Your daily jolt: Black voters in Georgia casting ballots at higher rate than ‘08
Even without any major statewide candidate contests to encourage turnout, African-American voters in Georgia are on track to cast a larger share of the presidential vote than in 2008, according to the latest figures from the secretary of state’s office.
As of today, 780,545 Georgia voters have cast their ballots for the Nov. 6 election. Of those, 33 percent have been African-American.
In 2008, when drawn to the polls by the prospect of electing the nation’s first black president, African-Americans cast 30 percent of 3.9 million votes in Georgia.
The question is whether this year’s participation statistic will shrink between now and Tuesday week. Even if it drops slightly, it could be taken as a sign that President Barack Obama’s political base remains enthusiastic, and hasn’t been discouraged by the ups and downs of October.
You also have to wonder what heavy black turnout would mean for Georgia’s charter school measure.
***
Here’s that “first time” ad from the Barack Obama campaign – clearly aimed at the young and virginal – that everyone’s talking about:
***
Those polls that show the presidential campaign to be a squeaker? Newt Gingrich doesn’t believe them. From Politico.com:
“I believe the minimum result will be 53-47 Romney, over 300 electoral votes, and the Republicans will pick up the Senate,” the former House speaker said Thursday night on Fox News’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
***
Earlier this week, during an interview in Iowa, President Barack Obama predicted that, after the election was done, Washington would come together and create that “grand bargain” to address a $16 trillion federal debt and avoid the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to go into effect at the close of the year.
On Thursday, speaking Republican rather than Democrat, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson said much the same thing:
Said Georgia’s junior senator:
”I think we’ll postpone the ‘fiscal cliff’ from the end of this year, into next year, with certain speed-bumps and thresholds that Congress must perform on before we get there. We’ve got a crisis ahead of us. It’s got to be solved, it’s got to be a comprehensive solution, which is going to take pushing it into next year. But we need a deadline to make sure Congress faces the music on spending, on entitlements and on taxes….”
It was pointed out that sequestration would cost Georgia 24,000 jobs. Said Isakson:
”Most of those jobs are in Marietta, Ga., where I live, at Lockheed-Martin. So I know a lot about what you’re talking about. Automatic sequestration, across-the-board at the Department of Defense would be disastrous. Congress ought to be doing its jobs. We ought to be finding efficiencies that make sense.”
***
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge K. Dawson Jackson on Thursday dismissed a second lawsuit against opponents of the Nov. 6 ballot measure on charter schools. See the details here.
Plaintiffs had accused the Gwinnett school board and the Georgia School Board Association of improperly using taxpayer resources to campaign against the measure.
In tossing the request for court intervention, Jackson made a finding worth reading. He said the lawsuit qualified as a SLAPP action. That’s a “strategic lawsuit against public participation” – often used by developers to freeze civilian opponents in zoning cases and such.
Lawson invoked the state’s anti-SLAPP statute:
The General Assembly of Georgia has recognized that “it is in the public interest to encourage participation by the citizens of Georgia in matters of public significance through the exercise of their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and the right to petition government for redress of grievances.
“The General Assembly of Georgia further finds and declares that the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and the right to petition government for a redress of grievances should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial process.”
***
Over at WABE (90.1FM), Rose Scott reports that state Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, will introduce legislation to give parents more control over all public schools – including the right to change the administration of a low-performing school.
Now, some people might argue that Lindsey is advocating a reduction in local school board authority – and they would be right.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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153 comments Add your comment
retro
October 26th, 2012
1:40 pm
“Parental Triggers” putting management of local schools in parents’ hands? What does Ed propose to do about this:
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA
ARTICLE VIII. EDUCATION
SECTION V. LOCAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS
Ga. Const. Art. VIII, § V, Para. II (2012)
PARAGRAPH II. Boards of education
Each school system shall be under the management and control of a board of education, the members of which shall be elected as provided by law. School board members shall reside within the territory embraced by the school system and shall have such compensation and additional qualifications as may be provided by law. Any board of education to which the members are appointed as of December 31, 1992, shall continue as an appointed board of education through December 31, 1993, and the appointed members of such board of education who are in office on December 31, 1992, shall continue in office as members of such appointed board until December 31, 1993, on which date the terms of office of all appointed members shall end.
