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Monday, November 24, 2008
The Obama robo-call
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Democratic campaign of U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin on Monday evening released a robo-call from President-elect Barack Obama.
Listen to the automated phone call here.
It tracks very closely to the radio ad released late last week .
“Turn out one more time” is the key phrase.
Again, no party identification or reference to the cloture fight in the Senate.
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Gingrich to be a UGA law school lecturer — on judicial review
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich will become a regular — but temporary — lecturer at the University of Georgia School of law this spring.
He’ll be teaching a course on judicial review. Which should come just in time to monitor one or two U.S. Supreme Court appointments by the Obama administration.
The position is the Carl E. Sanders Political Leadership Scholar. In taking the temp position, Gingrich follows in the footsteps of former senators Max Cleland and Wyche Fowler, and most recently, Democratic political consultant Paul Begala.
Gingrich will have a little help. Randy Evans, his close friend and legal counsel, will assist with teaching the class, according to UGA.
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Freedom’s Watch won’t last much longer than Georgia Senate campaign
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Freedom’s Watch, the conservative group that purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars in TV airtime on behalf of Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss, apparently won’t last much longer than the U.S. Senate runoff on Dec. 2.
Backed by casino owner Sheldon Adelson, Freedom’s Watch “is pretty much kaput,” reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Says the newspaper:
The group’s dozens of staffers have been paid through the end of the year. After that, Freedom’s Watch is likely to shut its doors permanently, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Technically an issue-advocacy group rather than a political campaign arm, Washington-based Freedom’s Watch spent $30 million on television and radio ads in the general election, plus an undisclosed amount on mail and phone-call campaigns.
It was active in four U.S. Senate races and about three dozen congressional races, said spokesman Ed Patru…”
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And, yes, there will be firefighters. Or something like.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now, be truthful. The moment you knew Rudy Giuliani was coming to Atlanta for Saxby Chambliss, you knew this was in the cards:
ATLANTA—U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) today announced that he and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will honor first responders at a press conference Tuesday, November 25, 2008, at 1:30 pm, at Chambliss Campaign Headquarters.
That’s at 3200 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Suite 210, for all Rudy fans.
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Two polls have Martin at 46 percent. The question is how far ahead is Chambliss?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Public Policy Polling of North Carolina published a poll this afternoon that showed Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss with a broadening lead over Democrat Jim Martin in the U.S. Senate race — 52 to 46 percent.
Within 30 minutes, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which has poured money and personnel into Martin’s bid, issued the results of its own internal poll, which showed Chambliss leading 48 to 46 percent.
“Jim Martin is well-positioned to win this campaign,” said DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller. The DSCC poll of 600 was conducted over the weekend, and has a margin of error of 4 percent. Other than the straight horse-race figures, no other stats were offered.
The PPP survey of 871 likely voters, which is non-partisan, was conducted Saturday and Sunday. Margin of error is plus-or-minus 3.3 percent.
Says PPP:
Each candidate is earning over 90% support from voters within his own party. That’s an increase from the last poll we did before the November 4th election, and an indication that those planning to turn out for the runoff may be mostly the strongest of party stalwarts.
Chambliss leads 69-29 with white voters. Even with a higher than expected black turnout for the runoff that share of the white vote would not be good enough for Martin to win- he needs to move closer to a third of it.
Martin leads with voters under 45, but Chambliss has a staggering 69-31 lead with senior citizens, and with the balance of the electorate between older and younger voters tipping in an old direction for the runoff, that makes Martin’s climb that much harder.
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Transportation to be addressed early and forcefully, Cagle promises
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said Monday that a package to fix metro Atlanta’s traffic congestion and build new roads in rural Georgia will be one of the first issues addressed when the Legislature convenes in January.
“I’m going to introduce it during the first week,” Cagle said — adding the caveat that it would require Senate and House leaders, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, to reach a near-consensus on the package beforehand.
The lieutenant governor said he thinks an agreement could be reached “within the next several weeks.”
Cagle made his remarks before speaking to a gathering of nearly 400 business and transportation leaders called together by the group Get Georgia Moving, for the purpose of building momentum in the Capitol.
On Monday, it was this gathering — not the two leftover campaigns for the U.S. Senate — that provided the biggest show of political force in the state.
The theme of the afternoon was a very pointed question: “Do We Have the Political Will?” Last year, an attempt to pass an optional sales tax for regional transportation projects failed by three votes in the Senate — after it was entangled in multi-issue negotiations between the House and Senate.
Cagle emphasized that he didn’t want to see this happen again. “There’s nothing more important than transportation to our state,” Cagle said. “The thing that is hold us back more often than not is the issue of transportation.”
Cagle said some changes had been made in what was offered last year. Two popular votes would be required — a 2010 constitutional referendum, then a local vote by the counties involved, after projects for spending have been identified.
Transportation is very closely tied to the building 2010 race for governor, and Cagle is a likely Republican candidate. “I think we need some good strong leadership in the state, particularly around transportation,” Cagle said.
Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens, who is also studying a GOP campaign for governor, was in the audience.
Passing what many will call a tax increase in the middle of a horrendous economic downturn could give some lawmakers pause — as it did last year. But Cagle framed the effort as an economic stimulus that could produce 230,000 jobs. You’re likely to hear more about that.
Neither House Speaker Glenn Richardson nor Gov. Sonny Perdue were present, but several legislative leaders, both Democratic and Republican, showed up — as did Gene Evans, commissioner of the state Department of Transportation. She emphasized that Georgia has underfunded transportation needs for the last 22 years.
UPDATE: After Cagle left, a three-man panel addressing the politics of transportation had their say — state Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna), House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) and state Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus). (State Sen. Tommy Williams of Lyons, set to become Senate president pro tem, was to have evened out the partisanship, but was held up.)
Stoner had this observation: The transportation issue in the state Capitol has thus far remained non-partisan. But it won’t stay that way forever. “The job of the majority party is to govern. If we do not solve this in the next year, it will be a big issue in the [2010] elections.”
Smith was asked if what kind of package could be expected to come out of the General Assembly this year. Smith said he didn’t like predicting the future, but raised the possibility that transportation advocates might have to accept something less than all parties involve think is necessary.
That drew an interesting response from Smyre, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus. Smyre said a proposal to permit local communities to levy a transportation sales tax is the most feasible thing to pass muster — it fell only a few votes short in the 2008 session. Anything else, Smyre said, and everyone will have to start over. From scratch.
