Sarah Palin sets off a ‘mama grizzly’ war in the GOP race for governor
Sarah Palin and GOP women have apparently given Karen Handel the boost she needs to survive on Tuesday — and her male rivals know it.
From a Saturday campaign summary by the Associated Press:
The fireworks were in the GOP race, where a recent poll showed state insurance commissioner John Oxendine, former secretary of state Karen Handel and ex-U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal battling for an expected runoff.
Handel accused Deal of sexism by pointing to a press release from his campaign saying that “real women” support his campaign. Handel said that attacked her own female supporters, including her most prominent backer: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
“That just really disappointing,” Handel told The Associated Press.
Asked if the attack was sexist Handel said, “of course it is.”Deal called the claim “absurd” and said he was simply using campaign branding — the word “real” — he’s adopted since the election began. His campaign slogan is “Deal. Real.”
“That certainly was not meant to impugn anybody,” Deal said.
In fact, Deal has a reason to promote himself as female-friendly.
The Georgia Newspaper Partnership poll out today gives Handel a lead of 29 percent, but that lead zooms to 34 percent among women – an advantage that stands right at the margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percent.
Handel also shows a slightly smaller, but corresponding deficit among male voters.
Deal, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, and former state senator Eric Johnson of Savannah all show a certain amount of leakage in their support from Republican women.
Though the overall percentages in the GOP contest are different, the same trend can be seen in an InsiderAdvantage/Channel 2 Action News poll released on Friday.
The gender gap had already shown itself, but Palin endorsement of Handel last Monday appears to have given it more strength.
One overt sign that Handel intends to play to this gap in a runoff can be found in this mailer sent out by her campaign last week, which details the top four candidates’ positions on abortion.
She lists Oxendine, Deal and Johnson as “pro-life, no exceptions” – which is not entirely accurate. The three men acknowledge exceptions for pregnancies that threaten the life of the mother – the position of Georgia Right to Life, which has endorsed them.
Handel, who was not endorsed by GRTL, lists her own position as “pro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
As the weekend closed, a rival campaign strategist wondered out loud why Handel would expose herself to charges of being soft on abortion.
But in a female-oriented runoff, it would be interesting to see what polls have to say about the attitude of GOP women on that topic – and what role it might play, should Handel survive Tuesday.
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134 comments Add your comment
Democrat's for Palin
July 19th, 2010
6:14 am
I LOVE Sarah Palin! She’s the best thing to happen to Democrats since Nixon. As long she’s the leader of the ‘publicans, they’ll have zero credibility.
Of course, a “great american” will be along shortly to assert that the Dem’s are just afraid of the mama grizzly. And all I can say is, keep on keepin’ on!
Go Ox
July 19th, 2010
6:52 am
Ox won the debate
khc
July 19th, 2010
7:44 am
handel no show, ox total da, johnson part of the problem for last 8 years, and deal party switcher and questionable ethics…..whew what a crowd
are you better off now than 8 years ago?
J. Davis
July 19th, 2010
8:02 am
Endorsing the most liberal Republican in the governors race is a big misstep for S. Palin. I admire Palin, but she has put a notch in her gun stock that makes her a more establishment Republican than a conservative.
Mike
July 19th, 2010
8:33 am
Palin is a dunce who is playing up her “found” celebrity. While I’m leaning to voting for Handel, I’m disappointed that she wasn’t at the debate. Is it that she sees she has more to lose than to win by debating? It’s really a sorry lot on both sides that we have running for governor.
grifter
July 19th, 2010
8:50 am
Sarah Palin: Any skirt will do.
LOW BLOW
July 19th, 2010
8:51 am
Maybe its time to have a women in charge because the men surely dont know what the heck they are doing. I have not really looked at Handel until recently.
As far as Palin, well she is certainely more qualified then our so called President Obama who seems to hold dear the muslem and terriorist countries and the rights of Mexicans to come illegally and take over our country. After all, Obama just told Nasa that their first priority was to make sure the Muslems feel important as far as their roll in space. AND WHAT ROLL WOULD THAT BE?
Time to put people in office who support the American people and the CONSTITUTION dont you think.
grifter
July 19th, 2010
8:55 am
But hey if Sarah Palin is such a divisive figure, why not elect Pamela Anderson? I mean, she is a woman. That seems to be the only requirement for republican feminist icon these days. That and a “country crock” ignorance of just about everything. Oh, except how to get your daughter knocked up.
grifter
July 19th, 2010
8:57 am
LOW BLOW (what a deserving name for you) you can’t even spell ignorant. Keep home schooling those boys on your compound, let us adults do some work.
