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Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Should Obama come to Georgia? No, says Brazile
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani stumped for Republican Saxby Chambliss, Democratic strategist and commentator Donna Brazile made the rounds in Atlanta for Democrat Jim Martin.
Here’s what Brazile — who managed Al Gore’s 2000 presidential bid — said an hour or so ago when asked if President-elect Barack Obama should head to Georgia to close out the U.S. Senate race:
”No. I think President-elect Obama is doing what he must do and what he needs to do — it’s to focus on his transition. He has 56 days. He has many challenges.
“While I know and understand and appreciate the desire to see President-elect Obama down in Georgia, I think strategically, he should focus on the transition.
“I’ve not gotten word from his campaign about his plans, but what I do know is that with the robo-calls, the recorded calls, with the radio spots, with former President Clinton, who came down, Vice President Gore, members of Congress and everyone else — the machine is here. He left a staff in place. This is not a skeletal operation. There’s some meat and bones on this operation.
“So I’m confident we will get the vote out.”
Two things: Brazile is pretty plugged in, so take her claim of ignorance on Obama’s itinerary with a grain of salt. Also, note that Brazile mentioned the robo-calls and the radio ads that Obama had cut for Martin. But she didn’t mention TV ads.
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A Martin response ad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Below is a new response ad just unveiled by Jim Martin, the Democrat in the U.S. Senate runoff.
The TV spot disputes accusations by Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss that Martin voted against returning a $100 million surplus to taxpayers while a state lawmaker.
Martin also reiterates his plan to assist President-elect Barack Obama rather than act as the “firewall” that Chambliss has promised. “We need a senator who’s going to improve the economy — not stand in the way,” he says in the ad.
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More on the Southern (and Republican) bloc building against Detroit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Wall Street Journal makes further inroads into the topic of political and economic conflict building between the South and Detroit over the salvation of the auto industry:
Toyota, Honda, Kia, Mitsubishi, BMW and Daimler AG — all have established auto assembly plants in the U.S. in recent years, and those plants are disproportionately situated in the low-cost, little-unionized states of the South.
That means many of those auto plants now are enriching states dominated by Republicans. Of the 11 states that have or are planning foreign-owned auto assembly plants, seven were carried by Republican Sen. John McCain in this year’s presidential campaign. An eighth state, Indiana, was carried by Mr. Obama, but has traditionally been Republican-leaning as well.
That has built a natural bond between the foreign auto makers with their highly competitive plans and pro-business Republican leaders. “The foreign auto companies are very wise in how they deal with lawmakers,” says Ron Bonjean, a Republican political consultant who was a top aide to former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
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Sarah Palin to cap off Saxby Chambliss’ campaign
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss this morning announced that Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska and the former GOP vice presidential nominee, will cap off his U.S. Senate runoff campaign with a series of Monday appearances.
Four rallies have been scheduled for Dec. 1: 8:30 a.m. in Augusta, 11 a.m. in Savannah, 1:30 p.m. in Perry, and 4 p.m. in north metro Atlanta. Details to come.
While the selection of Sarah Palin for the GOP ticket may have been poor strategy in September, it works in a runoff — when turnout of one’s base is the paramount concern.
Political analyst Charlie Cook has posted the following, via MSNBC:
Among the broad American electorate, Alaskan governor and recent Republican nominee for vice president Sarah Palin certainly seems to be damaged merchandise.
In a Nov. 7-9 Gallup Poll of 1,010 adults (margin of error +/- 3 percent), 45 percent of Americans agreed they would “personally like to see Sarah Palin be a major national political figure for many years to come” — but 52 percent said they would not like to see that happen. In the pre-Election Day Gallup poll testing Palin, she had a 42 percent favorable rating but a 49 percent unfavorable. In the newer, post-election study, her favorable was 48 percent and unfavorable 47 percent among all Americans.
But, and there is usually a but to such things, 76 percent of Republicans would like to see her a major figure in the future, and she had a whopping 83 percent favorable among them, compared with just a 13 percent unfavorable rating.
Cook goes on the tackle the topic of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and race, which is worth reading. But he but adds this about Palin:
But the Palin question is a different one. Even since some of these surveys were conducted, the Alaskan chief executive has begun a concerted effort to repair image problems from the campaign. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but Republicans have to wonder whether they are going to start off with a frontrunner for the GOP nomination who, at least at first blush, looks unbeatable for the nomination and unelectable in a general election.
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A Chambliss strategist on Martin: ‘My dog could have been on the ballot’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know how a coach will scour the sports page for trash talk by the opposition, something he can post on the locker room bulletin board to get his squad riled up?
As a kind of Thanksgiving gift, the Republican campaign of Saxby Chambliss has thoughtfully provided the following assessment of the U.S. Senate runoff and the Democratic opposition, courtesy of Politico:
But what keeps Chambliss operatives up at night is that the runoff — with its emphasis on turnout — has little to do with either candidate’s performance and more to do with their own efforts to rally the base.
“My dog could have been on the ballot and would be in exactly the same position Jim Martin is today,” said Tom Perdue, Chambliss’ longtime political consultant. “Martin was the beneficiary of an Obama wave that swept the country. As a person, as a candidate, he’s the most insignificant opponent in all my 30 years of politics. Nobody knows who he is.”
Update: Martin spokesman Matt Canter in turn offered something for the Chambliss bulletin board:
“Saxby Chambliss spent 6 years stockpiling $13 million from special interests only to waste nearly every dime of it during the general election. I’m sure Tom Perdue’s dog could have also done a better job managing Saxby Chambliss’ campaign. In fact, Perdue’s dog is probably better qualified to fix this economy than Saxby Chambliss.”
Several Democrats have piped up with reminders that Perdue contributed $2,000 to Martin’s 2006 campaign for lieutenant governor.
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A TV ad for Sarah Palin, four years ahead of its time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first TV ad of the 2012 presidential campaign has hit the airwaves. This from the Anchorage Daily News:
A California-based conservative group that hammered Democratic Sen. Barack Obama during the presidential election is launching a string of commercials this week praising Gov. Sarah Palin.
The group calls itself Our Country Deserves Better, and the ad is designed to counter what it calls attacks by “media elites” on Palin. The group is small, and so is the buy — about $50,000. The ad began airing in Alaska on Monday. You might see it on national cable, but this is likely your best chance.
Says the newspaper:
The Our Country Deserves Better Committee made headlines during the campaign for airing footage of Obama’s controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and holding a multi-state “Stop Obama” bus tour.
The group’s chairman is Howard Kaloogian, a Republican who served in the California State Assembly from 1994 to 2000. Together with [chief strategist Sal] Russo, he worked on the successful 2003 effort to recall Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis.
