Republican Brian Kemp delivered his stump speech on Monday while standing on an actual stump. The owner of Appalachian Gun, Pawn & Range in Jasper actually brought down a sweet gum tree earlier in the morning for just that purpose.
Our AJC colleague Jennifer Brett was on hand, where Kemp told the crowd to "put some gas in that chainsaw and get your axe and mattock out – keep choppin' wood." That was a reference, of course, to Georgia coach Kirby Smart's favorite saying.
Here’s more from JB:
At Monday morning's speech, Kemp dinged Abrams for raising money from out of state donors.
"Last week when I was in Columbus, she was in New Jersey with Cory Booker," Kemp said of the Democratic senator and possible 2020 hopeful, who welcomed her to Newark the other day.
The outside support, Kemp said, shows "we are literally battling the socialist, radical left all over the country."
His Jasper appearance was a homework assignment for Collin Brown, 9, who attended with mom Camille; and John, 9, who came with mom Laurel McGuire.
"Their assignment is to write a report on both candidates," said McGuire, whose two older children are in college and the U.S. Air Force. "God gave them a brain to use."
None of the kids, particularly the teenagers, seemed thrilled at first to up and out at an event on a Monday morning. But Collin got Kemp's autograph and John put himself to work, handing out campaign stickers before turning to a more immediate goal: "I want to be in the newspaper!"
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As Kemp traversed conservative hot spots around north Georgia, Stacey Abrams' also took aim for her party's base.
Over the weekend, she led a get-out-the-vote parade along Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood featuring rapper Yung Joc.
Police shut down both sides of the busy street Saturday night as Abrams posed for selfies with club-hoppers and her volunteers patrolled with voter registration paperwork at the ready.
And Monday brought her to Plaza Fiesta in Brookhaven, where she joined with Latino lawmakers to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
The first query she got during a Q&A session was about whether Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would affect the election if he’s confirmed.
Pointing to polls showing a gaping gender gap, Abrams told the crowd Kavanaugh's confirmation could further motivate women to "get us across the finish line."
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Georgia Democrats tried to rattle Kemp's cage over the weekend in Athens with an aerial banner proclaiming the unthinkable: That the UGA grad was rooting for Tennessee at Saturday's game.
The state party upped the ante on Monday with a van following Kemp’s bus tour tagged with an awkward black-and-white image of the Republican’s face and a series of red X-marks next to his policies.
Paul Bennecke, the head of the Republican Governors Association, fired back on Twitter that state GOPers would “troll her if she were actually in the state of Georgia.”
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