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Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Obama radio ad for Martin: ‘Turn out one more time’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President-elect Barack Obama has cut a radio ad for Democrat Jim Martin in the U.S. Senate runoff.
It’s the first direct involvement by Obama in the extra four weeks of campaigning, and foreshadows at least one TV spot that you’re likely to see soon. No word yet on where or how heavily it will play, but common sense would say that African-American stations in Atlanta will be airing it many, many times.
Two things you won’t see in the script. One is the word “Democrat.” The other is the number “60.”
Read it below:
Obama: This is Barack Obama. I want to thank everybody who turned out and voted for me in November. Together, we can get America moving again.
But the elections aren’t over. In Georgia, there’s a runoff on Tuesday, Dec. 2. And I want to urge you to turn out one more time and help elect Jim Martin to the United States Senate.
Jim supports my plan to cut middle-class taxes, make sure every American has access to affordable health care, stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, and get our economy moving again.
Jim Martin’s a man of his word. And I know he’ll do everything he can in the Senate to help me change Washington and get America moving again.
Please join me in supporting Jim Martin for the United States Senate, on Tuesday, Dec. 2. And head to the polls just one more time this year.
Martin: I’m Jim Martin, running for Senate, and I approved this message.
Narrator: Paid for by Martin for Senate.
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‘Thousands’ of union volunteers headed to Georgia for Senate runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The national AFL-CIO is sending up to 2,500 volunteers to Georgia to help Democrat Jim Martin in the U.S. Senate runoff against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
The union organization said it will have 10,000 volunteers working the state over the next two weekends. About three-quarters will be from Georgia, spokeswoman Andrea Gage said Thursday.
Richard Ray, president of the Georgia AFL-CIO, put the number of incoming volunteers in the “thousands.” He said in a telephone interview:
“Our goal is to touch every union member in the state at least six to eight to 10 times. Either by phone call, letter from their local union, letter from us, or a knock on the door. We’re pulling out all stops. This is the biggest thing that I’ve ever been involved in in Georgia. This is the biggie.
“This election is not so much now [about] who is Jim Martin and who is Saxby Chambliss. It’s about who can turn out the votes.”
Ray puts the union vote in Georgia at 325,000. Not an overwhelming number, but a low turnout on Dec. 2 could give it greater impact.
The storm of union activity is to include 550,000 work site flyers, 600,000 phone calls, 610,000 mailings, and knocks on 225,000 doors.
Retired workers from two closed auto assembly sites — the Ford plant in Hapeville and the General Motors plant in Doraville — have already given much time to Martin. They see their pensions jeopardized by Republican calls for the Detroit Three to embrace bankruptcy, Ray said.
“We have a large group of those retirees,” Ray said. “They’ve been working from the very first for Jim. I had a crew that went all around 285 and they put up signs at every exit. And they are mad at what they see not happening for them.”
Republicans are waving the union banner, too. Just not in the same way.
Chambliss posted an article today on redstate.com, arguing that his re-election was necessary to block an effort to make it easier to form unions — by filling out a card rather than by secret ballot.
Wrote Chambliss:
When Georgia voters go to cast their ballot in the December 2 runoff, no one will know who they voted for unless they feel compelled to tell someone. The same should be the case in labor union votes.
True elections are conducted with anonymity for voters. Secret ballots allow people to freely vote their conscious when selecting those who will create and enforce our laws.
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In early voting, African-American ballots still lag
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After three days of early voting in Georgia, African-American turnout continues to show signs of lagging behind the pace set in the general election.
Clearly, that has implications for the U.S. Senate runoff.
The number of total ballots nearly doubled — about 33,000 were cast Monday and Tuesday. Many counties delayed the start of early voting until Wednesday.
At the end of three days, 63,934 ballots had been cast, according to Secretary of State Karen Handel’s web site. Of those, 23 percent — 14,482 — were cast by African-Americans. In the general election, black voters delivered 34.5 percent of early votes.
That’s down from 24 percent after Tuesday.
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The near-disaster that Sonny Perdue kept to himself
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue revealed Thursday that state government was close to suffering major computers crashes, threatening lots of important data, during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Perdue told reporters, including my AJC colleague Cameron McWhirter, that he “wasn’t fully transparent with all of you” at the time because the danger was “fairly frightening.” He said the threat was one of the main reasons he put two computer outsourcing contracts out to bid last year.
On Thursday, The governor held a press conference in his Capitol office to announce he was awarding an eight-year, $873 million contract to IBM and a five-year, $346 million contract to AT&T.
Patrick Moore, who heads the Georgia Technology Authority, said the new contracts will save the state millions in part because the state will reduce the number of state computer servers from about 2,700 now to about 1,600.
Ninety-two GTA workers will lose their jobs. The two companies were sole bidders for the contracts. Perdue had scrapped a similar deal in 2003 when only one company bid. This time, Perdue said, the state had done more homework about what he needed so he felt better about awarding these contracts.
“We weren’t going to be a patsy consumer,” he said.
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Atlanta Press Club cancels U.S. Senate debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few minutes ago, the Atlanta Press Club officially canceled its plans for hosting U.S. Senate runoff debate for Sunday, executive director Lauri Straus said.
