as well. Big ally of McCain in D.C.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson named as being here as well. But darned if I can see them.
4:30 p.m.: Authorities at Cobb Energy Center have already closed the ballroom doors on the 5:30 p.m. event, and an overflow crowd is already spilling into the hallway. There’s a 1,500-person limit to the room.
Very crowded, and hardly enough room to move. Reporters very much a presence — TV cameras number 18. But no one dares move, for fear of losing his seat.
Alec Poitevint, who was the McCain chairman in Georgia, just brushed by — and said this event for Saxby Chambliss, the Republican incumbent, would be larger then the final McCain event held in the same spot last February. And he’s right.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle is here. So is U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland. Many suits here — a rush-hour crowd on their way home to Cobb County.
Big emphasis here on absentee voting. Many volunteers out front, filling out applications.
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Dear journalist: The reality you just witnessed may have been slightly enhanced for artistic purposes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People do talk about reporters behind their back. This shout-out from Jodie Cobb of the DeKalb County Democratic party was making the rounds Wednesday afternoon:
The New York Times will be at the Obama Campaign’s Decatur office this evening at 6:30 to do a story on US! The great volunteers and our effort to get Jim Martin elected.
Donna Edler at the Campaign for Change has asked me to get as many people as possible down to their office by 6:00pm today (Wednesday) so we can show the world that Georgia is the most important political place on earth right now!! Please bring your cell phones and chargers.
Republicans know this, too — that extras are often required to make a scene work.
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Did Nunn school CBS’ Couric for her Palin interview?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At an off-the-record tech conference in New York, CBS’ Katie Couric reportedly said that former Georgia senator Sam Nunn helped her prepare for her interview with Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee.
Can’t find the original posting at Portfolio.com, but this appeared on Media Memo:
Couric shed some light on her preparation for the interviews: Beforehand, she sought advice from former senator Sam Nunn and Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haas. They told her to draw Palin out on her geopolitical worldview and urged her to let the governor speak at length without interrupting her. Maybe she should bring them along with her when she takes over at Meet the Press?”
Nunn was an outspoken Obama supporter at the time. Haas’ political affiliation is harder to pin down, but as I recall, during the GOP primary, Mike Huckabee at one point cited Haas as someone he consulted with on foreign policy.
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Georgia NAACP says Obama’s election has resulted in ‘acts of intimidation and retaliation’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia NAACP has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. press conference in downtown Atlanta today to discuss “acts of intimidation and retaliation” rising out of the election of President-elect Barack Obama.
According to a news release:
— African-American parents are reporting that their kids - from elementary to high school -are being verbally and physically harassed by their white classmates while their teachers turn the other way.
— Teachers and principals have told students that they cannot in any way discuss President-elect Obama and the election or they will face disciplinary action, even though prior to Nov. 4, teachers held regular class discussions on the upcoming election.
— At the workplace, employees are being ordered by their employers not to mention the name Obama or the election.
— One worker was told to move her car out of the company parking lot because she had an Obama bumper sticker on her vehicle.
— Both African-American students and employees are reporting that they’re receiving all kinds of slights, cold shoulders, and uncomfortable stares from their white classmates and colleagues.
Daryl Graham, spokesman for the state NAACP, said the press conference would feature an east Cobb County family whose daughter attends Walton High School. “The day after, there was a chill in the building,” Graham said.
By way of background, in a mock election, 549 students at Walton chose Obama by 53 percent.
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ICYMI: ‘Don’t preach,’ says Perdue; and Broun says to pay no attention to that voice of regret
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From elsewhere on ajc.com today:
— At the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, Gov. Sonny Perdue stirred some up the water war with his host state on Wednesday, declaring that Florida has no moral high ground when it comes to environmental policy:
In Georgia, Perdue said, “You have a … pristine undeveloped coastline with marshes there that people love to look out on. And then I come to Florida and I see the developed coastline all the way around from Jacksonville all the way up to Tallahassee, I really wonder how we can be preached at as Georgians over environmentalism and water.”
— U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens) has decided that regrets his statement of regret more than his characterization of President-elect Barack Obama as a “Marxist” who must be watched lest he set up something like a geheime Staatspolizei.
On Tuesday, in a recorded interview with talk show host Austin Rhodes on WGAC in Augusta, Broun had expressed second thoughts about his phrasing.
“I regret saying it that way. Yes, I do. I apologize to anybody that’s taken offense at that,” Broun said.
But on Wednesday, Jessica Morris, a spokeswoman for Broun, told my Washington colleague Julia Malone that the statement was inoperative — or Broun was insincere. One or the other. It’s hard to say which.
“We have not issued any official apology,” Morris said. “What he said in the [radio] interview does not negate what he really feels — that he has questions and concerns regarding some of the statements Obama has made.”
Broun worries about a July speech by Obama in which the Democratic candidate said:
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
The Obama transition team has said Obama was referring to a proposal for a civilian reserve corps that could handle postwar reconstruction efforts such as rebuilding infrastructure.
As a matter of fact, this has already been accomplished, Malone writes:
The “Civilian Response Corps,” as it is called, was launched two years ago by the Bush administration, after a bipartisan vote by Congress and the urging of Republicans including former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
“I think the attention to this issue is very important,” said John E. Herbst, the former ambassador to Ukraine who is leading the project.
The civilian corps is now recruiting engineers, law enforcement personnel, health officers, city administrators and other specialists who could be sent overseas to help re-establish local governmental controls after a crisis.
“The impetus was some of the problems we encountered in Afghanistan and Iraq on the civilian side,” Herbst said. “Our military performed brilliantly,” he said, adding that the troops needed the skills and assistance of civilians to help re-establish order.
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The Democrat now leads in Alaska’s senate race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Perhaps the biggest news in Georgia this morning comes out of Alaska, where in that state’s U.S. Senate race Democrat Mark Begich now leads Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens by 814 votes.
Check for yourself here. A victory there would put Democrats at the 58-seat mark, and would likely increase the emphasis both sides put on winning the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia.
You saw in a post last night that Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss was prepared to expel Stevens, who was convicted last month on seven felony counts, but still hopes the long-time Alaskan senator would pull this race out — and give the GOP a chance to rebound in a special election.
A couple leftovers from Wednesday’s press conference with Chambliss and John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee:
— Republicans are very aware of a Barack Obama-driven surge of volunteers moving into Georgia on behalf of Martin, and want to give every impression of matching them on the ground.
“We have 10 regional offices that we have expanded from their original number of people. We also have a number of others - grassroots organizations and offices throughout the state,” Chambliss said.
— Both Chambliss and Martin on Wednesday expressed skepticism about the extension of federal bailout privileges to the U.S. automotive industry. Martin, who enjoys union backing, was more open to the idea, but neither ruled it out entirely.
Said Chambliss:
”I’m very much opposed to extending additional funding for the automotive industry - unless there is major restructuring within the automobile industry. They have got fundamental, deep-rooted problems in the automotive industry today, and they have brought their position on themselves. And it’s not a function of government to step in and give them a blank check. Money will not solve the problems within the automobile industry.”
Said Martin:
“It needs to be carefully done. We don’t want the same kind of proposal that came forward with last bailout. The automobile industry is an important part of our economy and deserves careful consideration. [It needs to be] core competitive in the world economy and creating energy efficient cars. Just giving money to executives of automobile industry doesn’t make sense.”
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