My guess is that “management and control” includes decisions on administration. Hate to go all legal here, but Ed’s bill is a pretty obvious constitutional violation. And no, nothing in the “Charter School” amendment changes the term “management and control”.
Georgia
October 26th, 2012
1:40 pm
Isakson just said Congress is the biggest enemy to the united states. He’s referring to the gridlock about economic reforms. He spoke in the conditional about a collapse, when the reality is that our collapse is a fresh wound. He talks about a deadline, when the fiscal cliff is already a deadline, so he’s kicking the can down the road, and worse, he’s the bravest of our senators. You should hear what the rest of senators think we should do. Yes, dressing up like indians and throwing tea in the harbor is one of their initiatives.
Wow
October 26th, 2012
1:40 pm
I love how race is an issue, but if you bring it to attention you are a racist…I am voting white…I mean for Romney. Ask any black who they are voting for and then ask them a question pertaining to the economy, foreign policy, unemployment and their answer remains the same…he is black.
As far as schools, no difference..parents are not involved in schools.
Jeffrey
October 26th, 2012
1:46 pm
Newt’s on drugs.
Manny
October 26th, 2012
1:47 pm
Hi!
As a minority (African-American), I can tell you that those people voting for Obama because he’s black is as much as those in the majority voting for Romney because he’s white. Most minorities are voting for Obama because unemployment is under 8%. And they like his economic stances, particularly on more taxes for the Top 1%. And shutting down the wars. That’s why they’re going to the polls so strongly.
Believe me, if the unemployment rate was going up and not down, and if we doubled down on the wars and didn’t have a plan for the deficit and healthcare, they would vote for Romney or stay home.
Here’s the issue for me: How is Romney going to pay for all of his spending? How is he going to pay for these tax cuts? How is he going to pay for the military spending? The deficit is going to explode! Obama has a gap in his spending, but at least tax increases are on the table. But I’m personally sick of folks talking about a tax cut during times where the deficit is so large.
At least that why I’m not voting for Romney.
joe
October 26th, 2012
1:49 pm
Won’t matter. GA is and always will be a red state. That ad that equates first time voting to losing virginity is a new low for the Obama campaign. Pathetic.
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
1:52 pm
@Kevin
October 26th, 2012
1:09 pm
@ Kris
.
When you demand payment to take care of a women’s personal business from the government, YOU are inviting them in. The government should not be a sugar daddy that just gives you a blank check to go shopping.
==================================================
The government should not be a sugar daddy that just gives MILLIONAIRES
and BILLIONAIRES a blank check that they do not NEED.
The government should not be a sugar daddy that just gives MILLIONAIRES
and BILLIONAIRES a TAX CUT that they do not NEED.
The government should not be a sugar daddy that just gives MILLIONAIRES
and BILLIONAIRES a LOWER TAX RATE that they do not NEED.
Kris Jones
October 26th, 2012
1:52 pm
It’s racist to vote for a candidate because he’s white, but not racist to vote for a candidate because he’s black. Vote for the best man – Romney! We’ve had four years of broken promises- enough is enough!
Call It Like It Is
October 26th, 2012
1:54 pm
Okay, so what. Blacks are voting democratic and their voting for Obama. Man that is just a shocker, way to go AJC with that cutting news.
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
1:57 pm
@joe
October 26th, 2012
1:49 pm
Won’t matter. GA is and always will be a red state. That ad that equates first time voting to losing virginity is a new low for the Obama campaign. Pathetic.
=====================================================
You are right…Georgia is and always will be a RED MUD state.
You can tell a person from Georgia by the RED MUD on his shoes
and his truck.
