If you want to know why both David Perdue and Jack Kingston see north Georgia as the key to their U.S. Senate races, just look at the drain that is south Georgia.
According to both Vox and Bloomberg, the Rust Belt doesn't have anything on us. Based on 2012-13 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia has three of the top 10 shrinking cities in the United States. All are south of I-20:
No. 1: Valdosta (-2.12 percent; current population 56,481)
No. 4: Albany (- 1.42 percent, current population 76,185)
No. 7 Macon (-1.31 percent, current population 89,981)
See the chartage here. Two of the three Georgia cities are, proportionately, shedding more people than Detroit, which came in at No. 6. (Hat tip to PeachPundit.com on this.)
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Karen Handel this morning announced she would back trucking executive Mike Collins in the 10th Congressional District GOP runoff. The U.S. Senate race also-ran, via press release:
"Mike is a conservative who does more than just talk. He actually walks the walk. Mike has an actual plan to pay down our national debt, cut wasteful spending and eliminate job-killing regulations by implementing conservative policies."
One can't help but think that the above quote is mere window dressing, and that Handel couldn't bring herself to endorse Collins' opponent, who in 2004 was quoted thusly in the Athens Banner-Herald:
''If the woman's within the authority of her husband, I don't see a problem,'' Dr. Jody Hice of the Bethlehem First Baptist church in Barrow County said of women in positions of political power.
Hice, meanwhile, is getting $4,600 worth in direct-mail help from the National Association for Gun Rights, a group that thinks the NRA compromises too much.
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The 11th District runoff between former congressman Bob Barr of Smyrna and former state senator Barry Loudermilk of Cassville is taking a decidedly geographic turn.
In a pair of Jon Gillooly profiles, Loudermilk told the Marietta Daily Journal that it may be time for U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to retire:
"[N]othing personal against Boehner. He's probably a great man, but I think we've got to have some leadership. Really, the deciding factor for me was allowing the bill to give Obama the ability to raise the debt ceiling at his will without any congressional constraints whatsoever for over a year. I think that was irresponsible. That was irresponsible for the American citizens, and so it's nothing personal, I think it's just time for rotation in the leadership."
Barr, who is benefitting from "Save Lockheed" billboards now up along I-75, warned that ticking off a U.S. House speaker is no small thing:
"[O]r do they want to take a shot in the dark and send somebody up there with no experience in that arena, and who's already basically told people I'm just going to be on my own up there. In other words, somebody that won't get anything done."
On Sunday, an MDJ endorsement of Barr emphasized local prestige factor:
We're sure that Loudermilk would do a conscientious job of representing Cobb if elected, but there are undeniable advantages to a community to having one of its own as its representative in Washington. We doubt any Cobb-based congressman would be going out of his way to make an enemy of the House Speaker with the future of Dobbins and Lockheed on the line, for example.
Bob Barr might not be a perfect candidate, but he can be counted on to work unfailingly for what's best for Cobb County and the 11th District.
Here’s the problem: In the May 20 primary, voters showed that the weight of the 11th District had shifted to the north. Combined, Bartow and Cherokee counties provided 29,138 ballots, or 51 percent. Cobb and a portion of Fulton accounted for 27,876.
Never mind the fact that Loudermilk actually outpolled Barr in Cobb in the primary.
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Here's a change-of-pace take from Chris Grant, a political science professor at Mercer University, on political experience and the GOP race for U.S. Senate between David Perdue and Jack Kingston, via Georgia Public Broadcasting:
A counterintuitive advantage that Kingston has over Perdue, Grant said, is that Kingston's use of favors to get endorsements and contributions means that he will owe supporters favors if he makes it to the Senate.
David Perdue, in contrast, is independently wealthy and is largely self-financing his campaign. "When you're a self-funded candidate, you don't necessarily owe any favors, and that can scare people," Grant said.
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Businessman David Perdue's opponents are seizing on his pick of a role model in the U.S. Senate.
The candidate, who faces U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston in the July 22 runoff, told the Marietta Daily Journal that he sees former Sen. Bill Frist as a "model U.S. senator."
Oppo researchers quickly highlighted the fact that Frist said he would have voted for Obamacare and has urged the GOP to abandon its efforts to repeal the landmark healthcare bill.
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Conservative activist Brent Bozell's ForAmerica is attacking U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue with $50,000 worth of web ads. Send us a screenshot if you catch one.
Update 10:25 a.m.: The Internet has spoken. Here's what ForAmerica is up to, via Jacob Hawkins and Mike Hassinger:
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Gov. Nathan Deal and his Democratic challenger Jason Carter traded barbs in the Opinion pages of Sunday's AJC. In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights.
Deal stuck to the familiar trope of highlighting this year's increase in K-12 funding and his championing of the charter school amendment two years back. He also hinted at his second-term priorities, including an overhaul of the education funding formula:
"A great teacher can make all the difference, and in my second term, we'll build on our efforts to measure teacher effectiveness by rewarding our best educators and keeping them in the classroom. These efforts in the long run will improve our graduation rates, which is crucial to maintaining the skilled workforce that businesses seek...."
Carter battered Deal for overseeing the "largest contraction of public education in our state's modern history" and warned that not pumping more money into school funding could endanger Georgia's economy.
He centered on his proposal to create a separate education budget aimed at creating a separate fund free from tinkering of legislators. The Atlanta state senator introduced that proposal in January; Deal called it a political gimmick. From Carter's column:
"As governor, I'll focus every day on recruiting, retaining and supporting the best possible teachers for our students. My wife Kate is a public school teacher, and I know our teachers are tired of being treated like they're the only problem instead of part of the solution. We all need to recognize that the strongest teacher workforce gives us our strongest chance to succeed...."
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First Baptist Church of Gainesville was the crossroads of Georgia's political world on Sunday morning.
Not only was Gov. Nathan Deal there to urge the religious community to get involved in the third leg of his overhaul of criminal justice in Georgia, but so were several of his key appointees, including chief of staff Chris Riley and Col. Mark McDonough, who heads the Department of Public Safety.
And standing behind Deal, in the church choir circled in blue, is a familiar face at the stat eCapitol: Harris Blackwood, head of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. We can attest he's got quite a set of pipes.
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Georgia Democratic Party Chair DuBose Porter and First Vice Chair Nikema Williams attended a Fourth of July BBQ at the White House. We know this because they marked the occasion with the time-honored tradition of a White House selfie.
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