Political Insider

Did you miss the Atlanta Press Club debate between mayoral candidates Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed on Sunday night?

The video has been posted on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s web site. See it here.

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Continue reading Watch Sunday’s Norwood/Reed debate on GPB »

The crazy season has arrived a few days early.

State Rep. Ralph Long of Atlanta, the only elected official now supporting mayoral candidate Mary Norwood, has handed to WXIA a video recording that he says shows someone removing Norwood yard signs – then handing them to a Kasim Reed field office for what appears to be payment.

Long told the TV station that his car was pounded on and he was chased by another vehicle after the African-American lawmaker, armed with a video camera, showed himself to Reed supporters

Here’s the teaser to its 6 p.m. broadcast offered by the TV station.

Long isn’t identified on the video by name, but the WXIA web site does make use of his name. The signs were allegedly removed at the Adamsville natatorium on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, an early voting location. Long allegedly followed the man removing the sign to a shopping center at Linhurst and MLK.

Paul Crawley says that, afterwards, a “shaken” Long came straight to the TV station.

“And frankly, …

Continue reading Ralph Long and a video of yard-sign theft »

The race for mayor of Atlanta became quite snippy over the weekend, with each candidate leveling attacks against the other – Kasim Reed by air, Mary Norwood on the ground.

On Friday, the Reed campaign put the following TV ad in circulation:

The script and sourcing for the claims can be found by clicking here.

The two attacks are linked by the Atlanta budget. The basic Reed claim is that Norwood voted against two property tax hikes that resulted in the furlough of Atlanta police and fire fighters.

“Norwood voted to allow police furloughs. Twice. She made Atlanta less safe,” the ad says.

Over the weekend, the Norwood campaign sent an oversized mailer – large enough to draw the attention of voters. (And hard to scan, too, so that part will take a while.)

“Kasim Reed voted to increase the sales tax and repeatedly supported property tax hikes,” the mailer says.

The Norwood attack gets just as personal as the Reed TV ad, accusing Reed of neglecting to pay property taxes. …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Ground and air attacks in the ATL race for mayor »

A contentious exchange on race relations marked the beginning of Saturday evening’s debate between Atlanta mayoral candidates Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood on WAGA-TV.

Fox 5’s Diedra Dukes opened up the topic by asking Reed whether the mayoral campaign had divided the city by black and white.

Reed responded optimistically:

“I think that the city has made outstanding progress. I think that we both received support both from white citizens and from black citizens. My support in the white community has actually been growing significantly.

“Elections are tough. But I think now that the campaign is down to two individuals, you will see more support that is cross-racial. And I think that is important. Both Ms. Norwood and myself are working toward the best Atlanta – the Atlanta that Dr. [Martin Luther] King talked about.

“I think that we have both conducted ourselves in a way that makes the citizens of Atlanta proud. And as long as we don’t get bogged down in trying to win an …

Continue reading ATL mayoral candidate Mary Norwood says her African-American supporters ‘have been threatened’ »

Last week, former state lawmaker Roger Hines of Kennesaw became the second Republican to announce a 2010 primary challenge to state School Superintendent Kathy Cox.

His campaign slogan — “We can do better” — isn’t the catchy phrase likely to make Gov. Sonny Perdue smile.

The retired high school teacher enters the race with the support of a dozen or so GOP legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock, so it is not to be taken lightly. Richard Woods of Tifton, also an educator, is the other GOP candidate.

“Education in Georgia is too important to get caught up in party politics,” Rogers said in Hines’ defense. But serious primary challenges to incumbents are rare, and they always mean something.

Officially, Hines is running against the lack of progress in Georgia schools under both Cox and Perdue and the “testing mania” that he says has killed the joy of teaching. The state Department of Education, Hines said, “has become a data …

Continue reading Kathy Cox and the Republican dilemma »

WSB-TV and InsiderAdvantage today released a poll that, like a survey earlier this week, shows the Atlanta mayor’s race in a dead heat: Kasim Reed at 46.3 percent, and Mary Norwood at 46.1 percent.

This from IA CEO Matt Towery:

“What sticks out in this survey to me is the fact that Norwood does well with men while Reed does better with women. A closer examination explains this: African American men are the least likely to vote, based on our analysis, and African American females are one of the demographics most likely to vote.”

Which could give an advantage to Reed, he said.

The WXIA/V-103/Survey USA poll had Reed slightly ahead, 49 percent to Norwood’s 46 percent. – but the lead didn’t exceed the margin of error, and thus wasn’t statistically significant.

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Continue reading Another poll shows ATL mayor’s race a dead heat »

Doug Richards of WXIA-TV has this on his personal blog, Live Apartment Fire:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been investigating the near-tragic accident that destroyed a WSB live truck and sent a reporter and photographer to Grady hospital.

Our info comes from a newsroom employee with knowledge about the case. The employee asked not to be named, saying WSB is “trying to downplay” the incident out of embarrassment and fear that the station may face fines and/or damages.

Richards also has an e-mail Q&A with WSB reporter Tom Jones, which includes this:

What was the shock/explosion like?

The explosion sounded like something out of Baghdad. It was horrific and rocked the van.

Were you able to keep your wits about you? How?

It was very difficult to keep my wits because of the smoke that quickly filled the truck. Then I noticed fire in the back quickly approaching. My photographer was the hero because his training quickly kicked in. He repeatedly pleaded …

Continue reading OSHA looking at WSB truck shock? »

In a carefully worded editorial this morning, the Brunswick News this morning has become the first newspaper in the state to publicly call for House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s resignation. The coastal enclave is a large source of Republican votes and cash.

Wrote the newspaper:

He’s telling everyone he can handle the stress of his job, of being the leader of the House and with his weighty personal issues.

Given the trauma in Rep. Richardson’s life, given his attempt at suicide just weeks ago and given the tremendous revenue problems pressing down hard on the state and its taxpayers in all 159 counties today, it would be best for all concerned for Richardson to resign as Speaker of the House.

And the sooner, the better. It’s difficult enough to deal with inner turmoil without the added load of having to deal with a grizzly bear of a budget mess because of a sick economy.

Just as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, there will be more budget cuts, more financial pain in the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: A call for the speaker’s resignation, and the possibility of another Carter in the state Senate »

Remember that stampede to Barack Obama last year? Thurbert Baker didn’t join it. This from Associated Press:

Attorney General Thurbert Baker is getting some high-profile help in his bid to become Georgia’s first black governor.

Former President Bill Clinton will headline a fund-raiser for Baker Dec. 7 in New York.

Baker praised Clinton for building a strong economy, saying he would do the same in Georgia if elected to replace Republican Sonny Perdue.

In 2007, Baker endorsed then-Sen. Hillary Clinton’s bid for president, becoming one of her most prominent backers in Georgia. Barack Obama went on to win Georgia’s Democratic primary and the White House.

Since leaving office, Bill Clinton has remained one of the Democratic Party’s most sought-after fundraisers.

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Continue reading Bill Clinton to host fund-raiser for Thurbert Baker »

This posted by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina:

PPP’s newest national survey finds that a 52% majority of GOP voters nationally think that ACORN stole the Presidential election for Barack Obama last year, with only 27% granting that he won it legitimately….

Belief in the ACORN conspiracy theory is even higher among GOP partisans than the birther one, which only 42% of Republicans expressed agreement with on our national survey in September.

Overall 62% of Americans think Obama legitimately won the election to only 26% who think ACORN stole it for him, as few Democrats or independents buy into that line of thinking.

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Continue reading A majority of GOP voters think ACORN stole the ‘08 election for Obama »