RED MUD is HARD to wash off. Its in some people’s blood.
There is a CURE: Obamacare covers PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS.
Kris
October 26th, 2012
1:59 pm
Loyalty Comes In All Colors …………….Thank You
OBAMA 2012
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
2:02 pm
@Kris Jones
October 26th, 2012
1:52 pm
@Call It Like It Is
October 26th, 2012
1:54 pm
=======================================
Loyalty Comes In All Colors….BLACK.. ..WHITE….RED….YELLOW
You don’t have a lock on LOYALTY.
Obama 2012
MysteryMoves
October 26th, 2012
2:03 pm
To George Chidi, I am White Caucasian, voted early and voted for Obama! I didn’t vote for Obama because of the color of his skin, and I suspect black voters see precisely what I see in Obama, which is clearly a man of great character and leadership qualities, plus the best candidate for Presidency at this particular time in history. On the other hand, a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Bernard Lawrence “Bernie” Madoff types, the KKK and wrong crowd! We don’t need a Twit in The White House, but what is needed is the kind of steady “proven” leadership Obama has provided our Nation during the worst financial, housing and auto crisis since the Great Depression. GOP cannot be trusted in office.
David
October 26th, 2012
2:06 pm
I have often wondered what makes someone vote the way they do? What is it that makes someone vote one way or another. What are their driving factors. The reason I wonder this is becuase no 1 candidate, or one political party can be all things to all people. The facts are simple that there has never been a political party or a candidate that you agree with 100% of the time. My questions is based on the first part of this article, the talk and the assumption is that the black vote will go for the President, based on pols and history nothing surprizing there. Then you look at the Charter School amendment, and I would bet that the major of black votes will be for that. I look at the Democratic Party of today and wonder what it has in common with black voters that support it. I could take any number of current hot button issues and again will wager that the offical stance of todays Democratic Party goes against what you see in polling data from the black community. So again I ask what is it that draws someone to vote the way they do?
Rafe Hollister
October 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
I know this sounds “not serious”, but I am truly curious. Who counts “blacks” at the polls? I did not know voter registration records listed race, if it does then it should be removed. Does someone select them by how they look, or do they ask, what race are you?
I can just see some idiot with a tally sheet trying to decide how to classify some of these multiracial people.
D Right One
October 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
The real question that needs answering is why do AA’s vote Democrat not just for Obama but for the last 40 or 50 years? Why aren’t the Republicans more attactive to minorities?
james
October 26th, 2012
2:11 pm
Ahhh the black vote… who cares it shouldn’t even
be about color but the media loves to bring the race
card out… By the way I’m guessing the Latino vote
is larger then the black vote now anyway so maybe the media
should focus on them… give me a break…. I don’t care
what color someone is vote for who you think will turn this
country around by creating more jobs and less govenment………
Kris
October 26th, 2012
2:13 pm
@ David
Polling data is crap, the charter is a no good pocket lining SCAM (Shady DEAL and his cronies).
I vote based on Whom I think will do the better job, be it REPUKE or Democrat.
Save our schools vote NO on the charter school SCAM.
Re-elect President OBAMA
Rafe Hollister
October 26th, 2012
2:15 pm
mystery
steady “proven” leadership Obama has provided our Nation during the worst financial, housing and auto crisis since the Great Depression. GOP cannot be trusted in office.
Now, that is a knee slapper! 43 months of unemployment over 8%, 23 million under or unemployed Americans, 5T more debt, 1.5T deficit, record unemployment numbers for blacks, women, and other minorities, a failed foreign policy, diplomatic personnel killed, and blame and excuses for everyone of those stats. I can’t stop laughing, that was a good one!
