Kemp puts Georgia GOP primary on Super Tuesday

By Aaron Gould Sheinin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Republicans will pick a candidate for president on March 6, Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced Thursday.

Kemp said Georgia will join up to 15 other states on "Super Tuesday," but he is hopeful the Peach State will be the day's biggest draw, thus ensuring the major candidates all spend time here. That would be because only Texas is expected to have more delegates up for grabs than Georgia among the other states voting that day.

And, Kemp said, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP scrum for president, candidates might bypass his home state and focus on Georgia. Perry makes his first visit as a candidate to Georgia Friday.

"I’d like to formally extend an invitation to all the presidential candidates to visit our great state to discuss and debate the issues with Georgia voters just as they have done in early caucus and primary states for more than a year," Kemp said at a Capitol news conference.

Other states expected to vote March 6 include Massachusetts, where White House hopeful Mitt Romney is a former governor, as well as Virginia and Tennessee.

The Republican National Committee requires states to choose primary or caucus dates by Saturday. It also vows to penalize any state -- other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- with the loss of half its delegates to next year's national convention if it votes before March.

But several states, including Florida, have threatened to violate that rule and push the primary calendar into January. Kemp said Georgia considered joining them.

Ultimately, he said, "there wasn't the will with the [Republican] leadership in the state to break the rules."

The RNC, Kemp said, has assured him the penalties against rule-breakers will be enforced. If they aren't, he said, "there will be hell to pay, if you will, in four years."

Kemp said Florida's decision to break the rules -- that state is expected to make a final decision Friday -- could help Georgia. Candidates will fight hard for Florida, but could only win about 50 delegates, half of the state's normal allotment, thanks to the RNC penalties. That would lead directly to Super Tuesday and to Georgia, which will have 76 delegates.

The candidates will "have an opportunity to come to Georgia, play in our state, work hard, campaign hard, spend money here and pick up delegates on Super Tuesday," he said.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Press Club is doing its part to bring all the candidates here at once.

"We’re looking into the possibility of holding a Republican presidential primary debate in Atlanta before Super Tuesday,” said Lauri Strauss, executive director of the club. “We’ve been putting the feelers out for a national broadcast partner.”

Strauss said the club has already had conversations with Atlanta-based CNN and Fox News. Strauss also said she and others have been consulting with Kemp, Gov. Nathan Deal and state GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart.

Last week the press club announced Charlie Loudermilk, founder of Aaron’s Inc., had pledged $1 million over four years (in $250,000 increments) to permanently endow the club’s series of political debates during every election year in Georgia.

In honor of his close friendship with former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, the debates are to be named the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young Debate Series.

Staff writer Jim Galloway contributed to this article.