Skipping around a little, let's take everyone's pulse on State Senate 47, where Mac Rawson is taking on Ralph Hudgens.
Go.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
Open Thread: District 1
Got an email in the ol’ inbox the other day. Fella who is a regular reader (didn’t know we had those, really) wants us to do some open threads about each race. Now, y’all are going to talk about what y’all are going to talk about, and these things usually end up digressing, but never let it be said that we don’t give the people what they want. (Unless, you know, what they want is daily posting or something.)
Anyway, we’ll kick it off with a race we haven’t paid much attention to yet: District 1. James Garland, who is a frequent visitor here, is squaring off against Doug Lowry and Jim Ponsoldt.
Here’s what I know about these cats.
James Garland is sometimes off-puttingly wonky (and that’s saying a lot coming from me), but he’s also responsible for one of the classiest things I’ve ever heard a pol say. Those of you in know remember that Garland ran against Charles Carter in 2002 as well. Issues-wise, Garland wants to lower our property taxes, which as a property owner, I’m actually ambivalent about. He also feels like some of the development-related ordinances (particularly stream buffers) are restrictive, which bothers me somewhat, since I kind of like streams and creeks.
However, Garland is also saying a lot of good things that I do like. He’s opposed to the smoking ban, for starters. He also thinks that the county’s definition of family ordinance is crap. But the best thing James Garland is saying is something that a lot of folks on the Commission would prefer not be said at all. If you live outside the old (pre-unification) city limits, you’ve been consistently screwed since unification started, especially if you live in North Athens. So, Garland says we need to make sure that every person in ACC has access to the same services – meaning fire protection, water and sewer, etc. For what it’s worth, I agree. But, you can’t do that and lower property taxes, in my opinion.
Jim Ponsoldt is also a heckuva guy. He’s a law professor and is involved in various progressive causes around town. Ms. Publius had him for a class once. She liked him. Jim Ponsoldt doesn’t really care for John Barrow (esp. since Barrow went all Sean Hannity clone on us), although Ponsoldt did give him some money in 2004. (Barrow that is, not Hannity)
Doug Lowry I don’t know at all. I’ve seen him in public maybe twice. So, here’s what I know. He’s running for Commission, and he has the bitchinest ‘stache in the race.
Garland is the only one who has reached out to us over here, for whatever that’s worth to you. He’s working the blog community and keeping us in the loop on his press releases, etc. So, I guess if there’s any lesson to be gleaned from that it is that if you reach out to us, we’ll actually talk about more than whether you like John Barrow or not, or how cool your ‘stache is.
Whatever. Get to work – we want to know what you think, kids.
Anyway, we’ll kick it off with a race we haven’t paid much attention to yet: District 1. James Garland, who is a frequent visitor here, is squaring off against Doug Lowry and Jim Ponsoldt.
Here’s what I know about these cats.
James Garland is sometimes off-puttingly wonky (and that’s saying a lot coming from me), but he’s also responsible for one of the classiest things I’ve ever heard a pol say. Those of you in know remember that Garland ran against Charles Carter in 2002 as well. Issues-wise, Garland wants to lower our property taxes, which as a property owner, I’m actually ambivalent about. He also feels like some of the development-related ordinances (particularly stream buffers) are restrictive, which bothers me somewhat, since I kind of like streams and creeks.
However, Garland is also saying a lot of good things that I do like. He’s opposed to the smoking ban, for starters. He also thinks that the county’s definition of family ordinance is crap. But the best thing James Garland is saying is something that a lot of folks on the Commission would prefer not be said at all. If you live outside the old (pre-unification) city limits, you’ve been consistently screwed since unification started, especially if you live in North Athens. So, Garland says we need to make sure that every person in ACC has access to the same services – meaning fire protection, water and sewer, etc. For what it’s worth, I agree. But, you can’t do that and lower property taxes, in my opinion.
Jim Ponsoldt is also a heckuva guy. He’s a law professor and is involved in various progressive causes around town. Ms. Publius had him for a class once. She liked him. Jim Ponsoldt doesn’t really care for John Barrow (esp. since Barrow went all Sean Hannity clone on us), although Ponsoldt did give him some money in 2004. (Barrow that is, not Hannity)
Doug Lowry I don’t know at all. I’ve seen him in public maybe twice. So, here’s what I know. He’s running for Commission, and he has the bitchinest ‘stache in the race.
