Having delivered the same message in Georgia, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is making the rounds with national media arguing that Democrats would've done better in November had they tied themselves more closely to President Barack Obama.
Here's what he told Politico in a piece published over the weekend:
It jars with the advice of other Democrats in the same story.
Mike Beebe, the outgoing Democratic governor of Arkansas, told Politico "most" of his party's struggles there could be traced to the president. He added that "it'll help" when his presidency is over, but that "it'll take more than that" to rebuild.
Others went a step further, invoking Obama's unpopularity with Southern white voters:
"The No. 1 thing to be competitive in the South is to have Barack Obama not be president anymore," said North Carolina pollster Tom Jensen, who runs the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. "It's just a simple reality that Southern whites really, really despise him in a way they have not despised any other president."
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The Atlanta mayor may soon have an ally making his case in a bid to lead the Democratic Party of Georgia. Democratic consultant Tharon Johnson, a former Obama strategist and a protégé of Reed, took another step toward challenging current chairman DuBose Porter of Dublin on Friday.
On GPB's "Political Rewind" show, Johnson said he was interested in mounting a challenge for the job:
"I'm seriously considering it, and the reason is…because of the outpouring of support, through emails and calls – and even Republicans via Twitter, calling me 'Mr. Chairman.'"
That latter barb was aimed at Eric Tanenblatt, Johnson's colleague at McKenna, Long & Aldridge and a Republican consultant, who has been egging him on. One more word from Johnson:
"But it's bigger than who's going to lead the party. It's more about who really has the ideas, the energy and the track record of, basically, winning in this state."
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Atlanta-area Democratic U.S. Reps. John Lewis and Hank Johnson told The Hill newspaper that the families of Eric Garner and Michael Brown should be invited to the State of the Union Address:
"I think that would be appropriate and fitting," Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a civil rights icon, said Thursday. "It would help educate and sensitize other members and humanize some of the issues that we're going to confront."
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A second "Ferguson forum" will be held at 6 p.m. this evening at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The previous one, held one week ago, featured U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
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State lawmakers are in Athens today for the second of a three-day pre-legislative gathering. The highlight will be a Tuesday address down the road at a chamber-backed summit by Gov. Nathan Deal on the topic of transportation.
Another possible topic: One GOP lawmaker would like to see a vast majority of the General Assembly go back home and try to earn a living. From PeachPundit.com:
Caldwell, who is about to begin his second term, proposed this constitutional amendment just before the 2013-2014 session, then known as HR 5, though the House Committee on Governmental Affairs didn't move on it. The amendment was co-sponsored by state Reps. John Pezold (R-Fortson), Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs), David Stover (R-Newnan), and Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine).
The amendment "[p]rovides for [two] things," said Caldwell on Saturday evening via Twitter, "(1) Requires incumbents step aside once a decade and remember what its like to have someone else push the button for them and (2) removes the incumbency advantage once a decade, and requires a returning legislator to run against a sitting incumbent."
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Gov. Nathan Deal isn't exactly a social media expert so the Georgia College Republicans chapter imagined what the 72-year-old would be like if he signed up for Snapchat.
Click to see some of their concoctions from a "14 Snapchats from Governor Deal" post on Buzzfeed.
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U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss is making the "exit interview" rounds as he heads for the door. One of our number gave the overview this past weekend, with the news that Chambliss will join a downtown Atlanta law firm -- but will not lobby.
Another interview, with Fox News' Bret Baier, caught our eye for Chambliss' comments about the Senate Intelligence Committee's possibly forthcoming "torture report." Chambliss disagrees with the committee Democrats' conclusion that waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation methods did not succeed in eliciting actionable intelligence, but he did acknowledge that some people went too far:
"Was there abuse in the program? Sure. You tell me a federal program that has not been abused. This program for the most part was run in a very professional way."
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U.S. Rep. Tom Graves' new chief of staff will be John Donnelly, who is now the congressman's communications director and deputy chief of staff. Donnelly has worked for Graves since 2010, except for a one-year break to work for former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.
Donnelly will replace Tim Baker, who is moving over to be the chief of staff to incoming Rep. Rick Allen, R-Evans.
Another staffing move: Incoming U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, has hired as his chief of staff Rob Adkerson, who served as Loudermilk’s campaign manager. We were disappointed that the following endorsement from Loudermilk spokesman Dan McLagan arrived electronically, and was not printed on black velvet:
"Discovering Rob was like walking into the lounge of a Holiday Inn in Woodstock and finding Elvis behind the microphone. The guy is a political and policy stud."
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