Michelle Obama to Georgia Democrats: 'You need to step up'
Our AJC colleague Janel Davis passes along the following:
At both of first lady Michelle Obama's public stops in Atlanta on Monday she dished out assignments in a no-nonsense format to rally attendees. For students at Booker T. Washington High in Southwest Atlanta, it was about college completion. For Democrats at a registration rally, it was about voter turnout.
Obama came to the rally at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center armed with statistics on how close the election could be as legacy Democrats Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter seek to upend red-state Georgia.
If Democratic voter rolls and turnout increase just 3 percent -- which amounts to 50 more voters at each precinct turning out than did in 2010 -- Nunn and Carter can be elected, the first lady said.
"These races are going to be unbelievably tight. They could be won and lost by a few thousand, even a few hundred, votes. … That's tight, too tight. But here's the good news: We have all the votes we need right now to win these races, if we get folks registered and if we got them out to vote in November, it's on us. It's on us."
Obama was also scheduled to attend a closed fundraiser for the Nunn campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee while in town. At the public rally she made the case for Democrats' policy prescriptions, from birth control to equal pay to universal pre-kindergarten.
"If you think folks who work 40-50 hours a week shouldn't have to live in poverty in the wealthiest nation on Earth, if you don't want women's bosses making decisions about their birth control, if you want your kids to have quality pre-schools and the college education they need to fulfill every last bit of their God-given potential, then you need to step up and get everyone you know out to vote this November. That's what's at stake in these elections."
A New York Times/CBS/YouGov.com poll of battleground states out Monday shows Nunn's foe, Republican David Perdue, ahead in the U.S. Senate race 47 percent to 41 percent -- though it estimated African-American turnout to be well below 2010 levels. Polls have shown the race between Carter and Gov. Nathan Deal to be extremely tight.
“We share a vision for Georgia’s future and we know that Georgia is ready for that future,” Carter told the crowd. “Georgia is ready to put our kids first every year, not just in an election year.”
Nunn, too, pushed the turnout talk, encouraging attendees to carry voter registration cards around in their purses and to the grocery store to register new voters. “We have a chance to make history,” she said.