Garland is the only one who has reached out to us over here, for whatever that’s worth to you. He’s working the blog community and keeping us in the loop on his press releases, etc. So, I guess if there’s any lesson to be gleaned from that it is that if you reach out to us, we’ll actually talk about more than whether you like John Barrow or not, or how cool your ‘stache is.
Whatever. Get to work – we want to know what you think, kids.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
An AthPo Caption Contest! Maddox needs a new slogan.
So, Hillary and I were talking this afternoon (yeah, candidates, we bloggers do talk amongst ourselves quite frequently), and I learned that she hadn't yet seen Charlie Maddox's campaign literature. A quick tango with the scanner, and behold.
If you haven't seen Mr. Maddox's pushcard yet, it's terrible. As in, comparable to his website in quality. (To be fair, the actual piece is in color.)
Hillary and I and Mr. Brown were trading snarky slogans to accompany the terrible picture. Long story short, she suggested we open it up for the Athens politico-sphere in general. Herein, please find the picture from Mr. Maddox's hand piece. Go nuts. Whosoever writes the best caption gets to make out with the anonymous poster of their choice. I'll lead off.
"Isn't it time we had a Mayor who isn't afraid to stand up to the giant eagles? Isn't it time for Charlie Maddox?"
(One other note. Athens voters aren't stupid. Put some damn issues on your literature.)
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Lt. Gov. - The Dirty Tricks Brigade Strikes
Well, if you thought the race for Governor was getting dirty, just take a look at the next race on the ballot. Certainly, Greg Hecht has shown no mercy going after Jim Martin with some fairly distorted and disingenuous attacks, and of course, Casey and Ralph are scuffling around in the mud as well.
But the Lt. Gov. race has taken a turn for the nasty. According to an email from a loyal reader, someone is going after Jim Martin anonymously. Sez our source:
“This evening (Sunday) at around 8:00 PM, I answered my phone at our familyresidence in Winterville, GA and got what was either the most politically suicidal automated call that a candidate running in Georgia has ever authorized or a disgusting example of gutter politics at its sleaziest.
The ‘caller’ identified himself as ‘Orlando Jones’ and his voice had a mincing, lisping… delivery that was straight out of a bad, late-night sketch comedy show. "Orlando" went into great detail into how one of the Democrats running for Lt. Governor (Jim Martin) was finally a candidate that the gay and lesbian community could wholeheartedly support. The call claimed that Martin was working tirelessly "to legalize sodomy" and was leading the fight for gay marriage. It wrapped up with a remark about how, with Martin as Lt. Governor, gays and lesbians would finally have someone in office that they could count on to take their side on every issue.
There was no "paid for by the friends of" or "authorized by." There was no phone number for further information or how to volunteer. It was a stink bomb, pure and simple.”
So there you have it. For clarity’s sake, the call was a “robodial,” an automated call where a recorded message is played for whoever answers the phone. Now, having worked with a couple of robodial providers in past lives, I can tell you that they are notoriously close-mouthed about their political client lists. While most political consultants and vendors love to talk up their client lists, phone vendors keep them under wraps – in many cases because they make a good bit of money off of these types of calls. For what it’s worth, most of these calls don’t carry a “paid for” disclaimer, although disclosure laws do apply to them as well. Thing is, they’re usually untraceable. By the way, a friend who also got the “Orlando Jones” call verifies the content.
Never ones to avoid a good conspiracy theory (I just finished reading “Crossfire” by Jim Marrs), here are a few scenarios to speculate about who was behind these calls.
Martin’s main opponent in the primary, ex-Sen. Greg Hecht: (Odds – very likely)
When looking at dirty tricks like this, suspicion naturally turns to the opponent. (Or the butler, if it happens to be an Agatha Christie novel.) Cui bono? In the short run, definitely Hecht. Observers are saying that Hecht’s early momentum is a thing of the past, and Martin is ahead in the polls. We have no way of telling what the various campaigns’ internal polls say, but Martin has been picking up some momentum, with endorsements by ex-Gov. Roy Barnes, Andy Young, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A series of robodials tying Martin in with the politically volatile gay rights movement could stall his surge and help Hecht. It should also be noted that Hecht hasn’t really proven himself to be shy about going after Martin. (Apparently, Jim Martin single-handedly murdered a bunch of kids or something – we don’t know. We didn’t get that mail piece.)