Neither Democrat Jim Martin nor Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss would commit — each citing scheduling conflicts. Martin pointed to a visit from former Vice President Al Gore, and the Chambliss campaign said it had a fund-raiser on its calendar.
Press club debates involving two other runoffs, for Public Service Commission and the state Court of Appeals, will be held Sunday.
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The D.C. debate over whether Obama should head to Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix for the Washington Post, picks up on the debate over whether President-elect Barack Obama should head down to Georgia for the U.S. Senate runoff:
“When you’re President of the United States it pays to remember who your friends are,” said one senior Democratic operative granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president-elect. “Thinking Barack Obama has anything to risk by campaigning for Jim Martin is like most conventional wisdom — just plain wrong.”
Another Democratic Senate insider was more measured about Obama’s impact. “Obama could make a big difference with a visit, but it’s not the only way he can help,” said the source. “Fundraising or appearing in ads would be enormously beneficial to Martin as well.”
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Newt Gingrich and middle-class tax cuts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s Wall Street Journal, former House speaker Newt Gingrich says President-elect Barack Obama is right. Middle-class America needs a tax cut.
Just not Obama’s. Writes Gingrich, with Peter Ferrara of the Institute for Policy Innovation:
Mr. Obama’s tax plan includes creating or expanding nine or more federal income tax credits mostly focused on low- and moderate-income earners…
For the bottom 40% of income earners, who pay no federal income taxes on net today, these refundable income tax credits will not reduce tax liability but instead result in new checks from the federal government for the targeted social purposes. That’s not a tax cut. It’s welfare.
Instead, says Gingrich:
For a real middle-class tax cut, we should cut the 25% income tax rate that now applies to single workers earning $32,550 to $78,850, and married couples earning $65,100 to $131,450. We should reduce that rate down to the 15% rate paid by workers below these income levels. That would, in effect, establish a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 90% of American workers.
The former Georgia congressman concedes that a reduction in corporate tax rates or the capital gains tax isn’t in the cards:
Fine. Leave those rates for a future initiative. For now we should focus on the middle-income tax rates that are attractive to cut in the current political climate.
Yet another idea from the white-haired idea machine that addresses how Republicans, demoralized by November’s results, can reclaim ground by showing what they’re for — not what they’re against.
Think of this as evidence that Gingrich, despite his declarations of disinterest, shouldn’t be dismissed — not yet — from this quiet race for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee.
Three weeks ago, Gingrich let it be known that he was “available” for the job. The official Gingrich position, as of this week, is that he’s “not interested.” The unofficial line is that the two characterizations aren’t necessarily contradictory.
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Bernie Marcus: Retailers who don’t back GOP Senate fights ‘should be shot’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Internet is buzzing with some slowly breaking news that first surfaced in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
The column by Thomas Frank focused on legislation to make it easier for workers to form unions, by signing cards — “card check,” the process is called — instead of by secret ballot.
Midway through his piece, Frank focused on one of Atlanta’s own:
And hear the lamentations of the billionaires. “This is the demise of a civilization,” moaned Bernie Marcus, cofounder and former CEO of The Home Depot, during an Oct. 17 conference call about card check. “This is how a civilization disappears. I’m sitting here as an elder statesman, and I’m watching this happen, and I don’t believe it.”
Mr. Marcus sketched out the doomsday scenario for his listeners, with unions going after what he called the “low hanging fruit” and proceeding to organize workers in industry after industry. He had taken it upon himself to notify the nation’s CEOs of the danger, but they were not yet grabbing their guns. “This is as important as anything that’s ever happened to these companies. And they’re not reacting, and they’re not fighting. The old time fighters are gone.”
But in the class war, as in the real deal, there are always ways of motivating the yellow. “If a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys,” Mr. Marcus said, apparently referring to Republican senators facing tough re-election fights, then those retailers “should be shot; should be thrown out of their [expletive deleted] jobs.”
The expletive appears in its original form in the WSJ. It is a commonly expressed plea for the Almighty to deliver an individual to the gates of Hell, although it is often applied to inanimate objects.
We’re presuming that Marcus has maxxed out in his contributions to Saxby Chambliss.
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Sugar executive defends Chambliss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is in today’s Savannah Morning News:
Imperial Sugar Co. CEO John Sheptor defended the conduct of Saxby Chambliss on Wednesday, saying the U.S. senator from Georgia has “behaved appropriately with character and integrity at all times.”
The comments came after Imperial Sugar executives and workers broke ground on a new packaging warehouse at the Port Wentworth plant, damaged in the Feb. 7 explosions and fire that killed 14 workers and injured scores more.
Chambliss, a Republican in the midst of a re-election campaign against Democrat Jim Martin, is resisting an order to give evidence in a lawsuit by families of victims killed or hurt in the refinery disaster.
Savannah attorney Mark Tate, who issued the subpoena, has said Chambliss tried to talk some of Tate’s clients out of suing Imperial Sugar in the months that followed the tragedy.
Chambliss has said he is not only immune from such demands to testify, he is prohibited — a contention that Tate and others have challenged.
