Your morning jolt: New Hampshire the next stop for Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal’s post-oil spill appearance at a Georgia GOP fund-raiser in downtown Atlanta last night looks more and more like one of many pre-2012 forays across the country by the Louisiana governor.
Meg Whitman, the GOP nominee for governor of California, left, with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal last week. AP/Justin Kase Conder
From Tom Baxter of InsiderAdvantage:
Jindal regaled Republicans at the annual Victory Dinner with stories of federal red tape and bureaucracy during the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.
This may have been the first gathering to bring together most of the opponents in this year’s Republican governor’s race, including Karen Handel, John Oxendine, Eric Johnson and the party’s nominee, Nathan Deal, who used the occasion to appeal for party unity in the upcoming election.
Jindal told the Georgia Republicans he has gotten used to people asking “How are you poor people doing down there,” after the series of disasters which have devastated the state over the decade. But Jindal said his state has outperformed the rest of the South and the nation in the recession, and claimed credit for the effect of reforms enacted while he has been governor.
According to Louisiana reports, Jindal next week will head to New Hampshire for two events on behalf of Republican John Stephen, who is challenging Democratic Gov. John Lynch.
The governor has picked up his out-of-state travel schedule in recent weeks after months of staying home to cope with the Gulf oil spill, campaigning for GOP candidates in California, Ohio, Minnesota and Florida.
But it’s always that trip to New Hampshire that sets off the presidential alarm.
***
The New York Times has posted the 65-page federal indictment that on Monday snared four Alabama state senators, Milton McGregor, that state’s largest casino owner, and several lobbyists – including Jay Walker, former chief of staff to House speaker Glenn Richardson. See it here.
Walker has resigned from his position as chief strategist to Mike Keown, the GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany.
***
Sonny Perdue will end his eight years as governor with the state’s prize possession – the state’s AAA bond rating – intact. From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
Georgia is one of a few states to maintain the highest bond ratings possible from Moody’s, Fitch, and Standard & Poor’s. Perdue’s office said the rating agencies credited the state’s active management of the budget, including withholding allotments to agencies to ensure expenditures do not exceed revenues.
AAA ratings mean the state typically pays very low interest rates on its debt.
The ratings come before this week’s sale of up to $975 million in bonds, including a refunding component and funding for capital projects authorized in the state’s fiscal 2010 and 2011 budgets. Projects include local school construction, higher education facilities, and public safety projects.
***
Over the weekend, the National Republican Congressional Committee unleashed a $5.4 million barrage of TV ads aimed at 27 Democrats in 20 states – including U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Macon:
In one of its more whimsical ads, the N.R.C.C. goes after Representative Jim Marshall from Georgia’s Eighth District, with an ad featuring an animated Ms. Pelosi cruising around the nation’s capital with Mr. Marshall in a red convertible as confetti streams down.
In the ad, a narrator claims that Mr. Marshall “went to Washington, where he met Nancy Pelosi. Jim voted with her almost 90 percent of the time.”
However, Mr. Marshall’s campaign disputes this figure as “utterly false” and “not defensible.”“Any measure that compares Marshall and Pelosi’s votes shows that the N.R.C.C. claim in their ad is simply false,” said Doug Moore, a campaign spokesman.
In fact, a comparison of their records on roll call votes since January 2007 from OpenCongress, an independent, nonprofit Web site that tracks Congressional votes, puts their joint voting record at 66 percent — far lower than the N.R.C.C. ad claims.
Marshall’s campaign reports that in 2010, Marshall voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 60.9 percent of the time – and with Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio 65.3 percent of the time.
Boehner, incidently, encouraged Republicans to support the October 2008 bailout that the above ad condemns.
***
Every so often, Hester Prynne wears pants. This from the Macon Telegraph:
Houston County Chief Assistant District Attorney Jason Ashford, who is also a candidate for State Court judge, was fired Monday.
Ashford, who contacted The Telegraph, said he was fired for not being forthcoming about a college relationship and a child, now 18, he may have fathered.
Jason Ashford, left, and Houston County District Attorney Rabb Wilkerson are seen together at a news conference last month.
Ashford said when he was asked Thursday by Houston County District Attorney Rabb Wilkerson if he was a “deadbeat dad,” he simply told him he was not.
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25 comments Add your comment
JD
October 5th, 2010
8:37 am
So the man-who-would-be-speaker Boehner voted with Pelosi 56% of the time. Either she was right more than half the time, or he was wrong more than half-the time. Go figure. Where are the RNCC ads against Boehner?
Bubba
October 5th, 2010
8:44 am
Bobby Jindal would make a great president, but he doesn’t have the star power required to be elected in a society that values entertainment over intellect.
