Follow The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's political team as it reports from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week and from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next week. Stay on top of the developments by following our special convention pages at http://www.myajc.com/2016-republican-convention/ and http://www.myajc.com/2016-democratic-convention/. You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GAPoliticsNews or Facebook at https://facebook.com/gapoliticsnewsnow.
Gov. Nathan Deal was back in Atlanta, but he was still the big topic of conversation at Wednesday’s breakfast meeting of Georgia’s delegation to the Republican National Convention.
The day’s pep talk was provided by David and Jason Benham, twins who have built a media empire on the evangelical circuit. And they opened their talk with an attack on Deal’s veto of a piece of “religious liberty” legislation that was beloved by blocs of the party’s conservative base.
“We saw what happened in Georgia and how he caved on this religious liberty bill,” David Benham said as applause echoed through the hotel ballroom. “My flesh just wants to jump all over him, but I’m looking at pastors – they need to get behind these governors, these sponsors, so they don’t collapse.”
The governor infuriated many in the Republican base when he vetoed the measure, which would have expanded legal protections for opponents of same-sex marriage. The veto came after threats of boycotts and other economic misery from corporate heavyweights and gay rights groups.
The veto strained ties between the governor and the Georgia GOP. He didn’t attend the party’s state convention, citing a long-planned two-day meeting with high school valedictorians, and was rebuked for his veto by grass-roots Republicans at meetings across the state.
— Greg Bluestein
Protesters arrested, 2 officers injured in showdown
At least five demonstrators were arrested and two officers suffered minor injuries when a flag-burning protest erupted into chaos outside the arena where the Republican National Convention is being held.
The demonstrators appeared to splinter off from a larger protest marching through Cleveland’s streets Wednesday and headed toward the Quicken Loans Arena. Soon, they were flanked by a small army of police officers, who formed a human wall that let through only delegates and others with credentials.
Several of the protesters, who said they were members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, chanted “America was never great” as they attempted to light the flag on fire. When they ignored an order to disperse, officers forced their way into the crowd and a firefighter took the flag they tried to burn. Cleveland police reported that two officers had minor injuries, though it’s unclear how they were hurt.
Officers riding bicycles and on horseback soon arrived to take command of the scene.
Officers soon roped off the area where the flag-burning was to take place, declaring it a crime scene. And the wall of officers began to disperse, though there was still a heavy police presence as delegates and others streamed through the entrance.
— Greg Bluestein
Poll: Americans ‘exhausted’ by election coverage
The November election is four months away, but Americans are already burnt out by the amount of news coverage of the presidential campaign.
A Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday shows that nearly 60 percent of Americans “feel exhausted” by election coverage, according to the survey taken between June 7 and July 5.
In particular, 44 percent of respondents complained of too much coverage of candidates’ comments on the campaign trail, and 43 percent disliked all the attention paid toward their personal lives.
The topic that has received too little coverage? Fifty-five percent of those polled said candidates’ stances on the issues have received too little coverage, according to Pew.
Americans may be fatigued by election coverage, but they’re certainly paying attention. Pew earlier reported that 80 percent of registered voters have given “quite a lot” of thought to the election — the highest share at this point in any campaign since 1992.
— Dan Chapman
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