Nunn pokes fun at her campaign leak, then attacks GOP rival

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Democrat Michelle Nunn poked a bit of fun at the embarrassing exposure of the 144-page series of Senate strategy memos that leaked this week. And then she used the occasion to launch her most aggressive attack yet at GOP candidate David Perdue.

“I always thought I wanted to run an open and transparent campaign,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in her first interview since the disclosure of the memos. “But this has gone beyond what I anticipated or intended.”

The memos lay out Nunn's campaign strategy in stark terms, with detailed fundraising plans, an outline of her public relations strategy and prepared defenses to some of her vulnerabilities. The strategy describes black voters as "validators, volunteers and voters;" Jews offer a "tremendous financial opportunity."

Republicans have used the documents to try to paint Nunn, a nonprofit executive, as a consultant-driven robot. Perdue, speaking after a meeting with the GOP delegation in Washington, said he was "fairly shocked" after reading his rival's political approach.

“It gives you a keen insight into what the other side is thinking about the different groups in our state and, honestly, they put us as Republicans in certain boxes,” he said. “And yet here we are with hard evidence that they are the ones who actually do some of that and not us.”

Nunn said that Republican scrutiny is an effort to “mischaracterize” her record, and she compared the memos to counsel she receives from supporters rather than a strict campaign blueprint. She said there was nothing in the documents she wanted to clarify.

“The nature of campaigns is ever evolving, but what’s remained constant is we’re focused on talking about a collaborative approach and the importance of bipartisanship and problem-solving,” she said.

Nunn, who has often seemed reluctant to speak ill of her GOP foe, then sought to draw a sharper distinction between her and Perdue. The Republican, a former Fortune 500 chief executive, came under attack throughout the GOP campaign for his leadership of firms that cut jobs during his tenure.

“It’s somewhat ironic to me that David Perdue’s allies are running ads against me when in fact David Perdue has made 20 times my salary at the same time he has been outsourcing jobs, laying off workers and running up debt on his companies,” she said, adding: “I’m happy to make that contrast.”

Perdue predicted such attacks following his runoff victory for the GOP nomination against U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston.

“I have lived through about six months of that,” he said. “How’d that work?”