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Three White House hopefuls made pilgrimages to the Georgia Republican Convention on Friday to woo Republican delegates with vows of a more muscular foreign policy and promises of more visits as the presidential race ratchets up.
The appearances of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz at the gathering was hailed by Georgia officials, and the candidates themselves, as a signal that the state will play a more prominent role in the Republican primary thanks to an effort to create a unified Southern regional “SEC primary” in March.
None of the three, who spoke hours apart, mentioned their GOP rivals during their remarks or in interviews with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the event. But each was quick to criticize President Barack Obama’s foreign policy and pan Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former Secretary of State, for her role as America’s top diplomat.
Democrats, meanwhile, welcomed the trio to Athens by launching an attack on their records. DuBose Porter, who chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia, announced that “the clown car just rolled in to town.”
The three speakers all called for domestic reforms, ranging from an overhaul of the higher education system to a review of the nation’s entitlement system. But in separate appearances, each sought to build his case for the presidency around foreign policy.
Christie, speaking at a breakfast event, accused Obama and Clinton of squandering "70 years of blood and treasure" to stave off Nazism and Communism in Europe with what he described as a wishy-washy stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and pro-Russian forces occupy portions of eastern Ukraine.
"This president and his former secretary of state hit their reset button, they're giving it away," Christie told the crowd. "They're giving it away through weakness and timidity and mixed signals. See, I think we make our national defense stronger, not to wage war, but to avoid war."
Rubio, a Florida Republican, promised to bring “transformational” changes to Washington and warned that American supremacy on the world stage could be at risk if Clinton, the likely Democratic standardbearer, wins the White House.
"The Cold War is over, but that doesn't mean the world doesn't need American leadership," Rubio told the delegates at an afternoon event. It came two days after he unveiled a hawkish foreign policy doctrine that slammed Clinton's leadership as "dangerously negligent at worst."
Cruz warned in an interview that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are the “one threat on the face of this globe that poses a real potential for endangering the lives of millions of Americans.” And he called the Obama’s foreign policy a “manifest disaster.”
“Our friends and allies, they don’t trust us,” he said. “And our enemies, they don’t fear us and respect us. So I fully expect foreign policy and national security to be a major issue, front and center, in the primary and a bigger issue in the general,” said the Texas senator. “Hillary Clinton cannot defend the failed foreign policy of leading from behind that she helped implement.”
The Democratic National Committee has characterized the foreign policy warnings as bellicose rhetoric. Clinton has emphasized her diplomatic experience even as she seeks to distance herself from some of Obama's policies.
Athens, the home of the University of Georgia and long a Democratic stronghold, was an unusual pick for the gathering spot. John Padgett, an Athens businessman who chairs the Republican Party of Georgia, jokingly warned delegates to watch their backs in the “bastion of Communism and socialism.”
The delegates have their work cut out for them on Saturday, when they’ll decide whether to grant Padgett another two-year term and debate whether to endorse a host of resolutions that could send a rebuke to state lawmakers who failed to pass red-meat resolutions.
Georgia is no stranger to presidential attention, and Atlanta has long been a favorite spot for Republicans to raise cash. But Secretary of State Brian Kemp hopes the March 1 “SEC primary” will position Georgia as a powerbroker in the nomination contest.Texas, Tennessee and Virginia also plan to hold their votes the same day, and Alabama could join the group within weeks.
It's too early to tell whether the regional primary will make a difference, but Kemp and others point to the trio of contenders at Friday's convention as evidence. A half-dozen other candidates plan to attend the August annual gathering in Atlanta hosted by the conservative RedState website. It will take place the same weekend as the Iowa Straw Poll.
The crowd of contenders is likely to grow. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is set to visit Georgia this month amid whispers he could soon announce his candidacy, and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is set to announce his candidacy in June. Rubio, in an interview, said he would welcome the newcomers.
“We have a talented pool of people and from it we’ll have a better nominee. Competition breeds excellence,” he said. “Republicans should be happy there are so many candidates. Democrats are struggling just to have one.”
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