Archive for the ‘Poll Position’ Category

Michael Adams arrived at the University of Georgia at the same time I did, in the fall of 1997. I left four years later. At that time, no one would have guessed he’d still be there in 2012, much less 2013. He was always rumored to have other ambitions, from moving on to other universities to heading the NCAA, or even seeking political office. But it will be June of next year, Adams announced yesterday, when he retires from the job.

At just shy of 16 years, his tenure will have been longer than all but three UGA presidents in the 20th century. And a lengthy tenure often makes for a number of possible ways for a person to be remembered. Oh, how that will be the case with Michael Adams.

Adams presided over UGA during a time of marked improvement in both its students’ credentials and its facilities. The HOPE scholarship and metro Atlanta’s population boom certainly contributed to the former. But Adams capitalized on those advantages in many ways, including the expansion of merit …

Continue reading Poll Position: What will be Michael Adams’ legacy at UGA? »

Today is considered “Weed Day” by marijuana smokers because the date, 4/20, corresponds with the numbers they use to refer to the drug. The actual origins of the term “420″ are not as widely known, but you can count on thousands of college students gathering — in some cases, together, and in very public locations — to celebrate doing something that’s illegal.

For now, anyway.

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There is a growing shift in public opinion about whether marijuana should be legalized, even in the South, with as unlikely a proponent as Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson arguing that particular drug shouldn’t be treated any differently than alcohol. Gary Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico and erstwhile GOP presidential candidate now seeking the Libertarian Party’s 2012 nomination, has called for legalizing and regulating marijuana, citing the ineffectiveness and …

Continue reading Poll Position: Should marijuana be legalized? »

Today’s jobs report was not good. From December to February, net job creation surpassed 200,000 per month — and while estimates vary about how many new jobs are needed each month simply to keep pace with population growth, pretty much everyone agrees anything north of 200,000 is good news. But in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ initial estimate is a disappointing 120,000. That was the worst monthly showing since October, and the worst figure for March since 2009. It doesn’t represent the kind of growth that heralds a reinvigorated labor market.

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The unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent, but that had a lot to do with people giving up on finding jobs and exiting the labor force. At this stage of an economic recovery, people ought to be rejoining the labor force as they see an uptick in hiring.

Now, the dip in March could …

Continue reading Poll Position: Is the economy gaining or just breaking even? »

During three days of oral arguments about Obamacare at the Supreme Court this week, legal analysts were at pains to predict which way each justice was leaning based on his or her line of questioning. For all but the most experienced court watchers, this seems like an exercise in futility: Justices may be just as likely to question an attorney’s point in the hopes of eliciting a stronger case for it as they are to seek to poke holes in it. I’ll just stick to the prediction I, like many others, made when the first legal challenges were filed: This case will come down to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court’s most frequent swing vote, in what most likely will be a 5-4 decision.

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Much of the analysis …

Continue reading Poll Position: If Obamacare mandate falls, what goes with it? »

After a long winter — in terms of the state Legislature and the GOP presidential race, not the temperature — the boys of summer are almost back, which means spring is near. But before we could reach Opening Day, we found out it’ll be the last season for one Larry Wayne Jones Jr., better known as Chipper.

Those of us who watched the Braves’ unprecedented streak of division titles during the 1990s and early 2000s have been treated to a succession of retiring greats during the past few years: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Bobby Cox and, now, Chipper Jones.

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And that got me thinking: Is Chipper the best Atlanta Brave ever?

Note the phrasing: Atlanta Brave. So, greats from the franchise’s days in …

Continue reading Poll Position: Who was Atlanta’s greatest Brave of all? »

Some of the Republicans who are weary of — and Democrats who are delighted by — the GOP’s long primary process have taken to pointing to turnout numbers as proof the party faithful are uninspired. In Mississippi’s hard-fought primary this week, for instance, turnout was lower than four years ago when John McCain already had all but wrapped up the nomination. We’ve seen similar results in other states throughout the primary season.

Then, along came Karl Rove with evidence the current president is suffering an enthusiasm problem of his own.

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In his weekly op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rove noted that Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee had a combined $91.7 million in cash on hand by the end of January. At the end of January 2004, by comparison, Rove pointed out that George W. Bush and the Republican …

Continue reading Poll Position: Which party’s most pooped about 2012 race? »

For Atlanta residents, this week brought another trip to the ballot box — and another sales tax approved.

This time, it was the re-authorization of a 1 percent sales tax to fund more repairs to the city’s water and sewer infrastructure. It passed overwhelmingly. Just four months ago, voters in six metro counties chose to extend 1 percent SPLOSTs (special-purpose local-option sales taxes) for school construction. Just over a year ago, Cobb residents voted to keep their own SPLOST.

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All this self-taxation has observers, including yours truly, wondering what the impact will be for the T-SPLOST referendum to be held in July.

On one hand, folks don’t seem hesitant to pass these sales taxes. …

Continue reading Poll Position: What do other tax approvals tell us about T-SPLOST? »

Sometimes, the obvious is just too hard to see. As I looked around the Interwebs for ideas about a Poll Position question today, suddenly it dawned on me: Hey, why not ask about the big, real poll taking place here next week?

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So, I’ll go with the GOP presidential primary — but with a twist: I’d like you to vote in the poll that fits the ideological leaning that best describes you.

It’s the closest I can come to a kind of cross-tabs for one of these (still unscientific, of course) polls.

Yes, the labels are limited and perhaps overly broad, but I will be intrigued to see if we get anything interesting from the results: Which candidate gets the “conservative” vote, the “moderate” vote and the “liberal” vote.

Then we’ll compare these results to the exit polls from Georgia …

Continue reading Poll Position: Which candidate will get your vote Tuesday? »

After a couple of weeks of relatively low activity, the GOP primary process returns to hit full speed on the next two Tuesdays. Twelve states will hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, Feb. 28, or the Super Tuesday date, March 6. Add the Washington state caucuses in between, and we’re talking about one-quarter of all states in an eight-day span.

Two of the more prominent primaries will be Michigan’s next week and ours right here in Georgia on Super Tuesday. They’re prominent not just because of the delegates awarded — although Georgia, with 76 delegates, will be the biggest prize during this stretch — but because two of the candidates have such strong ties to them.

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Michigan is where Mitt Romney was born and raised while his father was a Detroit auto executive and then the state’s governor. Georgia, of course, is where …

Continue reading Poll Position: Who would be hurt worse, Romney losing Michigan or Gingrich losing Georgia? »

The Super Bowl is almost here once again, and the Falcons … well, they’ve long since packed up their lockers until next fall. Atlanta has plenty of transplants, so there may be plenty of New Yorkers or New Englanders for whom that’s no big deal. (For those non-football fans among us: The game will be between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.) But it leaves those of us who live here with a dilemma: which team to root for?

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Go for the champion from your team’s conference? (For Falcons fans, that would be the Giants.) Root for a favorite player? Maybe it’s …

Continue reading Poll Position: What’s your rooting interest in the Super Bowl? »