(Sorry for the delay. Massive technical issues.)
As at least three Republican presidential contenders gather in Athens this weekend, National Journal is spotlighting Georgia's rising role in the nomination process.
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Georgia might be a little more in the mix, but the Democratic front-runner is still focused on the early states.
The Hillary Clinton campaign announced Tuesday that Clinton will visit South Carolina on May 27 for the first time since her 2016 campaign launch. From The State:
More than 2,200 South Carolinians have said they would volunteer to help Clinton, her campaign said.
Clinton is the last of the 2016 front-runners from both parties to visit South Carolina, which holds the first presidential primary in the South.
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The long-anticipated appointment of state Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, to a DeKalb County state court judgeship on Tuesday raises the current number of vacancies in the House to six.
And the number of empty chairmanships stand at three.
Jon Burns of Newington, the new House majority leader, was chairman of the House Game, Fish & Parks Committee, but will now have to give it up. That's a position that usually goes to a rural lawmaker.
Jacobs was chairman of the Legislature’s MARTA oversight committee. State Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, whose resignation will take effect on Friday, is chairman of the House Transportation Committee. Both had emerged as voices of the new GOP acceptance of commuter rail in metro Atlanta. Who replaces them will say much about where we’re headed.
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State Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, announced his resignation from his District 24 seat on Monday. Zpolitics.com reports this morning that former Forsyth County GOP chairman Ethan Underwood will run for the seat. Hamilton has endorsed him.
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Republican Catherine Bernard has become the first announced candidate for the House District 80 seat, held by the departing Mike Jacobs. Jacobs beat her in last year's primary.
Bernard is not likely to be the only candidate. Brookhaven Mayor J. Max Davis is thought to be interested in the seat as well.
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And then we have movement in other races. Georgia Voice reports that Josh Noblitt, an openly gay United Methodist minister, will run for the District 59 seat held by Democrat Margaret Kaiser. Kaiser has said she won't run for re-election in 2016. She's running for mayor of Atlanta instead. Noblitt would be the first openly gay man elected to the Legislature.
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Last night, Justin Farmer of Channel 2 Action News reported that U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson's wife, Mereda Davis Johnson, will run for Lee May's vacated seat on DeKalb County Commission.
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Speaking of U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson. He said recently that the House Republican budget, if implemented, could cause more Baltimore-like violence.
Johnson's comments to WABE-FM Radio's Denis O'Hayer last week were picked up and highlighted by conservative outlet PJ Media. The exchange:
And if you would take a ride down the streets of some of the greatly impoverished areas of Baltimore where change has not come, where things are the same as they were 50 years ago and have been allowed to grow worse, then you will understand the lack of hope of which those riots were born from."
O'Hayer: "So are you saying, when you say 'rise up like Baltimore' – let's define that a little bit ... In terms of the protests ... or in terms of the violence?"
Johnson: "No, I'm saying in terms of the violence and it's unfortunate."
O'Hayer: "You're saying that budgets like this could lead to violence?"
Johnson: "Yes, I am."
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At 2 p.m. today, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to take up the confirmation of Sally Yates, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, as Deputy Attorney General. Then the Obama administration can get down to the business of replacing her.
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The U.S. House has a couple of big votes on the docket today. One is the "pain-capable" abortion ban, which would prevent the practice after 20 weeks -- while allowing rape and incest exemptions.
Republicans were supposed to take up this issue in January but couldn't get the votes together. Now it's back.
The main problem the last time was moderates, but the bill also took heat from groups like Georgia Right to Life, which do not want any exceptions.
This has caused a rift between GRTL and new Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville. GRTL has threatened to yank its endorsement of Loudermilk, but he still says he'll support the bill. Freshman Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, plans to vote "present," which would appease GRTL.
The other biggie is on an extension of the Patriot Act. From USA Today:
But the bill's fate is uncertain in the Senate, setting up a potential stalemate between the two Republican-led chambers.
A majority of House members appear ready to approve the bipartisan USA Freedom Act, which would ban bulk collection of phone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the sweeping anti-terrorism law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The bill would renew the Patriot Act through 2019 with the changes.
Spokeswomen for Hice and Loudermilk said Tuesday that the freshmen had not made up their minds on whether to support the bill.
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