Chambliss supporters say the demand for the senator’s testimony is politically driven. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has made an issue of Chambliss’ treatment of a whistle-blower at a July hearing that examined the causes of the refinery explosion.
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Cagle joins Oxendine, shuts down 2010 fund-raising for governor ‘til Senate runoff ends
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has joined state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine in putting his fund-raising for a 2010 run for governor on hold until the U.S. Senate race has left the room.
In a letter to supporters, Cagle sought to make a virtue of the reality that Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss is soaking up every dime he can from GOP financial sources for the Dec. 2 runoff with Democrat Jim Martin.
The Democratic attempt to reach a 60-seat majority in the U.S. Senate eclipses all other concerns, Cagle wrote:
With this in mind, I have made the difficult decision to cancel our major 2008 fundraiser which was planned for December 2.
There is no doubt this step will have a significant impact on the funds we are able to raise. While this will leave us a great deal of ground to cover, I believe that with your help we can close the gap quickly.
In the meantime, I will be focusing a great deal of time and energy turning out Republican and independent voters for my good friend Saxby Chambliss.
Oxendine, who is also making a GOP run for governor, made the same call two weeks ago, and invited Cagle to join him.
Cagle’s letter can be found in its entirety on the jump.
Friends,
First, let me thank you for your strong support of our exploratory effort to build the resources it will take to win an extremely costly and competitive run for Governor beginning next year. Support from around the state continues to be very encouraging, and I am excited about what the future holds in store.
However, we are faced with a present day challenge that I wanted to address directly with you. As you know, U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss is locked in a runoff battle with former State Representative Jim Martin for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat. This election will be decided on December 2, 2008.
This election is clearly important to Georgia. However, it’s really about much, much more than that. As Democrats consolidate control of the House of Representatives and the White House, there is virtually no limit on what they can pass unless we hold the line in the U.S. Senate. That line exists at 57-60 votes, depending on how many Republicans join with the Democrats on a given issue. Typically the number of moderates who cross party lines is one or two. The Democrats currently have 57 seats, with two other seats still in play in other states. If they add Georgia to the list, they have a reliable 60 vote margin to shut down debate on most issues. With this, they will ram through broad union organizing expansions, socialized health care, and tax increases, as well as surrendering in the war against terrorism and packing the federal judiciary with activist judges. This kind of unchecked liberal agenda is a disaster America can’t afford.
With this in mind, I have made the difficult decision to cancel our major 2008 fundraiser which was planned for December 2. There is no doubt this step will have a significant impact on the funds we are able to raise. While this will leave us a great deal of ground to cover, I believe that with your help we can close the gap quickly. In the meantime, I will be focusing a great deal of time and energy turning out Republican and independent voters for my good friend Saxby Chambliss. I strongly urge you to do everything within your power to accomplish the same goal. America is watching Georgia right now, and the stakes could not be any higher. We must win, and if we all focus and work as a team, we can do it. As always, thanks for your support and please don’t hesitate to contact me or my staff if we can provide any additional information. We will be in touch as we reschedule this event for next year.
Sincerely,
Casey Cagle
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House members scold Pentagon for failing to spend enough — on the F-22
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The made-in-Marietta, radar-evading F-22 could become one of first big fights between Congress and the Obama administration, if a hearing held Wednesday on Capitol Hill is any measure.
Members of a House subcommittee tore into a Pentagon weapons buyer for failing to spend $90 million on the stealth fighter, as Congress had directed. The buyer said he wanted to wait and see what the new administration might want.
On the bright side, it looks like the battle will be a bipartisan one. This from the Air Force Times:
Undersecretary of Defense John Young was warned that the 2009 Defense Authorization Act “is not negotiable. You will obey what the bill says. That holds for the Pentagon and the secretary of defense,” scolded Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, during a hearing of the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee.
“You are acting in defiance of the law and the intent of Congress,” lectured Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga. “Is it up to you to decide which laws you will follow and which you will flout?”
…. After 150 minutes of hectoring Young, Gingrey conceded that he was uncertain how Congress could make the Defense Department comply.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Do you call the Justice Department? I don’t know.”
Congressional aides seemed to know the answer: As a practical matter, Congress can do nothing.
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Young climbs aboard AFRICOM effort
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young has lined up behind the lobbying effort to bring the U.S. military’s new Africa command center to a location near you.
Because Pentagon officials have been unable to secure a spot on the actual continent, Georgia has become one of several states trying to nab it — and the 1,300 or so employees it would bring.
This from Global Atlanta:
Military personnel “would love to come to Atlanta,” Mr. Young said. “Right now they’re in Stuttgart and they don’t speak the language. They’re strangers. They’d come here and they’d find friends, they’d be right at home.”
He does not view AFRICOM in the traditional military sense but rather as a coordinator of peacekeeping and trainer of urban law officers.
“We know how to train police officers to relate to the community,” Mr. Young said, relating his own experiences as mayor of Atlanta.
In a wide-ranging interview on Africa, Mr. Young said “17,000 United Nations forces just aren’t enough” to control the fighting between militia groups and government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Congo is larger than Europe,” he said.
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