Gov. Nathan Deal got some star power at a rally in his hometown of Gainesville, while Democrat Jason Carter swung through south Georgia with a promise he would look out for rural Georgia and invest more in public education.
An upbeat Deal appeared with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at Gainesville's Civic Center, saying he was confident he could fend off Carter, an Atlanta state senator, and avoid a December runoff. He warned that Carter's pledge to expand Medicaid and boost education would force him to raise taxes - a notion that Carter has rejected.
"When you make promises you can't fulfill, the only way you can make up the difference is to raise your taxes," said Deal. "And I will not do that. I will never do that."
Carter's weekend swing took him to south Georgia - and south of the state line - to rally rural voters and fire up Georgia football fans in Jacksonville who came to watch the grudge match against Florida. Our AJC colleague Jeremy Redmon was there with him on the trip.
“It matters to me to be outside Atlanta,” Carter told more than two dozen supporters gathered in front of Vidalia’s City Hall. “I have no intention of being the governor of Atlanta. I will be the governor of the whole state of Georgia.”
“Agriculture and a lot of other things -- rural schools – have just been left out in the discussion in Atlanta in a lot of ways,” he continued. “You have guys up there who think peanuts grow on trees. We have to do a better job in this state.”
The campaigns are burning through much of the rest of their campaign cash in the final push. Deal has raised $15.3 million in his re-election bid and is spending all but a few hundred thousand dollars earmarked for a runoff. Carter has raised $8 million and has spent $7.8 million.
Voters at the rallies are hopeful for their candidates - and jubilant Election Day is near. Wright Gres, a Baxley author, said rural public schools and libraries have suffered during the Deal administration.
“Everything is aimed at the big guys,” he said. “This trickle-down economy doesn’t work. Corporations are doing better than ever, but it is not trickling down.”
In Gainesville, where Deal ended a six-day bus tour that traversed the state, more than 250 people turned out to cheer the GOP ticket.
"I want to support the GOP," said Ken Duvall, a GOP activist from Gainesville. "If you believe the polls, it's a close race. But I don't believe the polls. He'll win big."
Christie told voters that Georgia doesn't need another Carter in higher office, a reference to former President Jimmy Carter, the Democrat's grandfather.
"Everyone's going to be watching Georgia on Tuesday night," he said. "Are you ready?"
Carter, for his part, said he was "shocked" that Deal would bring in Christie these final days.
"I think this is the first time in the history of Georgia that anybody running for governor in Georgia thought that we wanted New Jersey politics here," Carter told Redmon.
Christie did, however, say something that even the most partisan voters can agree upon: He was sick of all the political ads.
"We need to vote on Tuesday," he said. "Please help us get these commercials off the air."
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