Possibly, this fundraiser is a nod to the upcoming nuptials of Prince Harry and his American fiancée, Meghan Markle. But it's definitely not your traditional pick-up truck-and-jeans event.
From the note we received on Thursday via Hunter Hill and his Republican campaign for governor:
I hope that you will be able to join me at Chukkar Farm this Saturday, May 12, to hear my vision for the state of Georgia and enjoy a live polo match….
There was more, but our eyes stopped at the words “polo match.” Not monster trucks, not a firing range, but ponies toting mallet-wielding riders.
So very North Fultonish.
Tickets to the event, to be held at the Chukkar Farm Polo Club & Event Facility in Alpharetta, are $25 a head. To get you started: A "chukkar" is one of six playing periods in a polo match.
***
Gov. Nathan Deal tapped three more judges for the newly-expanded state Court of Appeals. Two superior court judges -- Trent Brown III and Stephen Goss -- will join the state's second-highest court. So will Elizabeth Gobeil, a judge with the state Board of Workers' Compensation. She's married to Bart Gobeil, a state ports authority executive who was Deal's former chief operating officer.
***
With another appointment, Governor Deal effectively brought an existing race for district attorney in Douglas County to an abrupt halt. The governor had created a vacancy by appointing D.A. Brian Fortner to a state court judgeship in March. Fortner would have been up for re-election in November.
Two experienced prosecutors immediately signed up for the contest to replace him. Ryan Leonard, currently the chief assistant district attorney for Douglas County, is a Republican and white. Dalia Racine, an assistant district attorney in DeKalb County, is a Democrat and black.
On Wednesday, Deal appointed Leonard to the vacant district attorney post.
Ordinarily, that would simply mean Leonard would have an "i" for incumbent next to name in the GOP primary and on the November ballot. But House Bill 907 slipped through the Legislature with little scrutiny during this year's session.
It gives the newly appointed Leonard a pass. He won't have to stand for re-election until November 2020, when he will be up for a full four-year term. More background can be found here.
***
The Perry, Ga., property holdings of Fox News' Sean Hannity have made the front page in the nation's capital:
[A] Washington Post analysis shows that managers at Hannity's four largest apartment complexes in Georgia have taken an unusually aggressive approach to rent collection. They have sought court-ordered evictions at twice the statewide rate — in a state known for high numbers of evictions and landlord-friendly laws — and frequently have done so less than two weeks after a missed payment.
Property managers at the complexes sought to evict tenants more than 230 times in 2017, court records show. At one, a 112-unit subdivision in a suburb west of Atlanta, 94 eviction actions were filed last year, records show.
***
While his GOP rivals are loading up with airtime on TV, gubernatorial candidate Michael Williams, a state senator from Cumming, is sticking to radio. We don't know how much cash he's got behind this ad, which touts his loyalty to President Donald Trump, but here's a link to the sound. The working title: "Destroy the Establishment."
***
Speaking of Donald Trump. We told you earlier that Republican incumbent Public Service Commission member Tricia Pridemore has primary opposition. Agents of her GOP rival, John Hitchins, have criticized Pridemore for posting comments critical of Trump on social media. Earlier this month, she responded by hiring two Trump campaign hands. And now we've spotted one of her Facebook ads. Pridemore's image isn't the dominant one. That honor goes to Trump, of course, with this headline: "Conservative Tricia Pridemore will work with President Trump for energy independence."
***
A second potential presidential candidate is stumping for Democrat Stacey Abrams' campaign for governor. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Cal., will arrive in Atlanta this evening, weeks after U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey hit the trail with Abrams. Abrams is relying on grassroots enthusiasm and national attention in the May 22 race against former state Rep. Stacey Evans.
***
Financial records show that former Georgia congressman John Barrow has now raised more than $657,000 - that's more than any Democratic candidate for secretary of state has raised overall since the party was in power in the early 2000s. Barrow faces several lesser-known candidates in the May 22 primary to succeed Brian Kemp, who is running for governor.
***
Tucked inside this USA Today story about the record high number of female donors in this year's election cycle is this fascinating nugget about U.S. Rep. John Lewis: More than 62 percent of his campaign donations last year came from women. The Atlanta Democrat was second to only one other sitting member of Congress by that metric, according to the data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. His percentage of female donors bested even senators and rumored presidential hopefuls Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren.
***
The most recent episode of the excellent NPR podcast Planet Money is about how a former staff member at the Georgia Department of Agriculture got caught up in a scandal involving poultry pricing, shady Wall Street investors and chicken companies. Worth your time.
***
Get ready for the "my pitch" bus tour. Geoff Duncan, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is emphasizing his baseball roots in an 11-stop bus tour he's launching next week. The former Georgia Tech star is one of three GOP candidates in the race to succeed Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
