Tonight's key: How 17 GOP candidates will play to 'the angry voter'
You can prep for tonight's Fox News debates, featuring 17 GOP presidential candidates, by plowing through a piece by Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster of Emory University on "The Angry Voter." A taste, from Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball:
Although rising voter anger is clearly affecting both parties, during the Obama years it has been more evident among Republican partisans. …In the [2012] ANES survey, voters were asked to indicate how often they felt angry at the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.Your daily jolt on politics from the AJC's Political insider blog
More than two out of five Republican voters, 43%, reported feeling angry at Barack Obama either “always” or “most of the time.” By contrast, only 33% of Democratic respondents indicated a similar level of anger toward Mitt Romney….
Turning to the 2016 presidential nomination campaigns, we can clearly see the effects of rising voter anger in both parties. Donald Trump’s surge in the polls among Republican primary voters is likely due to his ability to give voice to frustration and anger among a large segment of the GOP base at the failure of Republicans in Congress to reverse the policies of the Obama administration over the past six and a half years.
Likewise, Bernie Sanders’ success in closing the gap between himself and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is probably attributable to his ability to tap into liberal anger over the failure of President Obama and congressional Democrats to overcome Republican opposition to policies such as raising the minimum wage, addressing climate change, and regulating Wall Street.
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We've already told you that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will walk into Saturday's RedState Gathering with two hefty Georgia endorsements -- one from Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and another from Attorney General Sam Olens. According to this invite for a Saturday evening fundraiser in Cumming, you can add state Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, to the Bush team, too:
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has lined up his own Georgia endorsements to announce on the eve of RedState, including state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens and U.S. Rep. Jody Hice. Also among his supporters here are state Sens. Josh McKoon, Mike Crane, Marty Harbin and Bill Ligon.
More importantly, he's the first GOP candidate in Georgia to name what looks like an entire statewide operation. See the details here.
Hudgens called Cruz "the kind of principled conservative we need to stop the Washington Cartel of establishment politicians and special interests who govern to enrich themselves." The Hice quote declares Cruz to be a "man of great strength of character."
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The only debate between Democrat Taylor Bennett and Republican Max Davis, the surviving candidates in a special election runoff for House District 80, will occur at 7 p.m. tonight, after Fox News' 5 p.m. B-Team debate and before its 9 p.m. debate of 10, top-tier candidates. Location of the HD 80 event, sponsored by the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce, is Oglethorpe University's Lupton Hall.
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Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is organizing around today's 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and trying to get its voter registration efforts moving across the South.
Former Mayor and Ambassador Andrew Young is leading a voting rights event at 5:30 p.m. today at University Barber Shop in Southwest Atlanta. Young will speak and ask participants to commit to vote and help organize events in their own neighborhoods.
It's the precursor to an Aug. 21-23 "weekend of action" in Georgia and other Southern states. The Clinton campaign bills it as part of its 50-state primary strategy, but it also would have obvious general election benefits.
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Andy Miller of Georgia Health News reports that the state Department of Community Health as rejected a proposed Medicaid waiver as too expensive:
"We are currently evaluating the feedback we've received so far and hope to keep the process moving forward,'' said Matt Hicks, a Grady vice president.
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In case you haven't seen it, here's the letter, from former attorney general Mike Bowers to the DeKalb County Commission, that has everyone talking:
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Georgia may be planning a standoffish approach the Obama administration's new power plant pollution controls. A group of 16 states led by West Virginia filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency requesting a stay from the new rules, but Georgia was not among them.
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Donald Trump doesn't have another visit to metro Atlanta on his schedule after this weekend's RedState Gathering. But members of his company, the Trump Organization, could have designs on returning.
Chuck Warbington, the executive director of the Gwinnett Village CID, reports that executives with the Trump Organization are considering a slot as the keynote speaker at the Gwinnett Redevelopment Forum in September.
He writes on Facebook: "Whoa!....scrambling to look for a new venue.....Gwinnett Arena maybe?"
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Democrat Vincent Fort held a press conference to urge the public not to donate to the Red Cross amid questions about how it spent nearly $500 million in Haiti after the disastrous 2010 earthquake.
The Atlanta state senator wants Georgians to give money instead "to other organizations that have a better track record in doing Haitian relief" in response to recent stories by NPR and ProPublica that uncovered questionable spending and troubled projects in the wake of the earthquake.
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