Nunya
July 19th, 2010
8:59 am
Alrighty so now we will most likely get the same old lying, criminal, career politicians thanks to the liberal AJC that I hope goes belly up. I could’ve lived easily with McBerry and I could’ve lived with Chapman or Johnson, but I will go to a homeless shelter in the surplus State of Virginia so you can thank God Georgia will have one less conservative.
Nunya
July 19th, 2010
8:59 am
Jim Galloway — you are a joke.
grifter
July 19th, 2010
9:03 am
Have fun in VA nunya. Write us if you can about the good ol southern paradise. Sic semper and all that.
Snafu
July 19th, 2010
9:06 am
People have to wonder why the media is pushing Palin? This woman is ignorant and have no clue. The notion that she is given air time is unflipping believable. Dumbing down America seems to be the course here in this country. Karen Handel is as bad for Georgia as is John Oxendine, both inept and on the corporate payroll.
Juanita
July 19th, 2010
9:07 am
What really bothers me is that The “People” wanted change. Pres. Obama has done as much positive change and he promised he could. The Republicans have tried to block him on everything. He is darned if he does, darned if he doesn’t. Now, Georgians are faced with hard core, heartless candidates, talking about Immigrants like they are dogs,(well, I can’t say that because people care more about their animals now, that people), okay, Candidates are showing their HATRED for Mr. Obama, Immigrants, Gays, any body that is different. Our state is becoming more divided. Take a hard look at your candidates and what they are saying.. Hatred should not be anybody’s Platform, Democrat or Republican………….. I’m sick of all the Negativity!!!!!!
November
July 19th, 2010
9:13 am
This is Mrs.Normain Maine
July 18th, 2010
11:56 am
Karen Handel barely graduated high school! I cannot believe this woman is a serious contender for governor although her low educational level is representative of her constituents. If I didn’t have enough reasons to despise Palin, I now have the ultimate reason. Who is she to meddle in the affairs of our state?
And, Mrs.Normain Maine, you’re an absolute idiot and the people you hang with prove it. Being a crackpot, it’s very hard for you to call a kettle black.
Savannah77
July 19th, 2010
9:17 am
ReElect NoOne
I will not vote for a banker, lawyer, career politician
I will be voting for the christian noncareer candidate who owes no one favors
P.S. Out of state “endorsements” are worthless to Georgia voters
Vote wisely tomorrow
????
July 19th, 2010
9:21 am
3 crooks with college degrees, 1 honest woman with a High School degree, guess I’ll go with the honest woman.
Truth
July 19th, 2010
9:23 am
I watched the debate last night.. We are screwed, what a bunch of losers.
Savannah77
July 19th, 2010
9:23 am
Juanita: Vote for a true Christian to represent our great state! do your reserach on the pool of candidates!
luangtom
July 19th, 2010
9:46 am
Karen, No-Show, Handel and her “holier than thou” theatrics. How lame can one get? If she were to win the governorship, would she put her personal judgements aside and deal with less than desirable legislators or other governors that do not meet her moral standards or would she be a no-show with them, too? Ms. Flip-flop on gays and now Ms. Morality, ya gotta love it. Her own former-staff write here of arrogance, foul-mouth, ineptness and lack of trust. We need someone like this as governor? NOT.
ANGRY AS HELL
July 19th, 2010
10:15 am
LOW BLOW is a perfect example of why Republicans get elected to keep stealing from their supporters and the rest of us. What Sara Palin has going for her is that she knows there are people who are even dumber than she is like…., well, LOW Blow…people who vote against their own, best interests and read the funny papers. Palin MORE qualified than Obama? Really ? Palin can barely utter a coherent sentence. People who support Palin are the same kind of people who just couldn’t accept the fact he was Black and had an Arabic (not Muslim) name. They couldn’t accept that fact. So, they get these other nutjobs like “Birthers” to come up with a wacky story about Obama not being qualified because they think he wasn’t born an American citizen. That would mean that the birth certifcate issued to his mother back in 1962 by the State of Hawaii was “fixed” back then because somehow his mother knew he would be president some day. This is how far this country has come. Palin gets suckers like LOW BLOW and some of these Republican women to support her because she talks about “Mama grizzlies” and “angry soccer Moms” and all this other bull$hit she speaks, and, through her silence, shows support for these wacko Birthers and other mental patients who claim Obama is a Muslim. If she wasn’t scripted by her handlers, she’d be unable to utter her own name. Can anyone imagine her negotiating with the President or Prime Minister of any of our allies? She’d do a great job of discussing how to gut salmon or make elk sausage. Beyond that, we’d be in trouble as soon as she opens her mouth. I will give her this. She was smart enough to leave the Alaska governorship to hit the “speaking” circuit and cash in on her notoriety. And you suckers pay her the money to speak your language.
