Your morning jolt: Mitt Romney super PAC drops $132k in TV ads — half in metro Atlanta
Restore Our Future, the super PAC affiliated with Mitt Romney, brings its TV ad campaign to Georgia on Wednesday with a $132,090 statewide buy, we’re told. That’s light, but a significant challenge to other campaigns – home-boy Newt Gingrich in particular.
Slightly more than half of the money will be spent in metro Atlanta, where Romney was strongest in the 2008 GOP race for president. The details:
– $77,140 in metro Atlanta: $12,940 at WXIA-TV; $7,400 at WGCL-TV; $35,800 at WSB-TV; and $21,000 at WAGA-TV.
– $12,585 in the Augusta market; $240 in Chattanooga, all on WDSI-TV; $9,075 in Savannah; $5,525 in Macon; $4,475 in Albany; $19,475 in Columbus; and $3,575 in the Greenwood-Greenville, S.C. market.
***
Newt Gingrich’s daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, will be in the campaign’s Atlanta headquarters from 11a.m. to 1 p.m., greeting volunteers and supporters working the phone banks. Address is 3110 Maple Drive, Atlanta 30305.
***
Newt Gingrich will apparently be touching down in Fayette County on Friday to begin his two-day swing here. From a Facebook page announcement:
The VIP reception will be held at Falcon Field’s Main Terminal building, located at 7 Falcon Drive in Peachtree City from 6:30 PM until 7:30 PM. Admission is $500 per person…
The rally will be held in Hangar B4 at Falcon Field, located at 500 Aviation Drive in Peachtree City from 7:30 PM until 8:30 PM. Invite your friends and neighbors and please join us as we welcome Newt back to his former congressional district!
***
On Monday, we had national polls from Pew and Gallup. It’s the turn of the New York Times and CBS News – which also show Rick Santorum surging among GOP primary voters nationwide:
In the new poll, 30 percent of Republican primary voters say they support Mr. Santorum, compared with 27 percent for Mr. Romney. While Mr. Santorum’s lead is an essential tie with Mr. Romney because it’s within the sampling margin of error, it reflects a significant jump for him from earlier polls.
The two other major candidates are farther behind, at 12 percent for Ron Paul and 10 percent for Newt Gingrich, whose numbers have fallen sharply since his win in South Carolina on Jan. 21.
***
In Detroit, Mitt Romney has doubled down on his opposition to President Barack Obama’s bailout of the auto industry in a Detroit News op-ed piece that includes this:
My view at the time — and I set it out plainly in an op-ed in the New York Times — was that “the American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing.” Instead of a bailout, I favored “managed bankruptcy” as the way forward.
Managed bankruptcy may sound like a death knell. But in fact, it is a way for a troubled company to restructure itself rapidly, entering and leaving the courtroom sometimes in weeks or months instead of years, and then returning to profitable operation.
In the case of Chrysler and GM, that was precisely what the companies needed. Both were saddled with an accumulation of labor, pension, and real estate costs that made them unsustainable. Health and retirement benefits alone amounted to an extra $2,000 baked into the price of every car they produced….
***
Creative Loafing has come across something to complicate the dynamic between Atlanta City Hall and the Atlanta Housing Authority:
Two Atlanta Housing Authority commissioners made offensive comments, including racial slurs, in front of agency employees late last year, according to an investigator’s report….
The outside investigation stems from AHA’s employees’ complaints after Commissioners James Allen Jr. and Wayne Jones visited the authority’s downtown offices on Nov. 4, 2011.
According to an investigator’s 18-page report submitted to Mayor Kasim Reed in early December, the two commissioners concerned several unnamed AHA employees with comments about “pistol whip[ping]” a top executive and their job security, among others.
