It’s unanimous.

If they had to choose, every major GOP candidate in next year’s U.S. Senate race would be siding with the filibustering Ted Cruz of Texas, pushing Congress toward a choice between a federal shutdown and the de-funding of Obamacare.

In other words, they would be voting opposite Georgia's current Senate team of Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson.

U.S. Reps. Jack Kingston of Savannah, Phil Gingrey of Marietta, Paul Broun of Athens, and former secretary of state Karen Handel have all weighed in.

But until this morning, former Dollar General CEO David Perdue hadn’t been heard on the topic. A 9 a.m. phone call settled the matter.

“This is why I got into the race. Financial irresponsibility on both sides is what drew me in,” said Perdue, who initially sounded like a non-aligned party to the “defund-or-bust” debate.

“Frankly, I don’t see a lot of innocent faces in Washington right now,” said Gov. Sonny Perdue’s first cousin. Neither did David Perdue appreciate having to weigh in on a problem that he had no part in creating. Had he been in office, it would have been addressed this spring, or two years ago during the first major debt-ceiling confrontation, Perdue said.

“We keep moving around from one topic to another, without addressing the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” he said. As a businessman, Perdue said he was appalled by the damage done by Washington. “The rhetoric right now does not bode well for the economy,” he said.

And yet, when push came to shove, Perdue said this: “I would definitely not vote for cloture at this time.”

In other words, Perdue would not vote to move for Senate passage of the GOP-House bill to defund Obamacare and keep the federal government funded through December. Senate Democrats intend to strip the "defund Obamacare" portion of the measure and pass it back to the House, setting up the shutdown confrontation.

***

Georgia Pundit points us to this Facebook page posting from U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson:

Since Obamacare became law, I have voted nearly 60 times to kill, repeal, dismantle and defund it. In keeping with my consistent and strong opposition to Obamacare, I will vote tomorrow for cloture on the Motion to Proceed to the House-passed bill that defunds Obamacare. I will also vote against any attempt by Senate Democrats to restore Obamacare funding to this bill.

A vote to block the House-passed bill that defunds Obamacare would essentially be a vote in favor of Obamacare. I will not vote in favor of Obamacare. Furthermore, the Democrats designed Obamacare in a way that allows its funding to continue even if the rest of the government shuts down, so the effect of a shutdown would be to allow Obamacare to go forward while hurting seniors, veterans and our military. To that end, I do not support shutting down the entire federal government.

***

We told you last week about an attempt by Andrew Hemmingway, who was the New Hampshire director in Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign, to push the former House speaker into a 2014 U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent John Warner.

Gingrich quickly declared himself uninterested. But that hasn’t been enough. On Monday, his law firm passed us a cease-and-desist letter that includes these paragraphs:

[A]s both Speaker Gingrich and Gingrich Productions, Inc., have made very clear, Speaker Gingrich is a new host of CNN’s Crossfire. He is not running for United States Senate and will not run for Senate at any time in the future. For this reason, Speaker Gingrich encourages supporters to ignore solicitations from any group seeking to raise funds in the name of a “Draft Newt” movement.

Accordingly, we hereby demand that you cease and desist from the unauthorized use of Speaker Gingrich’s name or likeness and that you further cease and desist from any activity involving or insinuating that your group is in any way authorized or affiliated with Speaker Gingrich or his organizations.

Note the Shermanesque style of Gingrich’s denial of future political ambition.  But we suspect that – given that the Gingrich presidential campaign is still saddled with debt – there was also legitimate concern that such a campaign would harm the valuable Gingrich trademark.

***

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, sends word that he'll be meeting today with U.S. House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and state transportation officials at Georgia Tech. A presser is at 3 p.m.

***

The AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at this statement from U.S. Senate candidate Karen Handel: "Unlike you and me, Congress gets to keep up to $11,000 a year in taxpayer subsidies" under Obamacare.

***

The boys and girls over at PeachPundit.com are attempting something wholly new and refreshing that could have major, even national implications: A rational discussion of “stand-your-ground” laws in Georgia and several other states.

The post by state Rep. LaDawn Jones, D- Atlanta, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, includes these paragraphs:

“There are reasonable changes that can be made to Stand Your Ground that would bring it more closely in line with our values and vision for society. We should start with creating better, clearer definitions of the terms within the Stand Your Ground law.  Who is an assailant?  An aggressor?  What do we mean when we refer to ‘imminent’ danger?  What is required for a person to retreat from an altercation?

“Legislatively created definitions of these terms would result in more uniform and better decisions by the entire criminal justice process including the police, the prosecutor, the judge and the jury when Stand Your Ground is at issue in a case.  Clarity is the answer because the criminal defendant, victim, and those that make up the criminal justice system have one thing in common, they are all human and subject to their own perspectives.

***

The second phase of that Mobile, Ala.-based congressional contest will feature a GOP businessman and a grassroots tea-party hero. From the Associated Press:

MONTGOMERY, Ala.  — The Republican contest in Alabama's 1st Congressional District is headed to a runoff Nov. 5 between former two-year college chancellor Bradley Byrne of Fairhope and Orange Beach businessman Dean Young.

The runoff for the open seat in southwest Alabama will be a classic GOP battle. The better-funded Byrne has strong ties to Alabama business leaders and the Republican establishment while Young is a tea party favorite and longtime ally of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

In complete but unofficial returns Tuesday night, Byrne got nearly 35 percent of the vote, followed by Young with 23 percent….

Real estate agent Burton Leflore of Mobile won the Democratic primary, capturing 70 percent of the vote against Lula Albert-Kaigler. LeFlore advances to the general election Dec. 17, but Republicans have won the southwest Alabama district since 1964.

Byrne, 58, led the GOP primary race in fundraising, drawing heavily from business interests. "I'm always happy to be the candidate of business people," he said Tuesday night at a campaign celebration.

Byrne also entered the race with more name recognition, having served on the state school board and in the state Senate prior to becoming junior college chancellor. He left that post to run for governor, finishing second in the 2010 Republican primary.

Byrne said the major difference between this election and 2010 is he didn't have the state teachers' organization, the Alabama Education Association, running attack ads against him. "That's the No. 1 thing," he said.

Young, 49, ran second in a four-way Republican primary for the congressional seat in 2012. This time, he played up his outsider status, including campaigning in a National Rifle Association cap, and helped finance his own campaign. He told voters the country needs to change to a more godly direction or it is going to fall.

"You've got the establishment candidate in Bradley Byrne versus the true constitutional conservative. It's a clear choice," Young said Tuesday night.