Another sign that the Donald Trump presidential campaign isn't the detailed-oriented organization that – just perhaps – it should be. From the Washington Post:
"They had a long time register, and they were unaware of the rules and they didn't register in time," Trump said. "So they feel very, very guilty. They feel very guilty. But it's fine, I mean, I understand that. I think they have to register a year in advance, and they didn't."
A year in advance? The state Board of Elections has a slightly smaller window: The new voter registration would have needed to have been filed by March 25.
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A New York Times editorial this morning opines on the conservative "hijacking" of the Election Assistance Commission, the bipartisan federal agency intended to make voting easier and more standardized. There's a significant Georgia connection, documented recently by the Associated Press:
An email provided to The Associated Press through open records requests offers a glimpse into the mindset of Brian Newby, executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, who decided — without public comment or approval from bosses — that residents of Alabama, Kansas and Georgia can no longer register to vote using a national form without providing proof of U.S. citizenship.
As a finalist for the job of executive director, Newby said in a June email to his benefactor, Kansas' Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, that he was friends with two of the commissioners at the federal agency, and told Kobach: "I think I would enter the job empowered to lead the way I want to."
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Last month, conservative matriarch Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum fame endorsed billionaire Donald Trump in the Republican presidential contest. In an email sent out last night, Schlafly, 91, confirmed that the move has prompted a revolt in her organization:
For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, some people have been working to attack me and Eagle Forum. My disappointment is compounded by the fact that these are people with whom I have worked closely in the past. I have asked them to resign from the Board immediately so that we may continue our important work.
According to the Illinois Review, the split involves both family and Ted Cruz:
"Today, the Missouri Eagle Forum Board met and voted to replace Anne Cori as member of that board. This was the final step in the process because of Ann's disloyalty to our founder of Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly," an update sent out by the group's national director Ed Martin said Thursday…
Mrs. Cori chose instead to endorse U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.
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U.S. Rep. Doug Collins and former congressman Paul Broun joined their other rivals for the north Ninth District congressional seat in a Saturday debate. A highlight of the clash, from WDUN:
"Doug, integrity matters," Broun responded. "And you just spouted out some things that were either distortions or not truths to begin with. We can't afford Doug Collins."
"It's a 'fitness-to-serve' issue," Collins said about Broun.
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We haven't seen any Georgian of any prominent standing call for Gov. Nathan Deal's impeachment following his veto of the "religious liberty" bill, but the Washington Post picked up this quote from David Lane of the conservative American Renewal Project:
Lane said evangelicals should begin an effort to impeach Deal: "That will send a signal loud and clear that we're not going to take this anymore."
Take that with a large, even back-breaking grain of salt. Proponents of religious liberty legislation don't have enough clout to bring the Legislature into special session. Safe to say: It's not happening.
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We still haven't heard from Jim Barksdale, the Democratic party-backed candidate for U.S. Senate, since he got into the race more than three weeks ago. But we now know that he still exists -- and that he's donned a new look:
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