One of the GOP hopefuls, Ralph Reed of Casey Cagle: (Odds – somewhat likely)
Ask yourself again, Cui bono? In the case of Reed or Cagle, for either of their campaigns to do this would indicate some extremely scary polling about Jim Martin. I don’t think that polling is out there, although Martin probably does stack up well against Reed. Question is, is Jim Martin so intimidating to either Cagle or Reed, they feel forced to resort to this tactic this early? Jim’s a good guy, and he’s run a good campaign thus far, but no Democrat is that intimidating this early.
One of the other Democrats running for Lt. Gov.: (Odds – unlikely)
Robodials are cheap, but why would someone polling as far behind as the other candidates for Lt. Gov bother? There’s no way this moves them into a runoff situation.
A gay rights group, such as Georgia Equality: (Odds – not very likely)
While the gay rights lobby usually resembles the Keystone Kops more than an actual political force, this is just too heavy-handedly gay to be their work. (Remember, I didn’t get the call, I’m just going off sources here.) But seriously – there are smart politicos in the gay rights movement, and they know how much something like this can hurt a campaign. Plus, “Orlando?” Lispy voice? Legalizing sodomy? That sounds a lot more like what someone who doesn’t associate much with gay people expect them to be. Too stereotypical for Georgia Equality.
The Jim Martin Campaign: (Odds – highly unlikely)
I include this scenario in the interests of fairness. It’s not unheard of for a campaign to do this, so that they can play the martyr card. In this case, however, it’s just not very likely. As mentioned above, Martin has run a smart campaign thus far – and for them to do this for the sympathy vote is beyond boneheaded. Any possible positive press hit is far outweighed by the damage this does with moderates – not to mention any damage in the presumptive general election. Also, most observers think that Martin is sitting on a lead right now – so why squander that on something this risky? Besides, anyone with a lick of sense will tell you that this probably isn’t much of a story in the press, and even if it is picked up, the angle is not “poor Jim Martin,” it’s “Holy Geez, politicians are getting sleazier.”
Some other person or group, not directly tied to any campaign (Odds – very likely)
When shit like this goes down, the unconnected groups are the best bet. Remember everyone’s favorite 527c, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Stuff like this happens all the time, and the lack of a direct connection to any campaign makes it easier to do. Odds are, though, we’ll never know.
But don’t let that stop you. Bug your local journalists, and get the investigative resources of the ABH (I tried to type that with a straight face, I really did) on the case. And by all means, speculate away in the comments.
Oh, and by the way, if the name “Orlando Jones” sounds familiar, here’s why. 7-up anyone?
But the Lt. Gov. race has taken a turn for the nasty. According to an email from a loyal reader, someone is going after Jim Martin anonymously. Sez our source:
“This evening (Sunday) at around 8:00 PM, I answered my phone at our familyresidence in Winterville, GA and got what was either the most politically suicidal automated call that a candidate running in Georgia has ever authorized or a disgusting example of gutter politics at its sleaziest.
The ‘caller’ identified himself as ‘Orlando Jones’ and his voice had a mincing, lisping… delivery that was straight out of a bad, late-night sketch comedy show. "Orlando" went into great detail into how one of the Democrats running for Lt. Governor (Jim Martin) was finally a candidate that the gay and lesbian community could wholeheartedly support. The call claimed that Martin was working tirelessly "to legalize sodomy" and was leading the fight for gay marriage. It wrapped up with a remark about how, with Martin as Lt. Governor, gays and lesbians would finally have someone in office that they could count on to take their side on every issue.
There was no "paid for by the friends of" or "authorized by." There was no phone number for further information or how to volunteer. It was a stink bomb, pure and simple.”
So there you have it. For clarity’s sake, the call was a “robodial,” an automated call where a recorded message is played for whoever answers the phone. Now, having worked with a couple of robodial providers in past lives, I can tell you that they are notoriously close-mouthed about their political client lists. While most political consultants and vendors love to talk up their client lists, phone vendors keep them under wraps – in many cases because they make a good bit of money off of these types of calls. For what it’s worth, most of these calls don’t carry a “paid for” disclaimer, although disclosure laws do apply to them as well. Thing is, they’re usually untraceable. By the way, a friend who also got the “Orlando Jones” call verifies the content.
