Archive for October, 2010

You may have already seen this disturbing video– a clip of a young woman protestor from Moveon.org being stomped on at a Rand Paul rally in Kentucky.

Any cop will tell you that crowd violence is usually the work of young males brimming with testosterone. But the attackers in this mini-riot are clearly middle-aged men. Which is somehow more disturbing:

A follow-up from the Lexington Herald-Leader:

A supporter of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul is being served with a criminal summons after he was seen on video stepping on a liberal activist’s head at a rally Monday night, according to Lexington police.

Tim Profitt, a volunteer with Paul’s campaign, told the Herald-Leader he was concerned the woman was trying to attack Paul and acted only to subdue her.

“The way she went after him it looked like something bad was getting ready to happen,” said Profitt, 53, of Bourbon County.

He said he put his foot on her shoulder, not her head. “I said, ‘Now you stay …

Continue reading The Kentucky video: Middle-aged men out of control »

One day after Democrat Roy Barnes began airing his closing argument, Republican nominee for governor Nathan Deal is up with his:

The script:

Nathan Deal: “I’m a husband, father and grandfather, guided by faith, honest and integrity. Sadly, Roy Barnes has tried to undermine my character with false attacks, fueled by his political ambition. But that’s just Roy.

“As a veteran and a prosecutor, I’ve fought to keep families safe. As a public servant, I cut spending and cut taxes. As governor, I’ll kick-start the economy to protect the jobs we have and create new jobs for the future.”

One point: Again, note that “public servant” has become code for “member of Congress.” Deal served in Washington for nearly 18 years.

The Deal campaign also released the contents of a robo-call endorsement from Gov. Sonny Perdue, which should hit GOP voters this evening:

“Hello, this is Gov. Sonny Perdue, calling for my friend and fellow Republican Nathan Deal. We’ve made a lot …

Continue reading And now, a final word from Nathan Deal »

WMAZ-TV in Macon is reporting that the divorce papers of Republican congressional candidate Austin Scott will remain sealed — at least until well after the Nov. 2 election:

A Tift County judge won’t rule until at least Dec. 6 on whether congressional candidate Austin Scott’s divorce records will be unsealed.

After hearing arguments on both sides, the judge ruled this morning that Scott and his ex-wife, Annette Jordan, hadn’t had 30 days to respond to the suit brought by a Democratic activist.

Their lawyers told the judge that Scott and his wife were served with court papers on Oct. 12 and 16.

Judge Bill Reinhardt said he was aware of “the elephant in the room” — the Nov. 2 election for the 8th Congressional District seat — but said the law is the law.

Macon attorney Carmel Sanders filed the motion to make the records public on behalf of her client, Amy Morton. She argues that Scott, a Republican state representative, got special treatment when the divorce records were sealed …

Continue reading Judge delays hearing on Austin Scott divorce papers until December »

With one week to go, we’re getting down to campaign basics. And in the South, that means a healthy dose of racial innuendo.

A mailer from John Barge, the Republican candidate for state school superintendent, arrived at the house on Monday. On its cover was a photograph of his Democratic rival, Joe Martin, and President Barack Obama.

Other than the headline, which you can see here, the flyer makes no mention of Obama. The other three pages of the flyer are devoted to Martin’s lack of classroom experience – a legitimate issue worthy of debate. (Martin, who is not a lawyer, was a longtime member of the Atlanta school board.)

“It is what it is. It’s certainly a distraction,” Martin said in a phone conversation. Attempts to obtain comment from the state GOP, which paid for the flyer, were unsuccessful.

On the other side of the fence, PeachPundit has nabbed sound from what it says is a radio ad playing on stations with African-American audiences. Listen to it here.

The …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Race and the basics of Southern politics »

On the day before a court hearing on whether the 2001 divorce papers of Republican congressional candidate Austin Scott should be sealed, WMAZ-TV in Macon is reporting this sudden twist:

The attorney for a local Democrat seeking to unseal 8th congressional district candidate Austin Scott’s divorce records says a request was filed Monday on behalf of the Republican candidate’s 11-year-old son to delay the hearing and appear as a defendant in the case.

A Tift County judge is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday to unseal the documents.
Macon attorney Carmel Sanders filed the motion to make the records public on behalf of her client Amy Morton.

Morton, a Democratic activist, says she isn’t looking for any specific information in the files but says the public has a right to know what’s in them.

Sanders says her office received a motion from 11-year-old Wells Scott today, asking to take part in the records hearing.