I hope she is the Republican nominee for President in 2012. I just pray that she is. Democrats will not have to worry about losing the presidency.
Paddy O
July 19th, 2010
10:26 am
Maryland – ever been to Baltimore? There is more crime and ghetto there than any place in Georgia – so keep you northern liberal elitism where it belongs – up you butt, jobu!
Paddy O
July 19th, 2010
10:28 am
Juanita – are you neck deep in credit card debt? How else can you support Obama blowing so much $$$ that he does NOT have access to? He is spending your grandkids taxes – how is that responsible? How do like him running around apologizing to all 3rd class countries? Obama is an obummer.
Lee Howell
July 19th, 2010
12:02 pm
I’ve voted Republican for more years than I care to admit, and will continue to do so at the national level, but Sonny Perdue & Co. have cured me of doing so at the state level.
Otherwise, the fact that Oxendine and Deal, who both have significant unresolved ethical allegations against them, are being allowed to run under the GOP banner and are actually polling fairly high, is turning me against the GA GOP. Libertarians & Independents, here I come!
Lee Howell
July 19th, 2010
12:08 pm
@ANGRY AS HELL, I don’t care what color President Obama is, and I don’t care if he’s called Barack or Barry or Tom or Dick or Harry.
I do care that his lack of administrative experience is showing. I do care that he’s pushing government expansion when we’re already heavily in debt, and higher taxes when many people are barely making ends meet.
I care that he’s spending so much time traveling around the country on the taxpayer’s dime when he could say what he wants to say from the White House, going on seemingly endless golf jaunts and vacations when many of the rest of us can’t find jobs and can’t afford vacations or even a “date night”, and I care that taxes are about to go through the roof on people who are having trouble paying their bills already.
And for what it’s worth, I didn’t like George W. Bush either.
Pork Chop
July 19th, 2010
12:35 pm
After reading some of these postings, I have reversed myself. I am no longer a “pro-life” person. I now favor abortion. Can we pass a law legalizing retroactive abortions?
Pickin' Cotton
July 19th, 2010
1:44 pm
I am a female – business professional – Have Major concerns with HANDEL!
IF HANDEL CAN’T SHOW UP FOR THE FIGHT (PANEL DISCUSSIONS)
DON’T SHOW UP TO REPORT TO WORK FOR GOVERNOR!
Peach Street
July 19th, 2010
1:47 pm
VOTE NO FOR JOHNSON!!!
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
July 19th, 2010
7:57 pm
Sarah Palin, inbred whitetrash from Alaska, endorses papist whitetrash from Maryland trying to garner the whitetrash vote in Georgia.
Let’s elect DuBose and Carol Porter instead to show America what genuinely high quality, true Georgians look like.
vladimir
July 19th, 2010
8:21 pm
Would you rather have a crook or a nincompoop for a Governor? If none of the above, then vote for Eric Johnson!
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
July 19th, 2010
9:02 pm
Eric Johnson proved out crooked, against the People of Georgia, by trying to give Jekyll Island to Linger Longer.
J.B. STONER
July 19th, 2010
9:26 pm
Juanita is a damn fool
Rob B
July 20th, 2010
9:05 pm
I wish there was a direct reply to comment, but Hey GEORGIAVOTER….Truman didn’t have a degree along with one of the lower presidential approval rates in history and Bush went to Yale. SO get your facts before making an argument.
Bear
July 21st, 2010
11:47 am
Everyone please stop and think about what the real issues are! It’s about liberty and freedom and they are threatened by the Democratic Party. Roy Barnes will agree with what Washington throws out for his own political agenda!!! I hate the Democratic position on the redistribution of taxpayer money!!! Don’t you care? Start pulling together!!!!