Pedro
October 26th, 2012
2:23 pm
Just shows how easily duped the Negro population is here in Georgia. Pathetic.
kim
October 26th, 2012
2:29 pm
I’m voting for the person that shows he cares. I have often wonderful why a man born with money or money passed down to him would want to be the President…. This person can’t imagine how hard it is to pay bills, shop at the grocery store, take care of children, and pay for gas. Right now I don’t see that in the republican choice. He brags on one statement that I’m so tried of hearing “I know how to bring jobs to the USA”, but he has also taking jobs from the USA…. I tend to read the facts. I don’t vote for someone because of their race. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to vote for anyone…….You see there is good and bad in all races of people. None of us are prefect. We will never get a 100% approve of anyone.
Malcolm
October 26th, 2012
2:31 pm
The ballot or the bullet.
Marlboro Man
October 26th, 2012
2:32 pm
We already have a deadline. Congress is the problem.
Georgia, The " New Mississippi "
October 26th, 2012
2:37 pm
Come on… Georgia is a red (neck) state. R-money will win by a wide margin. After minorities work through and overcome the GOP voter suppression laws , 2016 will be the recognized turning point in American political history.
Kris
October 26th, 2012
2:37 pm
Time to saddle up my finest show horse and sharpen my bayonet…
@ Malcolm…The ballot or the bullet…or bayonet…
Georgia, The " New Mississippi "
October 26th, 2012
2:39 pm
@ Pedro….. What is a Negro ?
Zippity Doo Da
October 26th, 2012
2:40 pm
1. Who cares what color people are? Why do we need to talk about the racial divide all the dang time? Voters are voters. How many of those are single? Wear size 8 shoes? Like peanut butter? Have a wife named Michelle? More than just color impacts a person’s decisions at the ballot box….all sorts of factors may apply.
2. Black parents care about school choice, too. Amazingly, 50% of Georgia’s charters are children of color. And the number is higher in just the state charters.
Give color a rest. Please!
kim
October 26th, 2012
2:41 pm
Oh by the way, I’m the 47% that Mr. Romney doesn’t care about. You see I haven’t forgotten that. Look at the math, there are more people in the 47% than in the 1%. That means a lot people are not reading the facts….People if you haven’t voted, please read the facts and also read about the position that each candidate has on the issues in the world.
Napoleon Dynamite
October 26th, 2012
2:49 pm
Vote for Pedro.
Thank you.
SBinF
October 26th, 2012
2:51 pm
“I believe the minimum result will be 53-47 Romney, over 300 electoral votes, and the Republicans will pick up the Senate,” the former House speaker said Thursday night on Fox News’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
——
This is the same Newt Gingrich that predicted he would be the GOP nominee. I think his crystal ball must be broken. Maybe he can pick up another one at Tiffany’s.
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
2:52 pm
@D Right One
October 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
The real question that needs answering is why do AA’s vote Democrat not just for Obama but for the last 40 or 50 years? Why aren’t the Republicans more attactive to minorities?
=======================================
WHY African Americans vote Democrat?
Because of the vicious things that were said by people
who are Republicans about Afican Americans.
We are not STUPID or DUMB. We know a snake when
we see and hear one.
Like:
Mitt Romney
Paul Ryan
John Boehner
Mitch McConnell
Donald Trump
Sarah Palin
Sean Hannity
Bill O’Reilly
Glenn Beck
Rush Limbaugh
Ann Coulter
Newt Ginghrich
The Koch Brothers
Sheldon Adelson
Carl Rove
Reince Preibus (sp?)
Michelle Bachmann
Rick Perry
Rick Santorum
The list gones on and on and on and on and on…………..
“A farmer who finds a SNAKE freezing in the snow. Taking pity on it, he picks it up and places it within his coat. The SNAKE, revived by the warmth, bites his rescuer, who dies realising that it is his own FAULT.”
“Fool me once, shame on you . Fool me twice, shame on me”
Pedro
October 26th, 2012
2:53 pm
@ the new Mississippi, Negro is word used to describe Black people and it is not derogatory unlike your references to Georgians. Voter suppression huh. That is funny.
And no I will not define derogatory.
