Consider this another sign that Democrats believe Georgia may be close to turning: A group paving the way for a 2016 presidential bid by Hillary Clinton has named former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin as a senior advisor.

From the website of Ready for Hillary:

“I was honored to be an early supporter of Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential primary and help his campaign make history. And there’s so much more progress to be made for our country, including breaking the ‘glass ceiling.’ That’s a big reason why I’m ready for Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States.”

***

Washington news outlets this morning are already noting a shift in Republican focus past the current effort to defund Obamacare, which is linked to a short-term  – and to the next one. This time, it’s not U.S. Rep. Tom Graves who has his finger in the pie. From the National Journal:

Several influential conservatives, led by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, have been encouraging their House colleagues to approach the CR and debt-ceiling episodes as two fronts in the same war against Obamacare. This would afford House Republicans some flexibility to say they are attacking Obamacare from several different angles, they argue, while also helping to save face after the Senate disposes of their proposal to defund the health care law.

If Boehner can convince rank-and-file conservatives that a one-year delay of Obamacare will be the centerpiece of their debt-ceiling plan – and show them legislative text on Thursday – House aides expect a majority of members to accept defeat on their defunding effort and work quickly toward securing some smaller, health care-related concessions on the CR.

The Washington Post notes the implications:

But it would set the stage for an even more nerve-racking deadline on Oct. 17, with conservatives using the threat of the nation’s first default on its debt to force the president to accept a one-year delay of the health-care law’s mandates, taxes and benefits.

Obama administration officials dismissed the plan, vowing that there would be no delay of the insurance initiative, which is set to begin enrolling consumers Tuesday. They argued that Republicans risk destroying their own credibility among voters, who strongly disapprove of such brinkmanship regardless of their views on the Affordable Care Act.

***

Over at WGAU (1340AM) in Athens, Martha Zoller and Tim Bryant landed both of Georgia’s current U.S. senators on this morning’s show. Listen here.

Saxby Chambliss gauged the likelihood of a federal shutdown next week as “pretty realistic,”  but proclaimed himself no fan of the tactic:

“Doing something that’s going to defund or repeal Obamacare is just not going to happen. The option is to shut down the government, which I think is not a good option. It’s not that I disagree in anyway with Ted [Cruz] going down and spending all the time he did on the floor. That’s his right, and every senator should have that.

“I just think the method by which you back the administration up against the wall and say, ‘This is it. Either we’re going to defund Obamacare or we’re going to shut down the government’ – that’s just not going to work.”

Johnny Isakson likewise noted the difficult Senate mathematics for defunding of Obamacare, but said that starving the new health care system isn’t the only alternative:

“It’s not ready to be in place. The government’s not ready to enforce it….The exchanges are not really ready to open. We have a number of problems. I would predict…that within three years it will collapse under its own weight, and we’ll have to go to a new reform of health care.”

On Wednesday,our colleagues at the Cox TV Washington bureau also caught up with Isakson, who noted that he wouldn't be in D.C. if it weren't for the last federal shutdown. Which wasn't an argument for another:

“I wouldn’t be in Congress today if the government hadn’t shut down in the mid-1990s. Newt Gingrich, who was then Speaker and very powerful, led a shutdown which took place for [28] days during the Clinton administration, and finally called it off. And in the next election he couldn’t get elected Speaker so he resigned and I took his place in a special election. The public wants us to solve problems, not protract problems.”

***

Over at Fox5 Atlanta, Dale Russell has Elizabeth Murray-Obertein, the still-employed attorney for what was once called the state ethics commission, saying on-camera that her boss, Holly LeBerge, has been trying to revive an ethics complaint against 2010 Republican candidate for governor Karen Handel – which was settled by a $75 fine. Handel is now a candidate for U.S. Senate. Obertein has filed a complaint to the State Bar of Georgia, alleging that LeBerge has practiced law without a license, offering some details on the matter.

***

State School Superintendent John Barge, who is now a 2014 GOP candidate for governor, announced this morning that he has cancelled all campaign appearances and events through Saturday, due to the death of his mother.

***

In an op-ed piece posted at Reporter Newspapers, state Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, has thrown down a gauntlet to Democratic members of the DeKalb County legislative delegation: Move on a local bill to reorganize county government, or watch it handled as statewide legislation by a GOP-controlled Legislature. Just like legislation to create the city of Sandy Springs was pushed through a number of years ago.

Writes Jacob:

The power to change DeKalb’s form of government belongs to the General Assembly. In my nine years in the House of Representatives, I’ve been a consistent advocate for scrapping the CEO form of government. There are others who agree, but we don’t comprise a majority of the members of the House and Senate from DeKalb County. That has been the impediment.

Until now, that is. It should be clear to all DeKalb legislators that a majority of our constituents, from Dunwoody to Lithonia and Druid Hills to Stone Mountain, want this change to happen. The shortcomings of Burrell Ellis have placed an exclamation point on the need for change. And for the first time, we have a CEO asking us to make the change.

There is always the option to make this change through sweeping statewide legislation that abolishes DeKalb’s unique form of government. The substantive change is necessary, but I hope such a tactical move – which would be initiated by North DeKalb legislators – can be avoided.