***
Over the weekend, we posted an item on the move within the state Legislature to pursue the sales taxes due on Internet sales – specifically from affiliates of Amazon.com in Georgia. Greg Hoffman (@akagorilla) has tapped out a response that includes this:
The fact is, if this becomes law in Georgia, Amazon and all the big affiliate programs will terminate their relationship with me immediately. Online merchants do not want to provide 50 different solutions to collect taxes from various states through affiliate reports. They will provide one if it becomes federal law. But to ask them to collect taxes 50 different ways is unreasonable and some say unconstitutional. They will not do it, therefore they will cut their losses and avoid the alleged nexus.
***
Then there’s this interesting morning tidbit from Mike Stucka and the Macon Telegraph:
A new interstate could cut a swath through Middle Georgia, according to a federal study that details possible plans of a $7.7 billion route from Augusta to Natchez, Miss.
…No funding for the federal route has been identified, and the Federal Highway Administration launched the study to meet a congressional mandate, and not on its own.
Yet the federal route also covers an area under study by state officials in the ongoing Connect Central Georgia study, which would better tie Columbus, Macon and Augusta through roadways.
***
Finally, the AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at President Barack Obama’s promise to convert the federal government’s fleet of vehicles to flex-fuel.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
117 comments Add your comment
DannyX
February 14th, 2012
11:35 am
“DannyX….Wanna bet Santorum gets more votes in Georgia than Obama?”
Lol, of course Santorum would get more votes in backwards Georgia. Nationally Santorum would lose in a landslide. Santorum is already down by 10, just wait until the public learns about his twisted views.
How many people in this country support Santorum’s views on birth control? 100? maybe 1000?
Santorum is out of touch with the vast majority of people on birth control. Santorum is certainly in touch with himself if he believes what he says about birth control.
Becky
February 14th, 2012
11:35 am
OMG. Pot meet kettle. LOL!!!!!
Centrist
February 14th, 2012
11:40 am
@ td – Since you understand Gingrich is not going to win the nomination, why are you wasting your vote on him hoping he will win GA? You often point out that voting for Obama in GA is a waste since all of the electoral votes are going to be cast for the Republican nominee.
By extending the Republican nomination with votes for candidates who will never win only hurts the eventual nominee (Romney).
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
11:41 am
DannyX….You are dellusional! Like it or hate it….as a Democrat you are the minority.
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
11:42 am
Centrist…NO it doesn’t.
Mark
February 14th, 2012
11:42 am
With a series of polls, including one this morning from The New York Times and CBS News, showing Rick Santorum either tying or surpassing the former Massachusetts governor nationally, the Romney campaign and a pro-Romney super PAC are beginning to set up a firewall in the next dozen primary and caucus states.
This goes to show you that the Republican Party is in complete disarray. Mitt is about as wanted as the Republican nominee as herpes.
Marlboro Man
February 14th, 2012
11:42 am
If you can’t bend you will break.
td
February 14th, 2012
11:43 am
double
February 14th, 2012
10:56 am
I have always been on the any one but Obama train. I will always support the most conservative candidate and have been on these blogs defending the conservatives against you libs and this papers relentless attacks. I believe in the great Ronald Reagan and that you speak no evil of your fellow conservatives.
When Mitt or Rick win the nomination then I will fully support them against the evil empire and Obama.
Becky
February 14th, 2012
11:43 am
The troops are beginning to panic. The sky is falling!!!! Georgia will be blue.
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
11:45 am
Becky….You crack me up!
findog
February 14th, 2012
11:50 am
Centrist and td,
Based on your logic we do not need elections, we can just have the pollsters tell us who wins
How do you think Clinton won?