SBinF
October 26th, 2012
2:54 pm
‘Negro’ isn’t derogatory?
How about you head to the south side and start referring to the folks you see as ‘negroes’, then we’ll see if it’s derogatory or not.
Drudge
October 26th, 2012
2:57 pm
I’m glad Obama is focused on the important things – birth control pills and big bird. Reelect him and you will have $22T in debt and double digit inflation. This is 100% inevitable. You think it’s painful now? Add 25% to the price you pay for everything and tell me how you do at the end of the month.
SBinF
October 26th, 2012
2:58 pm
I also saw Obama in the back yard of the White House, drowning kittens in motor oil. That devil!
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
2:59 pm
@james
October 26th, 2012
2:11 pm
I don’t care what color someone is vote for who you think will turn this
country around by creating more jobs and less govenment………
===============================================
I don’t care what color someone is either.
I vote for the one who cares about the poor, the elderly, the children,
and the ones who cannot speak for themselves.
I WILL NOT VOTE for the one who cares only about the 1%
(Millionairs and Billionaires) who have car elevators.
I like to sleep at night with a clear conscience.
Curious
October 26th, 2012
3:00 pm
Notice how politicians are ready to make big cuts UNTIL it impacts their State, District, or favorite special interest.
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
3:02 pm
@SBinF
October 26th, 2012
2:58 pm
I also saw Obama in the back yard of the White House, drowning kittens in motor oil. That devil!
============================================
YOU ARE WHY African Americans VOTE Democrat.
CAN ANYONE TRUST A LIAR?
Mitt Romney is ANOTHER pathological LIAR.
The Ghost of Lester Maddox
October 26th, 2012
3:04 pm
Some favorite political/election quotes of all time:
“Ain’t folks nice to you, when you win” – (Cong. Ed Jenkins of Georgia’s 9th District)
“Just cause you can’t be in the choir don’t mean you can’t come in the church” – (Roy Barnes, to a Lewis Massey supporter who wanted to donate to his campaign)
“There just weren’t enough black people or poor people in Oregon, that’s why” – (An RFK staffer, explaining why RFK lost the Oregon primary to Eugene McCarthy)
“A vote for Jessie Ventura is a vote for Jessie Ventura” – (Jessie Ventura)
“I feel like a one-man shop competing with a big nationwide chain” – (Hubert Humphrey, on running against RFK)
“I’ll take a drug test if my opponent will take an IQ test” – (Sen. Ernest Hollings, when his little known opponent challenged him to take an on-the-spot drug test during a debate)
“Like 3 truck loads of bean pickers without a foreman” – (Ga Governor Marvin Griffin describing the Ga General Assembly)
“Little boys just will walk barefoot through the cow pasture” – (An unknown Congressman, commenting on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky)
“The State of Confusion” – (Cong. Ed Jenkins, when asked what the District of Columbia should be named if it ever became an official state)
“The Bathroom” – (Sen. Sam Ervin’s favorite room in the Capital Bldg, because ‘It’s the only room where at least everybody knows what they are trying to accomplish”)
Mark
October 26th, 2012
3:06 pm
Obama has 95% of the African American vote. Imagine what the media would say if Romney had 95% of the White vote?
trueblueeagle
October 26th, 2012
3:06 pm
Interesting to see how Atlanta is so far out of step with the rest of the state or maybe its just the AJC. Because in south georgia its hard to find an Obama supporter black or white. The question in this election is do you socialism or capitalism? Socialism has never been the best form of government. Capitalism has given the United States its place in the world. Obama would cut the Navy an if you study history you would know that a Navy project power. The more powerful a nation the less you have fight. We need to be building our Navy not cutting it Mr. President.
SBinF
October 26th, 2012
3:08 pm
Loyalty Comes In All Colors,
You don’t get irony, do you?
and Mark,
90% of GOP voters are white. That is a far more damning statistic. At least Democrats pull support from various ethnic groups.