RTR!!!
October 5th, 2010
8:48 am
I know republicans are going through fits. They have a vulnerable democrat in the White House, and not one qualified candidate to take him out. Must be frustrating.
hdhd
October 5th, 2010
9:32 am
I would love to vote for Jindal. Young, energetic, a minority (let’s face it, it helps), and the story of his family immigration to America is a great story. He really needs (hope he has) to hire a public speaking coach, PR people, etc. If he could build a brand like the Obama machine, he could sweep the polls in 2 years.
$$
October 5th, 2010
9:39 am
Nathan Deal has an open mind about casinos in Georgia. A major revenue stream into someone’s pockets.
David S
October 5th, 2010
9:51 am
These are the same ratings companies that helped get the entire financial industry into trouble. The state is bankrupt and unlike the Feds, they cannot just print money out of thin air to pay their bills.
AAA may be the rating, but that is only relative to every other bankrupt state in the nation.
CJae From East Lake
October 5th, 2010
9:54 am
Here it is about month before the election and honestly I’m not thrilled with either Deal or Barnes. I may just vote for the Libertarian candidate in an effort to boost his showing at the polls and send a message to both parties that they best not rest on their laurels.
Mike
October 5th, 2010
9:55 am
Can Sonny stay on until we can find a worthy replacement? Good Ole Boy Roy & The Unreal Deal are no choice.
Skip
October 5th, 2010
10:05 am
Jindal hasen’t got a chance, he didn’t even get a show on Fox.
Avery Bundren
October 5th, 2010
10:09 am
Bubba, since when did intellect become a criterion when voting for President or any other office for that matter? Can you honestly say that Reagan and both Bushes were/are intellectual? The Republicans like to trot out their “diversity”: Jindal, Michael Steele, and their one Jewish member of Congress, Eric Cantor. What diversity!
Joe Bob Perteat
October 5th, 2010
10:14 am
It is patently absurd that NH (old, white and tiny populace) quadrennially exerts such an inordinate influence upon the presidential election. Basic fairness dictates that the order of the primaries be rotated.
hdhd
October 5th, 2010
10:19 am
Jindal would not want to start his campaign in some other states. He is not white enough….they might not believe his birth certificate or try to deport him.
findog
October 5th, 2010
10:33 am
Now coming to Gainesville the communist minions of Former Governor Roy Barnes
New signs all along the right away state, “MAKE GEORGIA WORK.”
Why isn’t the propaganda arm of the leftist machine not reporting on this forced labor proposal?
My apologies to Martin Niemöller
First they came for the poultry workers, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a chicken farmer.
Then they came for the home builders, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a carpenter.
Then they came for the red necks, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a blue dog.
Then they came for me (good ol boy) – and there was no one left to speak for me.
findog
October 5th, 2010
10:43 am
Mike @ 9:55
Here is what will completely stop all this nonsense and ensure good godly republican rule:
Joint press conference with: Deal, Cagle, and Handel
Deal to announce that if elected he will abdicate to Cagle
Cagle to announce that he will nominate Handle to serve out his remaining term
Handel pledges to not press charges against Deal
Problem solved, now lets fix education!
Last Man Standing
October 5th, 2010
11:38 am
Avery Bundren:
I’m not so sure that “intellectuals” should be elected, or even be considered as a selling point for them. I know several intellectuals who lack “walking around” common sense! The intellectual may be long and strong on political and economic theory but lack the common sense to see shortcomings in the theory. Even if the theory is valid, does the intellectual possess the ability to transform theory into action?
td
October 5th, 2010
12:04 pm
Avery Bundren, You know one of the most intellectual Presidents this country has had is Jimmy Carter. I am not sure that worked out very well. Give me a person that is so what book smart and has a lot of common sense.
StopRegistryTerrorists
October 5th, 2010
12:39 pm
Bobby Jindal has contributed too much to the SEX OFFENDER witch hunt of the huge, nanny governments. We don’t need any more politicians who will sacrifice a particular group of citizens for political gains. We don’t need any more politicians who will outright lie and misrepresent in order to keep the SEX OFFENDER propaganda campaign going. I will never vote for anyone who will sacrifice basic American ideas and protections and will harm the hated-citizens-of-the-day just because it is popular and politically correct to do so. Real Americans do not support the SEX OFFENDER witch hunt or the nanny governments needed to run it. And we don’t need any more clueless, lying politicians who do.
Cissy
October 5th, 2010
12:53 pm
I read the Macon Telegraph story on Ashford and Wilkerson. I guess I can understand Wilkerson’s firing Ashford… although I’m not sure why this was Wilkerson’s business. Wilkerson, frankly, comes off as a nosy prisspot.
