When it comes to Common Core, former Gov. Sonny Perdue has been reluctant to talk about his baby – for he did, in fact, act as midwife to the push for higher, multi-state educational standards in public schools.
But PeachPundit's MikeHassinger has scored an interview with former Gov. Sonny Perdue on topic. The former governor's diagnosis of Common Core's problem among Republican voters: President Barack Obama touched it. Said Perdue:
His advice for his successor, Nathan Deal:
"I would urge the governor and his education administrators to hold steady and do the right thing by continuing to push for high standards, high expectations and high achievement for Georgia students -- even during an election year."
And as for those GOP candidates running against Common Core? Said Perdue:
"Sometimes political campaigns are the worst thing that can happen to good public policy."
Now, just by happenstance, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta, a candidate for U.S. Senate and rival to David Perdue, Sonny Perdue's cousin, on Thursday introduced what he calls the Educational Freedom Act. From the congresman's website:
“We can’t continue to allow the Obama Administration to strong-arm our state into accepting its one-size-fits-all education plan,” said Gingrey.
"Conditioning federal funding from the Race to the Top Fund and No Child Left Behind waivers is nothing more than a political tactic to let federal bureaucrats into schools with the intention of establishing a federal curriculum. This bill is critical to protecting the future of our children by ensuring that local educators and parents – not Washington paper-pushers – are the ones making classroom decisions."
You've got to figure that David Perdue is huddling with his advisors on how to address the obvious question that's headed his way.
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Maggie's List, a federal PAC dedicated to electing conservative women to Congress, on Thursday announced its endorsement of former secretary of state Karen Handel in the GOP race for Senate.
Maggie’s List presents itself as an alternative to the liberal Emily’s List, which has backed Democrat Michelle Nunn. But the difference is in the dough: Maggie’s List reported raising $114,000 last year. Emily’s List raised $13 million.
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Atlanta-based Rosetta Stone Communications is out with an automated poll that shows state Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, leading state Rep. Jeff Chapman, R-Brunswick, 27-14 percent in the GOP race to replace U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah. Former Newt Gingrich aide John McCallum, while doing well in fundraising, came in third with 4 percent.
The poll was conducted on February 4th, 2014. This survey included responses from 450 likely Republican Primary voters and has a margin of error of 3.5%. The survey was conducted using IVR technology and weighted for accuracy by age, gender and race.
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The rift between two gun rights groups in Georgia continues as debate over new legislation intensifies.
GeorgiaCarry.org, known for waging legal battles for gun rights, is attacking Georgia Gun Owners for being too strident in opposing new mental health standards. Actually, the term they use is "Chicken Little."
At issue are requirements for the courts to report to the feds an involuntary mental health commitment within 10 days. Laws written in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre already require this reporting, the group notes, so the new aspect is the 10-day limit.
"Is there really something terribly wrong with putting a time frame on an important issue like this?" GeorgiaCarry asks.
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One sign of a governor running for re-election: Nathan Deal and his wife will be rising early on Saturday to address north Fulton Republicans in Roswell.
On the opposite side, Matt McGrath, late of Ohio, has formally joined Jason Carter’s Democratic campaign for governor.
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We are late in pointing you to this New York Times article that explains the underpinnings of Michelle Nunn's run for the U.S. Senate and, for that matter, the gubernatorial campaign of Jason Carter. Two relevant paragraphs:
Both voter registration and mobilization efforts are at the center of the Democrats' new strategy. In Georgia, for example, the committee estimates that there are 572,000 unregistered African-American voters, and that there are more than 600,000 likely supporters of Michelle Nunn, the Democratic Senate candidate there, who voted in 2012 but not in 2010. The goal, then, is to register the African-American voters, and to target the likely Nunn voters to show up at the polls during a midterm election.
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