Never ones to avoid a good conspiracy theory (I just finished reading “Crossfire” by Jim Marrs), here are a few scenarios to speculate about who was behind these calls.
Martin’s main opponent in the primary, ex-Sen. Greg Hecht: (Odds – very likely)
When looking at dirty tricks like this, suspicion naturally turns to the opponent. (Or the butler, if it happens to be an Agatha Christie novel.) Cui bono? In the short run, definitely Hecht. Observers are saying that Hecht’s early momentum is a thing of the past, and Martin is ahead in the polls. We have no way of telling what the various campaigns’ internal polls say, but Martin has been picking up some momentum, with endorsements by ex-Gov. Roy Barnes, Andy Young, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A series of robodials tying Martin in with the politically volatile gay rights movement could stall his surge and help Hecht. It should also be noted that Hecht hasn’t really proven himself to be shy about going after Martin. (Apparently, Jim Martin single-handedly murdered a bunch of kids or something – we don’t know. We didn’t get that mail piece.)
One of the GOP hopefuls, Ralph Reed of Casey Cagle: (Odds – somewhat likely)
Ask yourself again, Cui bono? In the case of Reed or Cagle, for either of their campaigns to do this would indicate some extremely scary polling about Jim Martin. I don’t think that polling is out there, although Martin probably does stack up well against Reed. Question is, is Jim Martin so intimidating to either Cagle or Reed, they feel forced to resort to this tactic this early? Jim’s a good guy, and he’s run a good campaign thus far, but no Democrat is that intimidating this early.
One of the other Democrats running for Lt. Gov.: (Odds – unlikely)
Robodials are cheap, but why would someone polling as far behind as the other candidates for Lt. Gov bother? There’s no way this moves them into a runoff situation.
A gay rights group, such as Georgia Equality: (Odds – not very likely)
While the gay rights lobby usually resembles the Keystone Kops more than an actual political force, this is just too heavy-handedly gay to be their work. (Remember, I didn’t get the call, I’m just going off sources here.) But seriously – there are smart politicos in the gay rights movement, and they know how much something like this can hurt a campaign. Plus, “Orlando?” Lispy voice? Legalizing sodomy? That sounds a lot more like what someone who doesn’t associate much with gay people expect them to be. Too stereotypical for Georgia Equality.
The Jim Martin Campaign: (Odds – highly unlikely)
I include this scenario in the interests of fairness. It’s not unheard of for a campaign to do this, so that they can play the martyr card. In this case, however, it’s just not very likely. As mentioned above, Martin has run a smart campaign thus far – and for them to do this for the sympathy vote is beyond boneheaded. Any possible positive press hit is far outweighed by the damage this does with moderates – not to mention any damage in the presumptive general election. Also, most observers think that Martin is sitting on a lead right now – so why squander that on something this risky? Besides, anyone with a lick of sense will tell you that this probably isn’t much of a story in the press, and even if it is picked up, the angle is not “poor Jim Martin,” it’s “Holy Geez, politicians are getting sleazier.”
Some other person or group, not directly tied to any campaign (Odds – very likely)
When shit like this goes down, the unconnected groups are the best bet. Remember everyone’s favorite 527c, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Stuff like this happens all the time, and the lack of a direct connection to any campaign makes it easier to do. Odds are, though, we’ll never know.
But don’t let that stop you. Bug your local journalists, and get the investigative resources of the ABH (I tried to type that with a straight face, I really did) on the case. And by all means, speculate away in the comments.
Oh, and by the way, if the name “Orlando Jones” sounds familiar, here’s why. 7-up anyone?
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Democratic Gubernatorial Debate
Did anybody catch it? Met the two "not real" candidates at Bishop Park at the Dem Spring Fling a while back. Mac is a hoot, but Bolton is just batshit crazy (I actually found myself agreeing with Mac a couple of times, like when he said the teachers needed a big pay raise). I thought the Big Guy got the best of it, although that may just be because I've already decided to vote for him. Thoughts anyone?
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Jane Kidd - Now with 40% more fundraising!
Just a quick correction if you happened to read this story in Tuesday's ABH concerning fundraising in the State Senate race for District 46.
According to the ABH's article, Jane Kidd raised $24,888.00. However, Kidd's disclosure reports indicate that the actual figure was $34,888.00. Sure it was just a typo, but seriously.
Anyway, in fairness to Jane, we thought we'd point it out.
