State Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, one of the Legislature's sharpest critics of the Affordable Care Act, is ready to pick a fight over the Medicaid "experiment" contemplated by Gov. Nathan Deal. From Andy Miller at Georgia Health News:
Here's the letter in question from Attorney General Sam Olens' office:
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Inspired by the recent visit of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, one of our number-crunching friends sent us a note comparing Ohio and Georgia's record for selecting presidents.
In general elections, Ohio has the best track record of any of the largest states. Since 1948, it has voted for the winner every time except 1960, when it voted for Richard Nixon over Kennedy. John That’s 16 out of 17 times, or 94 percent.
In contrast, Georgia's track record is nearly akin to a coin flip – 53 percent. Since 1948, it has sided with the losers eight times: Adlai Stevenson (1952 and 1956), Barry Goldwater (1964), George Wallace (1968), Jimmy Carter (1980), Bob Dole (1996), John McCain (2008) and Mitt Romney (2012).
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"Some of you may remember we had a pretty vigorous campaign in 2008."
Those were some of the first words out of Hillary Clinton's mouth when she addressed a Democratic women's conference in South Carolina on Wednesday. She spent the next few minutes assuring the crowd she had Barack Obama's back once she conceded -- weeks after her double-digit loss to him.
"I went to work for him because he and I share many of the same positions about what should be done in the next presidency," Clinton said.
Her schedule, including meetings with minority business owners and speeches to black lawmakers, telegraphed her campaign's goal of trying to heal the wounds of the bitter 2008 campaign.
She may have been too focused on the last war: Missing from Clinton's return visit to South Carolina was any mention of Walter Scott, the black man whose shooting death by a police officer in April sparked protests in North Charleston. The officer was charged with murder.
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A sobering note comes this morning from Larry Sabato and his Crystal Ball: If elected, Clinton could become the first Democratic president in nearly 200 years to never control the House of Representatives while she's in office.
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On the Republican side, the field keeps growing. Wednesday was former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's launch. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Mr. Santorum spoke Wednesday in Cabot, Butler County, not far from where he grew up on the grounds of the Veterans Hospital that employed his parents. The former U.S. senator sounded themes that found resonance with the evangelical voters who had been the basis of his victories in 11 Republican nomination battles in 2012. But he also amplified the populist economic message that had fueled his first political victories.
Sounding like the candidate who decades ago won an upset in a Mon Valley congressional district in the wake of the collapse of the steel industry, he said that the economic drift of recent decades had "hollowed out" the prospects of American workers. "Somewhere along the way someone changed the rules and both political parties left them behind," he said.
This morning, former New York Gov. George Pataki joined him. From Time:
The Republican left office in 2006 after serving three terms, including during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which factor heavily into his announcement. The four-minute video features Pataki speaking directly to the camera and walking in Lower Manhattan at the World Trade Center site retelling his experiences in the months and years after the attacks. After a montage of patriotic imagery, it closes with footage of Pataki gazing at the newly rebuilt One World Trade Center building
"We need to recapture that spirit, that sense that we are one people," Pataki says. "When we do, we will stop empowering politicians and empower ourselves with the opportunities to have an unlimited, bright future."
Neither man cracks the newest national Quinnipiac poll. And remember, these things matter a lot more now to make the debate stage.
The survey shows a five-way tie with Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, Maro Rubio and Scott Walker all earning 10 percent. They are followed by Rand Paul (7 percent), Ted Cruz (6 percent), Donald Trump (5 percent), Chris Christie (4 percent), Carly Fiorina (2 percent) and John Kasich (2 percent). That would be your hypothetical debate field.
This leads us to our tweet o' the day, from Politico senior politics editor Charlie Mahtesian:
Those two governors: Pataki and Texas' Rick Perry.
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Among the advantages of bringing the Atlanta Braves to Cobb County: If you're tcommission chairman Tim Lee, former coach Bobby Cox will show up at your next Tuesday fundraiser and pose with anyone who ponies up at least $1,500 for two tickets.
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Some disturbing news out of Augusta. From the Chronicle:
For more than a year, Davis has been under investigation after postings on social media sites indicating he had been in contact with members of the Islamic State, Zunde said.
Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue weighed in on the news, via press release:
"Terrorism takes many forms. It is alarming to hear that an individual from Augusta was supporting ISIS in our own backyard. This is yet another reminder of the global security crisis we face around the world and here at home. Our federal and state law enforcement officials are on the job every single day fighting threats from ISIS and other terrorist organizations. We need to continue to make sure they have the necessary national security tools to prevent future threats as well."
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Here's a talker from the Washington Post: The number of immigrants here illegally appears to be falling:
A key — but largely overlooked — sign of these ebbing flows is the changing makeup of the undocumented population. Until recent years, illegal immigrants tended to be young men streaming across the Southern border in pursuit of work. But demographic data show that the typical illegal immigrant now is much more likely someone who is 35 or older and has lived in the United States for a decade or more.
Homeland security officials in the Obama and George W. Bush administrations — who have more than doubled the Border Patrol's size and spent billions on drones, sensors and other technology at the border — say enhanced security is driving the new trends.
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