“Either the former Mrs. Scott or Mr. Scott have hired a lawyer on …

Continue reading WMAZ-TV: GOP candidate’s 11-year-old son intervenes to block release of dad’s divorce papers »

Over the weekend, Democrat Carol Porter put out her first TV ad to attack Republican incumbent Casey Cagle in the race for lieutenant governor:

The script:

Carol Porter: “I’m Carol Porter. My opponent Casey Cagle says he protected educational funding, but in reality he cut $4 billion. He says he kept taxes low. But he gave us the single largest property tax increase in Georgia history, during a recession.

“Taxpayers are tapped out, and we deserve the truth. There are solutions for Georgia, but we need new ethical leadership to push them through. I’m Carol Porter, and I ask for your vote for lieutenant governor.”

(A video previously in the above space was incorrectly identified as a work product of the state Democratic party.)

Cagle responded with this today:

The script:

Female narrator: “Carol Porter. Her false attacks and liberal agenda are wrong.”

Casey Cagle: “In Georgia, putting a priority on people means doing what’s right. That’s why we fought to …

Continue reading Ads from Carol Porter and Casey Cagle — and a mysterious fight over a tax on groceries »

Sunday’s Insider column pointed to the possibility of a runoff in Georgia’s race for governor. 11Alive just provided some fresh statistical underpinnings:

With the general election just a week from Tuesday, a new independent poll from SurveyUSA commissioned by 11Alive News and V-103 Radio shows a commanding lead for Georgia’s Republicans in statewide offices, but it also shows an increased possibility of a runoff in the hotly contested governor’s race.

Democratic candidate and former Gov. Roy Barnes is up a small bit from our last survey six weeks ago, but the numbers indicate that Republican former US Congressman Nathan Deal is ahead of Barnes, 49 percent to 39 percent.

Libertarian John Monds, at 8 percent, Monday takes the votes of 1-in-4 independents and 1-in-6 liberals, potentially keeping Deal just under the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, though support for third-party candidates sometimes collapses on Election Day.

From the SurveyUSA web site, with …

Continue reading 11Alive/V-103/WMAZ-TV poll: Governor’s race could be headed to a runoff »

We will get to the quarrel over the Hawaiian shirt soon enough.

The three candidates for U.S. Senate had their one and only debate Sunday night. Given the current political climate, exchanges between Republican incumbent Johnny Isakson and Democrat Michael Thurmond were remarkably civil.

The only harsh notes of discord in the Atlanta Press Club debate were struck by Chuck Donovan, the Libertarian who steadfastly attacked Isakson as something other than conservative.

The Insider was on the panel of questioners, which curtailed note-taking. But there was actual news in the statewide, 60-minute session on Georgia Public Broadcasting:

– Chances are that Republicans will take control of the U.S. House next week – which is certain to set up a confrontation over federal spending with President Barack Obama. But Isakson said that – with troops still in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in need of civilian government support – he didn’t expect GOP leaders to pursue a …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: In debate, Johnny Isakson says GOP won’t shut down government »

Tea party protestors gather at the state Capitol in April. Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com

This morning, the Washington Post unveils the results of its effort to make contact with every tea party group in the nation.

The piece uses a Georgia group to suggest that the movement, while certain to be a potent force next month and possibly in 2012, may be smaller than advertised:

The local groups stand in contrast to – and, in their minds, apart from – a handful of large national groups that claim the tea party label. Most of those outfits, including FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express, are headed by longtime political players who have used their resources and know-how to help elect a number of candidates.

The findings suggest that the breadth of the tea party may be inflated. The Atlanta-based Tea Party Patriots, for example, says it has a listing of more than 2,300 local groups, but The Post was unable to identify anywhere near that many, despite help from the organization and …

Continue reading Tea party movement in Georgia and elsewhere smaller than advertised? »

With just over a week to go before Groundhog — er, Election — Day, it’s time to consider the uncomfortable possibility that some bucktoothed newscaster will see his shadow, and we will all be forced to endure four more weeks of campaigning and ugly TV ads.

In other words, we could have a runoff for governor. Cue the tinny duet from Sonny and Cher: “Just put your little hand in mine …”

Neither Republican Nathan Deal nor Democrat Roy Barnes will yet acknowledge such a scenario — perhaps out of a fear that it would drain much-needed adrenaline from their volunteers.

And the signs certainly point to a strong Republican performance in Georgia on Nov. 2.

But in virtually every poll of statewide races, Deal has run several points behind other GOP candidates — the burden of a bitter primary struggle and fierce, well-funded TV attacks from Barnes.

In most surveys, the former North Georgia congressman has been under that magic mark of 50 percent plus one. And …

Continue reading Contemplating the possibility of a (groan!) runoff for governor »