Monday, July 10, 2006
The AthPo Straw Poll
I thought it might be kind of interesting to take the temperature of your local bloggers on where they stand on certain races coming up, so I sent around a quick email to AK from AthensWorld, JMac from Safe as Houses, Hillary from Antidisingenousmentarianism, and GAP from the now-defunct Daily Douchebag. Not everyone had a choice on every race – for instance, A.K. only weighed in on the governor’s race. By the way, thanks to everyone for jumping in on this one.
By the way, these aren’t endorsements. None of us are opinion leaders, nor do we pretend to be. This is just who we’re voting for, and it’s meant to spark some conversation. And since none of us are really what you’d call Republicans, we were less inclined to think on those races. If you’re interested, I’ve put a special Republican section at the end of the post.
Here’s who we’re voting for (by the way, we’re only talking contested races here, so you Mac Rawson, Jane Kidd, and Chuck Jones fans can simmer down. Your time will come.) Finally, don’t take our word for it. We’ve linked to a few websites – make up your own damn minds.
The Straw Poll Results:
Mark Taylor beats Cathy Cox, 4 to 1.
Jim Martin beats Greg Hecht, 4 to 0.
Shyam Reddy beats a passel of other Democrats (including Gail Buckner), 3.5 to 1 to 0 to 0 to 0 to ad nauseam.
Carlotta Harrell and Denise Majette tie, 2 to 2.
Bill Overend beats CR Chisholm and Brian Patterson 3 to 0.
Governor (Democrats):
Hillary: Cathy Cox
JMac: Mark Taylor
GAP: Mark Taylor
A.K.: Mark Taylor
Publius: Mark Taylor
Comments: A.K. sez, “Cathy Cox has affected my life in a bad way. She has apparently neglected her duty as Secretary of State while focusing on her gubernatorial campaign. Her office has gone from fast and efficient to five weeks behind…I have checked out Mark Taylor's website, and I'm not comfortable with him wearing religion on his sleeve, but if he isn't going to stand in the way of productivity and progress, then I'd rather vote for the guy who just does his job.”
Lieutenant Governor (Democrats):
Hillary: Jim Martin
JMac: Jim Martin
GAP: Jim Martin
Publius: Jim Martin
Comments: Hillary sez, “[H]is health care plan for small businesses seems like a smart move, and he doesn't try to cover all the bases.”
Secretary of State (Democrats):
Hillary: Leaning towards Gail Buckner
JMac: Leaning towards Shyam Reddy
GAP: Shyam Reddy
Publius: Shyam Reddy
Comments: Publius sez, “Shyam is almost too slick, but he’s a fundraising machine, which makes him a better shot to beat Bill Stephens or Karen Handel.”
State Superintendent of Schools (Democrats):
Hillary: Carlotta Harrell
JMac: Carlotta Harrell
GAP: Denise Majette
Publius: Denise Majette
Comments: No direct quotes this time, but no one was super excited about this race.
ACC Solicitor-General:
Hillary: Bill Overend
JMac: Bill Overend
GAP: Bill Overend
Special Bonus Section for our Steely-Eyed Republican Zealot Friends:
Voting in this section was light, but here’s the consensus. JMac prefers Ralph Reed to Casey Cagle in the Lieutenant Governor’s race. I like Reed, simply because he’s easier for Jim Martin to beat in November, and because Reed drags the statewide GOP ticket down. It’s strategery, bitches.
In the Ag Commissioner race, JMac loves him some Gary Black, while I, if I were a Republican, would cast a vote for local-boy-done-good Brian Kemp. Doesn’t matter. Tommy Irvin has been Ag Commissioner since dirt was a baby, and no one beats Tommy in November.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Open thread
Per Hillary's request. Qualifying is done, primaries in two weeks. Talk about candidates. Here's a speculative set of questions. Who wins Athens, Taylor or Cox? Has Cox's support in Athens dwindled in recent weeks?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Got my first political mailing of the season yesterday from Cagyle. Did everybody get one of these? Cause if not, I'm wondering what got me on his target list. It's certainly not my voting record.
Hey Chuck, are you gonna make a big media buy? I think you need to flood the Cobbham district with Greek-apologist pieces (oh, that's right, they're not in your district; I forgot).
I'm going to have a little project where I keep all the political mail I get this season and study it. Why? Well, I'm a dork. But there's always a small chance I may come up with something interesting to say on here as a result.
