We are entering the scorched-earth period of the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate – perhaps in honor of the 150th anniversary of this modern style of warfare.
Jack Kingston is celebrating by grabbing every endorsement in sight, starving rival David Perdue of support. Today it's state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, recently ousted from the 11th District congressional congress. Like his predecessors, Lindsey goes with the "stranger danger" motiff:
"Jack Kingston is not a "David-come-lately" in the fight to advance Republicans and Conservatives in Georgia. He helped build the modern Republican Party in our state. He was part of the Republican Revolution in the 1990's that stood up to President Clinton, balanced the federal budget, and reformed welfare."
In his own way, David Perdue is burning bridges, too.
Consider the press release his campaign sent out about an hour ago, in its attempt to brand Kingston, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, as “king of earmarks” and congressional spending.
The Perdue campaign includes this bit of history:
From 2008-2010, earmark requests were assigned to a sponsor prior to the all-out ban. During those years, Jack Kingston made more earmark requests than any Georgia congressman, Democrat or Republican. Among Georgia Republicans, Kingston requested nearly twice as many earmarks (in both quantity and value) as the other six Republicans combined.
But then Perdue forces go further. The campaign names names in this chart:
U.S. Reps. Tom Price of Roswell and Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County are safe GOP districts. But so far as we know, Georgia’s Republican incumbent has a Democratic opponent in November, and may not appreciate someone hanging out an inconvenient bit of data in public view.
About the Author
