State Sen. Jason Carter has sharpened his message against Gov. Nathan Deal as he more aggressively embraces the Democratic party line on education and healthcare policy debates that could decide the election.
Within the last week, the Atlanta Democrat outlined his unequivocal support for the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a proposal that’s vilified by many conservatives. And he used a statewide education conference to push for increased training for teachers, a typically Democratic voting bloc he said has suffered on Deal’s watch.
Carter’s campaign recognizes the November election could hinge on these issues, and it’s ground that Deal is happy to fight over. The governor’s budget this year included a surge in education funding. And Deal has long argued a Medicaid expansion is too costly in the long run.
Carter's approach is not only a sharp departure from the governor's rhetoric. It also veers from the course forged by fellow Democrat Michelle Nunn, a candidate for an open Senate seat, who is positioning herself as an independent and has been reluctant to say whether she would have even voted for the healthcare overhaul.
Carte's unabashed adoption of key Democratic ideals is at the core of his strategy, even if it risks turning off conservative-leaning independents. His campaign strategists told a gathering in Savannah this month that roughly 600,000 Democrats aren't registered to vote, getting just one-third of them to the polls could put Carter over the top.
HOPE heartache
At the start of the legislative session, Carter proposed a separate education budget designed to be immune from the tinkering of lawmakers. It was intended to help preserve school funding. Deal dismissed the plan as a "gimmick" that would have little practical impact, and experts said it's unclear whether the plan would lead to more education funding.
Carter refined his education agenda Friday during a speech at a Savannah conference, saying he would increase funding to help teachers earn National Board Certification and boost programs under the state’s popular Hope scholarship designed to train and recruit new educators. He did not say how he would fund the increases.
Carter's remarks on healthcare were more cutting. At a campaign stop outside a failed hospital in Montezuma, Carter cast his support for the Medicaid expansion as a fiscal necessity. He said one possibility involves pursuing an Arkansas-style "private option" to use federal Medicaid funds to purchase insurance for the poor.
“It’s incredibly important for us to look at the fact that the federal government has $9 million of our tax money they keep every day,” said Carter. “There’s $30 billion in expansion funds that we’ve paid – it’s our money and Nathan Deal wants Washington to keep it. That doesn’t make sense to anyone, certainly not here.”
‘Doubling Down’
Deal and his allies are happy to play to their base on Obamacare as well. A recent AJC poll showed that most residents favor an expansion under the law, but Georgia's GOP electorate is deeply opposed.
The Republican Governors Association backed a punishing wave of attack ads that seized on Carter’s earlier comments that an expansion should be “on the table.” And Deal’s campaign said Carter’s comments Monday signal he’s “doubling down on a broken system.”
“In reality, Arkansans are the ones living with the worst of Washington politics, and patients and taxpayers paying the price,” said Deal spokeswoman Jen Talaber. “We’ve only begun to see the consequences of this costly mistake. It is one that Georgians can’t - and won’t - repeat.”
Deal was scheduled to address the conference Saturday, but weather prevented him from attending. His prepared remarks, however, echo a message he’s long presented on the campaign trail. He said he’ll focus on ways to raise the graduation and hinted at legislation that could make it easier for the state to intervene in struggling school districts.
“We know that your actions as boards can shift the foundation of student learning — for good or for bad,” he said. “Governance matters. Schools, teachers and students need support to not only get students across the finish line, but to avoid costly remediation later.”
The governor is also eager to cast the election as an economic choice. He trumpets job announcements both big and small in an effort to depict Georgia’s economy as ascendant. Earlier this month, he celebrated a firm’s decision to add more than 1,100 jobs in Clayton County with a statehouse press conference, and his office routinely sends out news of smaller deals.
As outside groups and surrogates hone their attacks on both candidates, Deal is expected to unveil more of what’s so far been a limited re-election agenda. Carter, too, plans to sharpen his attacks on the Republican incumbent as he tries to motivate partisans to head to the polls.
Some analysts expect Carter's pitch to angle further to the left, partly because of the heat he took from some supporters for his stance on a broad expansion of gun rights. Carter voted for the expansion, which was opposed by many prominent local and national Democrats.
“Particularly after taking some heat over his support of the gun bill, he wants to draw sharp differences with Gov. Deal on some key issues,” said Kerwin Swint, a Kennesaw State University political scientist. “He may feel confident enough now that he will not be seen as too liberal if he takes up key Democratic concerns.”
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