Hey Chuck, are you gonna make a big media buy? I think you need to flood the Cobbham district with Greek-apologist pieces (oh, that's right, they're not in your district; I forgot).
I'm going to have a little project where I keep all the political mail I get this season and study it. Why? Well, I'm a dork. But there's always a small chance I may come up with something interesting to say on here as a result.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Thatsogay
Judge Constance Russell ruled Tuesday that the gay marriage ban passed in 2004 violates the single-subject rule for ballot issues in Georgia, and therefore is unconstitutional (under the Georgia constitution). Sonny will try to get the Supreme Court to hear the appeal soon enough to put a revamped ban on the ballot in November if Judge Russell's ruling is upheld.
UGA's Charles Bullock's quoted assessment that the only group this is good for is the Republicans is right on. It's right in their wheelhouse on two issues: gay marriage and judicial activism. It doesn't matter what the actual merits of Judge Russell's decision was; she will be cast as an activist nullifying the will of the people (which is sometimes, you know, a judge's job...but I won't digress into a fullblown discussion on that right now). If the Supreme Court upholds the ruling, well, they're activists too. The Republicans are probably hoping for the ruling to be upheld, because as on many issues, they don't care about the actual policy. They just want an issue whereby they can get poor cultural conservatives to keep them in power. And if the Court upholds the ruling in time to get another ban on the ballot in November, the R's get to milk both issues (gayness and activism) all over again.
A further sign of where Georgia is as a state on this issue: both Cox and Taylor support the ban (despite Cox's "I actually was for it even while I was against it" misstep).
UGA's Charles Bullock's quoted assessment that the only group this is good for is the Republicans is right on. It's right in their wheelhouse on two issues: gay marriage and judicial activism. It doesn't matter what the actual merits of Judge Russell's decision was; she will be cast as an activist nullifying the will of the people (which is sometimes, you know, a judge's job...but I won't digress into a fullblown discussion on that right now). If the Supreme Court upholds the ruling, well, they're activists too. The Republicans are probably hoping for the ruling to be upheld, because as on many issues, they don't care about the actual policy. They just want an issue whereby they can get poor cultural conservatives to keep them in power. And if the Court upholds the ruling in time to get another ban on the ballot in November, the R's get to milk both issues (gayness and activism) all over again.
A further sign of where Georgia is as a state on this issue: both Cox and Taylor support the ban (despite Cox's "I actually was for it even while I was against it" misstep).
Monday, May 15, 2006
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Schrenko, etc.
Not to preclude Chuck from finishing up his busy caseload and coming back to answer gp, but that comment line appears to have petered out for the moment, so let's move on with a few tidbits:
Schrenko will spend eight years in the slammer pursuant to her plea deal.
Athens' economy gets another punch in the junk as Cooper Tire announces that it will be closing the Oneta Street Oliver Rubber plant. This after $12 million in low-interest bonds with tax abatement was approved 2 years ago as incentive to get the plant to stay and in fact expand. 140 local jobs will be lost.
And federal agencies officially passed on the NavySchool property. This means the base is now available to the local development authority, which met this morning at 9 a.m.
Schrenko will spend eight years in the slammer pursuant to her plea deal.
Athens' economy gets another punch in the junk as Cooper Tire announces that it will be closing the Oneta Street Oliver Rubber plant. This after $12 million in low-interest bonds with tax abatement was approved 2 years ago as incentive to get the plant to stay and in fact expand. 140 local jobs will be lost.
And federal agencies officially passed on the NavySchool property. This means the base is now available to the local development authority, which met this morning at 9 a.m.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Chuck
I was of the opinion that we had already given this wannabe College Republican too much press on here, and so I didn't really want to comment on the Winders article; but you're right, it's absolutely outrageous. One of the better lines I think is: "But Chuck derails his College Republican revolution by playing not just dirty, but downright dumb."
Monday, May 01, 2006
Terry Holley
From the Georgia Politics Unfiltered blog:
"Also, Charlie Norwood has a Democratic challenger. His name is Terry Holley. I don't know much about Terry Holley except that he's the current Chairman of the 9th Congressional District for the Democratic Party of Georgia."
And that is now all that I know about him. Anyone with more info, please share.
"Also, Charlie Norwood has a Democratic challenger. His name is Terry Holley. I don't know much about Terry Holley except that he's the current Chairman of the 9th Congressional District for the Democratic Party of Georgia."
