Because they have become so common over the last four years, we forget how unusual a Donald Trump rally is.
On Sunday night at the airport in Rome, the president passed out praise to a litany of GOP candidates in Georgia. You can find the full rundown here.
Trump continued to split the difference between U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, her main GOP rival in the multi-candidate special election for her seat. One or the other is likely headed for a Jan. 5 runoff with Democrat Raphael Warnock. Here is the president’s take on Loeffler v. Collins:
“I'm just sitting back and watching these two. And whoever it is, you have two winners … You think it's easy being me, right? But we're going to have two winners. We got two winners there. Go out and vote, and let's see what happens. But whoever it is, we got two really talented people."
U.S. Sen. David Perdue also won a mention, as did former congresswoman Karen Handel.
But shout-outs were all these downballot candidates received, and that fact underlines the investment that the GOP -- here and elsewhere -- has made in a single individual figure. At a Trump rally, Trump is the sole focus. TV cameras are positioned in a required manner -- far back from the stage, which prevents them from panning to the people Trump is talking about. Additional camera angles, which would show something other than the backs of an audience, are verboten.
In the past, a campaign of this stop would have served as a showcase for the entire ticket -- or at least the top figures, as a sign of solidarity and to offer a visual validation to those present and watching on TV. Being in the same camera frame with a president is highly valued.
But sharing that frame isn’t something that President Trump does.
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Just as at other recent stops, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters were left stranded by shuttle buses trying to navigate narrow, clogged roadways at night after his rally in Rome.
Social media video shows long lines of Trump backers waiting for buses to take them to faraway lots in the rural area. Several tried to hitch rides with passing cars to escape the cold. Temperatures dropped to the high 40s with whipping winds that made it feel colder.
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Over at Politico.com, Ryan Lizza has a piece on the electoral change that Stacey Abrams as wrought in Georgia over the last three or four years. He also has a screamingly sharp passage on how Democrats have measured this year’s progress from being considered an electoral college backwater to a competitive state:
On a scale from Doug to Obama, Georgia is now an Obama.
“First we got Doug," said a local Georgia Democrat, speaking of Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, the lowest rung on the inner-circle surrogate ladder. “Then Jill [Biden]. Then Kamala. Then Joe." On Monday night, the biggest star is coming. “Now, we're getting Obama on election eve. It's real. They wouldn't be coming back if it wasn't real."
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Our AJC colleague James Salzer does a little myth-busting with a piece that begins thusly:
Republicans have spent the past two years telling Georgians that top Democrats Stacey Abrams and Jon Ossoff are funded by Hollywood liberals, but big-money national groups have supplied the bulk of the state GOP's funding in 2020.
About $20 million of the $27 million the Georgia Republican Party has raised during the 2020 election cycle — through last week — came from outside the state. The biggest donor this cycle has been the Republican National Committee, at $15.4 million, with an additional $3 million coming from President Donald Trump's campaign.
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U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, whose campaign for U.S. Senate has been centered on out-Trumping Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, will have a 3 p.m. rally in Buford today with Trump advisor Roger Stone, a Trump advisor whose prison sentence was commuted by President Trump in July.
Stone was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign and possible ties to Russia.
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We’ve told you that Democrats have their eyes on 21 state House seats now occupied by Republicans. Not all are in suburban Atlanta. Take state Rep. Gerald Greene, a Republican in Cuthbert – far down in southwest Georgia.
Democrats have gone after the 37-year veteran of the state Capitol (he was once a Democrat) on multiple occasions and have lost each time. But Jill Nolin at the Georgia Recorder says Tuesday might be different. Greene’s Democratic opponent is Joyce Barlow, who has a very concrete issue:
Barlow has put health care and the plight of rural hospitals – a timely issue for the district – at the center of her campaign. Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center in Cuthbert closed its doors just this month. She advocates for expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have called too costly.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has listed the top bundlers for his campaign, those supporters who used their network to raise at least $100,000. We spotted the following folks from Georgia among the roughly 800 names.
They are: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former acting attorney general Sally Yates, former ambassador Gordon Giffin, state transportation board member Kevin Abel, former Democratic Party of Georgia chairman David Worley, Michèle and Kenneth Taylor (she is a Democratic strategist, he is a cardiologist), RADCO Companies founder and CEO Norman Radow, and Peter Harrell, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
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In endorsement news:
-Housing Secretary Ben Carson has endorsed fellow physician Rich McCormick, the Republican in the Seventh District congressional race. Carson, who cut an ad for him, also campaigned over the weekend with Republican Karen Handel, who’s out to reclaim her Sixth District seat in Congress.
-Zan Fort, who is running in the state Senate race to replace Nikema Williams, picked up an endorsement from former Democratic candidate for president and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
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