Archive for the ‘Poll Position’ Category

Chip Rogers made news this week by announcing he was resigning his recently re-won Senate seat to take a job at Georgia Public Broadcasting. A special election for the seat will be held Jan. 8, just two months after Rogers’ replacement could have been elected in the general election had he stepped down earlier. Channel 2 Action News reports the special election will cost Cherokee and Fulton counties $500,000.

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But that’s not all. Rep. Sean Jerguson, who like Rogers hails from Cherokee County, is resigning his House seat to run for the Senate post. So there will be a special election the same day to …

Continue reading Poll Position: Should politicians who resign early help cover the cost of special elections? »

Now for something completely different …

As my longtime readers know, I’m a sports fan. And if there’s been a bigger four-day stretch of big and potentially big sports news in Atlanta than we’ve seen beginning Wednesday, I don’t recall it.

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Wednesday: The Braves reached a deal with free-agent CF B.J. Upton.

Thursday: The Falcons beat their arch-nemesis, the Saints, to move within a whisker of the NFC South title and a step closer to home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. (As a bonus, a loss Sunday by Tampa Bay would give the division title to the Falcons.)

Friday: The Braves traded pitcher Tommy Hanson, freeing up payroll funds for another …

Continue reading Poll Position: Which big win would make you happiest? »

There’s been a lot of speculation for some time now about who in the Georgia GOP might challenge U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a primary when he’s up for re-election in 2014. That speculation owes to a couple of issues on which he’s strayed from the main Republican Party line, most recently and notably with his openness to revenue increases via his work with the Gang of Six in the Senate.

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The buzz grew last week after Congressman Tom Price lost his bid for a higher position in the House GOP leadership ranks (to Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington). Adding to the intrigue surrounding Price is the fact Speaker John Boehner, a friend of Chambliss’s, backed McMorris Rodgers.

In an article posted last night, Roll Call suggests another possible challenger to …

Continue reading Poll Position: Who is GOP’s best choice for U.S. Senate? »

The election is over, but there is real work to be done in Washington before President Obama even begins his second term. On Jan. 1, about seven and a half weeks from now, we take a flying leap over the fiscal cliff unless Obama and Congress can strike a deal to avoid it. Oh, and the debt ceiling will probably have to be raised again before the end of 2012, too.

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This time, Obama is inheriting a mess from himself. The …

Continue reading Poll Position: How to avoid the fiscal cliff? »

The day is almost upon us. It’s time to declare.

After a very long election season, we’re a few days away from learning whether Barack Obama will be re-elected or if Mitt Romney will replace him. Which way will it go?

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Now, you can find any number of data points to support your desired or predicted outcome. National polls, state polls, battleground polls, early voting totals, absentee ballot requests, TV ad spending, campaign stops by the candidates and their surrogates — all point to a tight race, and any can be used to explain why Obama will win or Romney will be victorious. In such a close race, with hardly …

Continue reading Poll Position: Who will win the presidency? »

Through three debates — two between the presidential candidates, one featuring their running mates — there’s been one constant: The moderators have been part of the story each time. PBS’ Jim Lehrer was faulted by some for being too hands-off; ABC’s Martha Raddatz for being too quick to interrupt; CNN’s Candy Crowley for playing fact-checker during one particularly heated exchange between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

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(As an aside, as someone who’s moderated several debates myself, Crowley was wrong to intervene in that manner for two reasons, neither of them partisan: First, it wasn’t her place to offer an opinion; if she was trying to cut off the debate and move on to another topic, she should have simply said, “This one will have to go to the fact-checkers.” Second, fact-checking isn’t part of the moderator’s …

Continue reading Poll Position: Do we need moderators in presidential debates? »

The big story this week was the series of attacks on U.S. embassies across the Middle East and North Africa: from Libya, where our ambassador was killed, to Egypt, Yemen and, today, Tunisia and Sudan. In Libya, the government is cooperating with the investigation into the murders of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The responses from the other countries have been mixed, but they have been rather tepid on the whole.

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President Obama made a mistake Wednesday evening when he said of the Egyptian government, which has been in place less than three months, “I …

Continue reading Poll Position: How should Obama respond to embassy attacks? »

Everyone waiting for an “October surprise” from the Middle East has tended to focus on Israel and Iran. But earlier this week, U.S. intervention in Syria’s civil war was put on the table — by President Obama.

Unlike in Libya, where potential mass killings of civilians by forces loyal to then-dictator Moammar Gadhafi prompted Europe and the U.S. to side with the rebels, Syria’s 1.5-year-old conflict has already claimed 20,000 lives, more than half of whom reportedly were civilians. Monday, in a rare Q&A session with the White House press corps, Obama warned both sides in the conflict against using weapons of mass destruction:

We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region, that that’s a red line for us, and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front, or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.

It was the strongest indication from Obama yet about what it …

Continue reading Poll Position: If WMDs are used in Syria, should U.S. intervene? »

After a week when Joe Biden employed his best Delaware drawl to warn “y’all” the GOP wants to put you “back in chains,” told the same Virginia crowd that they would help President Obama win North Carolina this year, and declared America perfectly capable of leading the worldwide automotive industry well into the 20th century, the vice president is catching plenty of heat. Naturally, the rumors are swirling that he will, or should, be replaced on the Democratic ticket this year.

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Ed Klein, author of a book about the Obama administration, said last night on CNBC that Hillary Clinton was offered, and turned down, the job — two weeks ago. Personally, I would be surprised if that entire conversation — from Obama …

Continue reading Poll Position: Should Obama dump Biden from the ticket? »

In the aftermath of the T-SPLOST, I heard numerous theories about why the proposed tax went down in flames. I’ve offered my own, broad explanation for this result. But it does not necessarily exclude lots of sub-explanations — reasons some particular commuters might have had for voting against it. Here’s the most intriguing one I’ve heard:

Some people secretly like their time in the car, because it’s the only time they have to themselves all day.

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Personally, I don’t subscribe to this idea. I don’t mind my commute because, nine days out of 10, it’s quick and easy. And on that one day out of 10, I’m not happy about the extended driving time. But a few people I know have admitted to enjoying their “me time” in their cars — time they can spend listening to their music, or a …

Continue reading Poll Position: Do you secretly enjoy having time to yourself while commuting? »