And that is now all that I know about him. Anyone with more info, please share.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Super Lawyer to the Rescue
As mentioned in the comments, Jane Kidd has qualified for the Senate race, and now she is challenging the redistricting in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Because of the emergency hearing in a U.S. District Court, the judge has extended the qualifying period for Senate 46 and 47 and 13 associated House districts until May 5. The hearing will be next Tuesday in Atlanta.
We've discussed our thoughts on the merits of a lawsuit previously, and so I won't go into that again, but I will say that Kidd certainly has a strong advocate for the suit: her lawyer is Emmet Bondurant, Georgia's #1 "Super Lawyer" for the past three years straight (yes, this is an actual list, compiled by Law and Politics magazine in conjunction with Atlanta magazine based on attorney suggestions). Go, Super Lawyer, go.
We've discussed our thoughts on the merits of a lawsuit previously, and so I won't go into that again, but I will say that Kidd certainly has a strong advocate for the suit: her lawyer is Emmet Bondurant, Georgia's #1 "Super Lawyer" for the past three years straight (yes, this is an actual list, compiled by Law and Politics magazine in conjunction with Atlanta magazine based on attorney suggestions). Go, Super Lawyer, go.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Leaving Las Vegas
Been in Glitter Gulch for the past few days for a professional conference (if what "happens in Vegas" is your money, then yes, it stays there). Nice to see that in my absence we've been having an old-fashioned comment post-fest.
Yesterday was the beginning of qualifying for candidates. Still no Jane Kidd officially in the Senate or House race. We shall be monitoring the SOS website this week as time permits, and commenting on anything out of the ordinary. Let us know if you hear any skinny before that.
Yesterday was the beginning of qualifying for candidates. Still no Jane Kidd officially in the Senate or House race. We shall be monitoring the SOS website this week as time permits, and commenting on anything out of the ordinary. Let us know if you hear any skinny before that.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Get a load of this guy
Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!
Despite all of the talk of reduced postings, I couldn't let this one go. Sonny is apparently being challenged in the Republican gubner primary by batshit-crazy "States Rights" candidate Ray McBerry, whose platform seems to be that he doesn't find the current state flag to be offensive enough. Never mind that Sonny won in part by campaigning against Roy Barnes' dinner mat blue version of the flag, or that the current "compromise" version of the flag is itself an homage to the one of the Confederate flags; McBerry is upset that Georgia didn't return to the 1956 Confederate battle flag version. The compromise version isn't hateful enough, I guess. He also doesn't think Sonny was tough enough on companies that hire illegal immigrants (the one thing I might, kinda, be inclined to agree with him on, although I'm sure that the remainder of our ideas on immigration are in stark conflict), and that Georgia needs to amend its constitution to give fetuses legal status.
What's the matter with Georgia?
Despite all of the talk of reduced postings, I couldn't let this one go. Sonny is apparently being challenged in the Republican gubner primary by batshit-crazy "States Rights" candidate Ray McBerry, whose platform seems to be that he doesn't find the current state flag to be offensive enough. Never mind that Sonny won in part by campaigning against Roy Barnes' dinner mat blue version of the flag, or that the current "compromise" version of the flag is itself an homage to the one of the Confederate flags; McBerry is upset that Georgia didn't return to the 1956 Confederate battle flag version. The compromise version isn't hateful enough, I guess. He also doesn't think Sonny was tough enough on companies that hire illegal immigrants (the one thing I might, kinda, be inclined to agree with him on, although I'm sure that the remainder of our ideas on immigration are in stark conflict), and that Georgia needs to amend its constitution to give fetuses legal status.
What's the matter with Georgia?
Ok Cupcake, you win
Ok, fine, you win. We’ll try to keep some interesting content up here. To be honest, we weren’t expecting the minor deluge of comments and personal emails we got about our hiatus. It’s nice to feel appreciated, and for once, we’re not being sarcastic. Apparently great minds think alike, because as I was banging out the massive post below, my co-editor was doing the same.
Overend Kickoff
Courtesy of our friends over at Bill Overend’s campaign for Solicitor, the candidate will be having his campaign kickoff party this Sunday over at Farm 255 from 4pm until 6pm. There’s going to be some food, some music, and some talking from the candidate. It’s free and open to the public, although the campaign does suggest a $10.00 donation at the door.