So now, when Ashford is running for a job he is surely as competent as anyone to do (especially given the recent fun and games in Fayette County), this single mother wants more? I have no respect for people who take advantage of what they perceive to be a period of weakness–when someone runs for public office–to ask for more money (as here) or allege a potentially-damaging claim (see California candidate M. Whitman’s former housekeeper). And I agree with Jon Stewart, who commented (on Fresh Air, an NPR show) last weekend about Christine O’Donnell’s candidacy, that we really should not be focusing on candidates’ mistakes or comments made 20 years ago; but that our focus should be on whether this candidate can, right now, do the job for which s/he is running. We lose far too many good candidates for public office by focusing on their entire private lives, instead of on whether they could do a good job now in the office they seek. Otherwise good candidates who don’t want their families dragged through the mud and their qualifications ignored simply decide not to run. Which leaves the field open for mediocre candidates who have never done much of anything… and probably won’t change that approach if they win office. How is that helping?
Without knowing anything else about Ashford, I hope he wins his seat on the bench because people decided to vote for his qualifications right now rather than to vote against a mistake he made years ago.
Cissy
October 5th, 2010
1:00 pm
Sorry, StopRegisterTerrorists. I’m all for locking up sex offenders for life. But if we can’t do that (and I’m still not sure why we can’t), the least we can do is keep track of them. Research has shown they can’t be cured. I’m a real American and I won’t vote for anyone who advocates letting us lose track of them. And I’ll bet, even if you are living with your family in a survivalist camp in the deep woods, StopRegisterTerrorists, that you don’t want one in the next tent. I’d rather live next to a murderer.
The Centrist
October 5th, 2010
1:01 pm
@td. You are absolutely correct about Jimmy Carter. Three of his biggest failures as an intellectual were: (1) not getting in bed with the Arabs after the embargo, (2) allowing the phased deregulation of the energy and transportation industries in the middle of an energy crisis, and (3) allowing deregulations of the finance industry in the middle of a misguided speculative real estate market.
Douglas
October 5th, 2010
2:37 pm
Ah, findog, you are BRILLIANT! I like Roy myself, but the “Make Georgia Work” line does leave me wondering if there is a coda that goes “…or ELSE!” But while the nonsense might stop if your plan went through, I very much doubt God would want anything to do with that troika. As for Jindal, if he’s an intellectual, it can only be as measured against his fellow Repubs. Last Man is on to something – our intellectual presidents, of which there have been thankfully few, are hamstrung by indecision and a serious inability to connect with their average American. Bill Clinton had the advantage of being very smart and being a red neck at heart – he really COULD feel your pain. Problem for him was he “felt” a few other things as well…
Douglas
October 5th, 2010
2:41 pm
Centrist, another problem for Carter was that he thought he could run a commando raid on Terhan from the White House, and that he was unwilling to work with Sen. Kennedy on health care — a fix then might have avoided this monstrosity we have now.
Douglas
October 5th, 2010
5:51 pm
Regarding Rep. Marshall, if the GOCC had really wanted to slime him, they’d have shown him in one of those alleged “Smart Cars” or even worse, on transit! A big ol’ Chevy convertible is NOT the car of the Liberal Obama Elite.
Michael
October 6th, 2010
5:51 am
Jindal is the biggest “R”epublifool, and consequently, the next President of the United States.
StopRegistryTerrorists
October 6th, 2010
3:24 pm
Cissy (October 5th, 2010 1:00 pm): Yes, you are exactly the type of person who supports the SEX OFFENDER laws. Uninformed, uneducated, emotional, illogical.
I can pick apart just about every sentence you wrote, but why mess with it?
You said, “Research has shown they can’t be cured.” That statement alone proves that you have no idea of what you are speaking. There are so, so many people who support the idiotic laws that say such things. And when they do, informed people know that the person can be dismissed immediately without further consideration. So I will only address that by saying that you need to do just a tiny, tiny bit of research about the research. Don’t worry, you won’t have to work very hard or long.
I’ll just do one more – you said, “I’d rather live next to a murderer.” That proves you either love dangerous risks or that you have no idea of what you are speaking.
Lastly, the people who really, really support SEX OFFENDER Registration and are pushing for more and more similar laws are terrorists. It may not seem like it at a causal glance, but take a close look. There is quite a correlation. The majority of Americans support Registration or are ambivalent about it but they are not terrorists. They are just uninformed and apathetic. They are like most Germans were in Nazi Germany. Complicit by inaction.
Whatever. The U.S. has a very, very long sordid history of the majority doing stupid, illegal, immoral things to the hated minority of the moment. I just wish people like you would step and actually pay for all this useless BS that you all want.