SBinF
October 26th, 2012
3:09 pm
“Interesting to see how Atlanta is so far out of step with the rest of the state or maybe its just the AJC. Because in south georgia its hard to find an Obama supporter black or white.”
Without Atlanta, Georgia would be Mississippi. You’re welcome!
gsmith
October 26th, 2012
3:16 pm
if you like black leadership , look at clayton, dekalb and the city of atlanta…. school boards are a mess, counties are being run into the ground ,, neighborhoods are falling apart , home values are decreasing, corrupton is all over the place. now take a look at North Fulton, cherokee, east cobb, flowery branch, duluth, suwanee, forsyth, wonder why those parts of town are still nice places to live? still have nice public schools?? gee i wonder why
Dan Higgins
October 26th, 2012
3:18 pm
It was one of Barack Obama’s favorite green-energy companies… Obama touting Abound Solar personally in a weekly address in 2009.
The president claimed the project will create 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.
Well, yesterday, The Denver Post detailed the criminal investigation of Abound Solar, a defunct solar-panel manufacturer in Colorado that was run on taxpayer “investments,”….. for securities fraud, consumer fraud and financial misrepresentation.
Abound shuttered its Colorado plant and filed for bankruptcy, leaving “125 workers without jobs and taxpayers holding the bag for up to $260 million in defaulted loans.
You might also be aware that the company was a big contributor to the Obama campaign.
Abound Solar was awarded a $400 million loan guarantee ….Taxpayers money !!!…….Deeply troubling ??….. You tell me…..
Loyalty Comes In All Colors
October 26th, 2012
3:18 pm
@Drudge
October 26th, 2012
2:57 pm
I’m glad Obama is focused on the important things – birth control pills and big bird. Reelect him and you will have $22T in debt and double digit inflation. This is 100% inevitable. You think it’s painful now? Add 25% to the price you pay for everything and tell me how you do at the end of the month.
==================================================
From Mitt’s mouth to God’s ear.
Romney On Whether We’re Better Off: ‘Of Course It’s Getting Better’
By Pat Garofalo on Sep 4, 2012 at 9:30 am
Interview with Laura Ingraham and Mitt Romney:
INGRAHAM: Isn’t it a hard argument to make if you’re saying, like, OK, Obama inherited this recession, he took a bunch of steps to try to turn the economy around, and now, we’re seeing more jobs, but vote against him anyway? Isn’t that a hard argument to make? Is that a stark enough contrast?
ROMNEY: Have you got a better one, Laura? It just happens to be the truth that
things are getting better..
Douglas American public feel the same way now
October 26th, 2012
3:19 pm
DNM
It’s obvious you would vote for Obama no matter what he did. I think we should heed Eastwood’s advice – “If he is not getting the job done, we have to let him go.”
Obama had both house’s of congress for two years and got much of what he wanted regardless of the will of the people. It did not help. The economy is still on hold and underperforming. The people saw this, and it resulted in major gains for the Republicans in the 2010 elections. The American people still feel the same way two years later which should result in a Romney victory. We need to try something new instead of choosing more of the same.
Scrivener
October 26th, 2012
3:19 pm
Kim says, “I’m voting for the person that shows he cares.”
I’m a woman, and this type of comment is a perfect example of why a lot of mindless women support Obama and people like him. Forget about electing someone who can run the country, keep the economy improving, help create jobs, sign laws that protect us – oh, no. It’s all about having a president that “cares.” It’s truly scary that people like Kim vote.
Lester Maddox....
October 26th, 2012
3:22 pm
Are we talking about Osama Hussein Obama? Man, all these black Muslims look alike……
trueblueeagle
October 26th, 2012
3:24 pm
what is so bad about Mississippi? Maybe we should move Atlanta there! Or bring back Gen Sherman to finish the job! Some people are just stuck tin 90’s the 1890. Thinking that Mississippi is still racist. Or maybe they should move to NYcity or LA with their holy than thou attitude.