Paul Broun picked up the endorsement of the conservative Madison Project in the Georgia Senate race this morning, a first major tea-party seal of approval that his advisers hope will start an avalanche of conservative outside group support – and money.
So far, many of the big-name groups who weigh in on Republican primaries have stayed away from Georgia, where there is no easy “establishment vs. tea party” division and five candidates have a good shot at the runoff.
The Madison Project was the first conservative PAC to endorse U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and is currently backing Matt Bevin’s challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.
In its endorsement of Broun, the group cites his “perfect voting record” and his vote against House Speaker John Boehner. “Broun is the most reliable member when we need someone to block bad bills and even vote against the procedural motions to consider such legislation,” the group said.
The Madison Project rebuffed suggestions that Broun's nomination would open the race to Democrat Michelle Nunn – and trashed Broun's GOP opponents as weak tea:
Ironically, it is one of Broun's opponents, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), who directly echoed Todd Akin's comments. Also, while Broun is focused relentlessly on Obamacare and downsizing government, the other fellow congressman in the race, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), is constantly admitting defeat on Obamacare. Moreover, Broun's strong leadership has consistently shifted the two House members to the right, giving rise to an inside joke about Broun having "three votes" in Congress.
Broun's other major opponents, former Secretary of State of Georgia, Karen Handel and David Perdue, are trying to run as outsiders who will fix the mess of those already in Washington. But Paul Broun is more of an outsider than when he was first elected and is certainly less of a creature of the symptom of the D.C. disease than his opponents. The notion that one of these candidates would hold a candle to Broun in terms of a perfect record for their entire career, fighting the establishment, and sponsoring solid legislation pertaining to all three facets of conservatism is absurd.
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House Republican leaders on Monday night pitched a plan to vote on a debt-ceiling hike as soon as Wednesday, attaching a restoration of cuts to military pension cost-of-living increases that proved to be an unpopular piece of last year's budget deal.
At first blush, it was not a popular move with the Georgia GOP delegation. From Rep. Rob Woodall of Lawrenceville:
"That's the question that everybody ought to be asking: What in the world has happened between August of 2011 when the president and the Senate were partners with us to both raise the debt ceiling and try to solve the problem, to where folks today say: 'Hey, clean debt ceiling. There's no problem, nothing to see here.' Drives me crazy. Not our fault, but I don't know where the American people are on that."
Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton, when asked whether he would need major budget reforms to vote for any debt ceiling hike:
"I never say never, but … as a conservative, I need a solution that fixes the problem. The debt limit is a symptom of the problem. I need a solution for the underlying problem."
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County, a member of the House whip team, on rounding up the votes:
"We're talking about cutting mandatory spending. Now we cut something and now we're putting it back, you know? … It's going to need Democrats [in order to pass]. I think that's the other problem, is you don't even know where you're going to end up. We pass something over here, then you don't know what's going to come back [from the Senate]."
UPDATE 9:52 a.m.: House leaders ditched the military pensions plan due to lack of support and will try to pass a clean debt ceiling. Don't expect any Georgia Republicans on board.
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Former Gov. Sonny Perdue has stepped further into the Common Core fray, authoring an op-ed piece with Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. The two co-chaired the Common Core State Standards Initiative. A taste,from Bloomberg:
Too often, supporters of raising expectations for our students are refuting broad claims that have nothing do with why we brought together teachers, education experts and employers to develop the Common Core initiative.
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Another reason that Gov. Nathan Deal needs this sheet of ice that appears headed our way: The University of Southern California's Bedrosian Center gave him last month's "worst in governance" award.
The dishonor cited the freak January snowstorm that left "an amazing residue of dysfunction and disaster in its wake," including scenes that could have come from an "apocalyptic zombie potboiler." And then this:
"Deal did not help his cause by bizarrely claiming the storm was "unexpected" and putting off preparations even as nearby states were making arrangements, including treating the roads. Most of all, for an area that already suffers from a lack of state coordination and support, the governor's lackadaisical efforts intensified the problem."
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The state's internal review of the January response to the snowstorm is already being put to the test. But Deal is already giving quiet support to some some long-term changes in the offing. He said Monday one of those ideas involves putting a network of sensors along the highways to better track plunging temps.
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Maria Saporta of the Atlanta Business Chronicle was at Monday's meeting of the Atlanta Rotary Club, where she heard this:
"MARTA has only reached half of its potential," Parker [said]. "We are a transit system we feel is poised to do much more, to be like Washington and San Francisco, which are 100-mile transit authorities."
Parker said MARTA already has planned out its next expansion routes — going north along Georgia 400 towards Alpharetta, going along the I-20 east corridor and building a rail line to serve the Clifton Road corridor.
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