Overend faces C. R. Chisholm in the Democratic Primary, and the winner takes on incumbent Republican Mo Wiltshire in the November general.
New Maddox Website
WTF? I mean, WTF? This is an improvement? Y’all liked talking about this one a month ago or so, so let the Snark 2.0 begin. By the by, there was a version in between the first incarnation and this current abomination that featured a – shall we say – extreme usage of the tag. Miss Publius strongly considered a lawsuit against the designer for the seizure she almost had.
Will She or Won’t She? Also, will she or won’t she?
She number 1 = Heidi Davison. She number 2 = Jane Kidd. If we were cynical and misogynistic, we would say that they’d both made up their minds months ago, but are late because they’re up in the bedroom trying to find the right pair of earrings. Fortunately, some comedy is beneath even your crack editorial staff.
Seriously, the big political questions right now, on a local level, are whether Heidi runs again, and whether Jane gives up the safety of her House seat (which is, by our last count, approximately 8,329% democratic) to run for the State Senate against Cowsert. We’ll dispose of Heidi first by saying, how could she not run? We know, we know, only a few months ago, we went on record saying she wouldn’t run. But, whether she runs or not, we’ll have been right. Here’s our take. Heidi has an agenda. She’s got a vision of what she wants this city to be, and whether you agree with her vision or not, you’ve got to agree that she hasn’t done everything she wants to do. Plus, she reeeeeeeaaaaaallllllly likes to screw with people’s minds during the qualifying process. Remember four years ago?
As far as Jane Kidd goes, your guess is as good as ours. Rumors abound (meaning that we’ve heard this from multiple sources) that the fine folks at the Democratic Party of Georgia have encouraged her to stay in the House seat, and not risk a loss in the Senate race. (More on the DPG in a second.) For what it’s worth, if the DPG is pushing that on her, they’re wrong. Any Democrat with a pulse can win Jane Kidd’s House seat. To beat Cowsert in the new 46th (now with 10% more conservative base), you need at least one of two things in a candidate, preferably both. You either need a candidate who can be credible with conservative-leaning swing voters, or you need a name. We don’t know how Jane Kidd would fare in rural
Will all of that make a difference? Who knows? We will mention that both members of your crack editorial staff recently gave up safe, secure, stable gigs to pursue far less safe, but more rewarding career options – and it is a tough personal call to make. Jane Kidd is far more about governing than she is about campaigning, so she may stay in the House because she gets a more or less guaranteed chance to continue governing.
The Democratic Party of
Campaigns and Elections magazine, a trade publication in the politics industry, recently did a piece on the best and worst state parties. We were shocked to see that they’ve listed the Georgia Democratic Party as one of the best in the nation. Seriously kids, we thought it was a typo. Alas it wasn’t. Apparently seasoned political observers think Bobby Kahn and his posse are doing something right. Really?
As Samuel L.
You can’t blame the DPG completely. Smart candidates know that they have to raise the money they need, and a commitment is worth exactly $0 until the check comes in. Unfortunately, a lot of candidates are first-timers, and they don’t learn that nugget of wisdom until it’s too late. And we don’t mean to imply that the DPG is making promises that they know they can’t keep. When you’re involved in an enterprise that depends on the kindness of others to keep it financially afloat, you have to believe that eery year will be better than the last. But sometimes, fundraising falls short.
The other major shortfall in how the DPG does business is in its coordination with local parties. A lot of rural counties don’t even have a local Democratic party structure, and that’s a shame. Even in the smallest counties, you can find 5 or 10 hardcore Dems who would be willing to get together every month and figure out how to help some local folks win some races. Many hands make light work. For the counties, like
So whither now, DPG? Here’s our suggestion. Stop trying to be a vote machine and start being a support machine. Build the infrastructure to help your candidates out. Focus on providing the research and tools that campaigns need, and get your hands out of every race in the state. There are tons of good operatives in
One really good thing the DPG could do right now is to take a hint from states like Alabama and Iowa, where state Democratic parties laid out the cash to build a colossal voter file – better than the raw data available from the Secretaries of State in those states. The parties sent canvassers out to update, test issues, get demographic data, and generally make the voter file a very useful database for Democratic campaigns.
The fact is, the DPG is not very good right now. So, if you want to win some races, maybe it’s time for a new direction and a new purpose.
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