It was the protest votes for Buchanan in places like Georgia that killed his hopes for a second term
The longer the campaign goes on the longer they get free media
Centrist,
Do you not remember Dole in 1996 couldn’t get arrested after he locked up the nomination and Clinton just flew around on Air Force One with the incumbent free media
Romney may be a .1%er but he still needs all the free media he can get
OSAMA
February 14th, 2012
11:51 am
td
yeah OBAMA is the evil empire..i miss GEORGY
findog
February 14th, 2012
11:52 am
his being GHW Bush
double
February 14th, 2012
11:55 am
TD When you vote other than for Newt in primary,remember I will kill your vote.Your vote is not going to count no more than mine.Just stay home that day and play on the computer.All these people you tell their vote won’t count are going to kill your vote.People you think you may have discouraged from voting,ones you call dumb racist,welfare recipients,on the plantation are not going to forget.They will vote.
td
February 14th, 2012
11:58 am
Centrist
February 14th, 2012
11:40 am
I do not believe this will hurt the nominee. Did it hurt Obama 4 years ago to have a long nomination fight?
The general election is not going to be decided by who the Republican nominee is but instead as a referendum on Obama. 38 states have already decided what they think of his first term and their votes could be locked in right now (including Georgia). The election will be decided by 12 states and only by about 20% of the voters in those states.
The vote in those 12 states will depend on two factors: 1: Which candidate can turn out the largest amount of their supports while depressing the turnout of the other side. 2: Do the white middle class suburban married women with children believe Obama has done enough or not done enough to deserve a second term.
td
February 14th, 2012
12:02 pm
double
February 14th, 2012
11:55 am
First off you live in Tenn so you are not voting in the Ga. primary. Second there is thank God not enough of you libs in the south to make a difference because Obama will not carry one of them.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:02 pm
women know that if they vote republican theyre womb will become a slave of the federal government
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:03 pm
td
he carried florida in 2008…lol..anymore predictions…hehehe
td
February 14th, 2012
12:03 pm
findog
February 14th, 2012
11:50 am
The only reason Clinton won was because of Ross Perot (sp). No other reason.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:03 pm
SANTORUM the creepy guy who plays with dead babies wont have a chance against OBAMA
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:04 pm
TD
CLINTON won because he got the most votes…
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:04 pm
liberalefty…he wont in 2012.
Buckhead Boy
February 14th, 2012
12:04 pm
td, from the weak turnout in the GOP contests to date, it seems to me that the true dichotomy of that party’s proponents is those who are now too embarrassed to take a Republican ballot and those who cannot be embarrassed, rather than the business wing – “physically” conservative split that you suggest. For example, anyone who would write “‘physically’ conservative” doubtfully could know embarrassment.
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:05 pm
liberalefty….Clinton was also impeached!
td
February 14th, 2012
12:05 pm
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:03 pm
td
he carried florida in 2008…lol..anymore predictions…hehehe
If you understood anything then you would know that Florida has never been considered a state of the deep south.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:06 pm
if all the lying repub candidates hate WASHINGTON DC so much, why sre they trying their darndest to get the top job in DC…OBVIOUSLY THEY LOOOOOVE DC..
Becky
February 14th, 2012
12:06 pm
Isn’t physically conservative when your skirt hits your knee?
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:06 pm
TD
you mean because its not full of backward rednecks?
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:07 pm
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MINORITY WEALTH ENVY…
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7574523/roddy-white-atlanta-falcons-rips-roger-goodell-reported-salary
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:07 pm
uga1999
CLINTON WUZ IMPEACHED…thanks for the history lesson
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:08 pm
uga1999
wealth envy or the truth?…i think the latter
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:09 pm
liberalefty….Isn’t atlanta the “black mecca”? So now you are saying that blacks are “backward rednecks”? Ok
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:09 pm
newt and his garden tool{hoe} aint looking too good right now…
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:10 pm
uga1999
this whole country is a mecca
td
February 14th, 2012
12:10 pm
Buckhead Boy
February 14th, 2012
12:04 pm
So grammatical mistakes is all you have? I would be more embarrassed about not having the intellectual capability or the intellectual honesty to defend my philosophy then to be embarrassed about a grammar error but I guess when you have nothing you have to stab at anything you can.
