Deal ‘cautiously optimistic' that lead will hold

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Republican gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal said Wednesday that he is "cautiously optimistic" that when the final vote tally is in, he will be his party's choice to take on Democratic challenger Roy Barnes in November.

Making a 6 a.m. appearance on Channel 2 Action News, Deal said it's "nice to be in the lead."

With 99 percent of the votes counted, Deal holds a 0.2 percent advantage over Karen Handel. He said military votes will likely not be in until Friday. Handel declined an invitation to appear on Channel 2.

Deal said that if he is the ultimate victor in Tuesday's runoff, "I think that we will unify the Republican Party and we'll move forward."

Addressing the state's unemployment situation, Deal said, "I'm the only candidate in the race that has had a specific proposal.

"I think the best way to attack the jobs issue is to create a more favorable business climate in our state," Deal said. "I think that's the way you grow jobs."

Deal said that if named the Republican nominee for governor, he "will campaign on the issues" against Barnes. "Talk about the importance of jobs for our people, the importance of a good education system for our children. I think that's what Georgians want to hear."

Barnes, appearing a few minutes later on Channel 2, said he doesn't have a preference on a Republican challenger.

"I think this race comes down to who can put Georgians back to work and kids back to school," Barnes said.

"We know that what has been the team in the last few years has failed in that," he said. "We need to make sure that we get back to some what I call common sense, moderate leadership to make Georgia prosperous again."

"We have to have the infrastructure that is necessary to support growth and the creation of jobs," the former governor said. "If you were a business person, would you come here to this region right now, where you don't know you're going to have water in three years, and you don't know if your employees are going to get there on time because of a wreck on 285 because there is no mass transit system?"

Speaking on the water dispute with Florida and Alabama, Barnes said, "I think we'll get some relief from the court, but I wouldn't count on that as being total relief."

He said he thinks the solution is a multi-step process.

"One, you have to fix the leaks in the municipal water system," Barnes said. "Secondly, we have to have other conservation efforts. Thirdly, we have to have storage."

"This is not a source problem, this is a storage problem," he said. "We get between 50 and 60 inches of a year. We have to look at all types of storage -- reservoirs, underground, and even some abandoned places like stone quarries."

Barnes said he was proud to have run his Democratic primary campaign without negative television advertising, and hopes to continue that through November.

"I think that you can show differences without being mean," he said. "It's a Southern tradition to be civil and polite. Just because we have differences doesn't mean that we have to call each other names."