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:10 pm
liberalefty…Of backwards rednecks? Cool.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:11 pm
uga1999
atlanta has a lot of black hoodrats who dont vote…
Mark
February 14th, 2012
12:12 pm
@ double
February 14th, 2012
11:55 am
TD When you vote other than for Newt in primary,remember I will kill your vote.Your vote is not going to count no more than mine.Just stay home that day and play on the computer.All these people you tell their vote won’t count are going to kill your vote.People you think you may have discouraged from voting,ones you call dumb racist,welfare recipients,on the plantation are not going to forget.They will vote.
WELL SAID!
I’ve connected with several democrats who plan to vote in the Primary for Newt or Paul just to keep this circus going. I think I’ll vote for Newt in the primary and then vote for Obama in the General.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:12 pm
a lot of hoodrats think OBAMA acts too white
Centrist
February 14th, 2012
12:13 pm
td posted “I do not believe this will hurt the nominee. Did it hurt Obama 4 years ago to have a long nomination fight?”
Sure it hurts. Not only does it give the other side more ammunition and doubt in swing voters minds, it drains campaign funds. I understand the slate is cleaned after the convention for the general election, but donor fatigue sets in when there are extended requests during the primary process.
4 years ago there was not an incumbent sitting back watching the fireworks. As you know, I don’t think incumbent Obama will lose enough of those swing states he won by small margins last time. It will be even easier for him to hold them if the Republicans don’t quickly settle on Romney.
Centrists like me who will not vote for Gingrich or Santorum against Obama because of Gingrich’s character and Santorum being too far to the right. IMO, it is time for Republicans to close ranks around the only alternative who is possibly electable.
td
February 14th, 2012
12:15 pm
iberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:06 pm
TD
you mean because its not full of backward rednecks?
Looks like you are showing your lack of intellectual capability and honesty to defend your philosophy also. Do you not feel dumb coming on here day after day without even knowing why you support a particular party or giving an intelligent argument as to why your candidate deserves another term.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:19 pm
td
i support democrats because of JFK and LBJ who supported civil rights back in the 60’s…democrats have pushed freedom while conservatives have pushed the “good ole days” of yesteryear…blacks will never vote for your race baiting party…
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:20 pm
liberalefty….maybe because Obama is white.
honested
February 14th, 2012
12:21 pm
td, uga et. al.
You guys whip up the vote for ole’ noots.
Get all your friends to as well.
You will have a lot of GA Democrats voting with you.
We all want to see the most incompetent, unelectable republican on the other side of the ballot from The President.
And from those clinging to the roll bar in the Clown Car, that would be ole’ noots!
Obama 2012!
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:22 pm
why should blacks vote for the republicans? remember BUSH and the incompetent 8 yrs he was in office…he couldnt protect AMERICA and he took a surplus and turned it into a deficit..he lied about WMD’S and had thousands of people killed for his lie…
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:23 pm
honested….it doesn’t matter who get the Repub nom….Obama will never win Georgia and may never win the re-election.
liberalefty
February 14th, 2012
12:25 pm
OBAMA dont need to win JAWJa…U STOOOOOOOOPID CONSERVATIVES DONT KNOW THAT?
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:26 pm
liberalefty…..Ok, wow where to begin. You have bought hook line and sinker into the Democrat lies.
* He couldn’t protect America. So now Bush works for the FAA and TSA? Remember Clinton could have killed Bin Laden years prior and didnt. Also remember that the world trade centers were attacked long before 9/11.
* Took a surplus and turned it into a deficit? Really, what surplus? Those were all the muniplation of numbers. However if you want to look at true blame start looking at Chris Dodd and Barney Frank.
*You do realize that Iraq had WMD’s and that the majority of Democrats agreed as well.
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:26 pm
liberalefty…..Racist emails? Produce one!
UGA 1999
February 14th, 2012
12:27 pm
liberalefty…>Actually YES HE DOES. He will not win the swing states again. He is going to have to make that difference up somehow. Even Obama has admitted this…WOW!