Archive for the ‘2010 governor's race’ Category

While Newt Gingrich was addressing a crowd of GOP faithful in Macon on Friday night, Denny Schaffer over at Talk920 (WGKA) was putting together a program that fits into the category of great radio.

The topic of the evening was Gov. Nathan Deal’s decision to refuse Fox5 Atlanta’s access to the state Capitol ceremonies surrounding the signing of HB 87, the bill addressing illegal immigration.

The cause: A Fox5 piece aired the day before, examining $90,000 paid to the governor’s daughter-in-law, Denise Deal, for her services as a campaign fundraiser. The primary question was whether her company, Southern Magnolia Capital, was a transparent recipient of Deal’s cash.

Brian Robinson, the spokesman for the governor, was on the horn with Schaffer, when the author of the Fox5 piece, Dale Russell, joined in. Below is a 13-minute portion of a longer confrontation, sent to us by Schaffer:

It’s well worth your time.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: A Friday night radio confrontation twixt a Nathan Deal spokesman and Dale Russell »

Someone may have a campaign camera or two at the state GOP convention that starts this afternoon in Macon. And no there will no doubt be a presidential straw poll at the end.

Republican presidential contender Herman Cain. Jay Reiter/MCT

Which is probably why we received this from DraftCain.org:

Herman Cain, a favorite son of Georgia, will be making a speech in the Macon Centerplex at 11 AM. [Saturday]. Audiences have braved floods, snow and bitter cold to hear him speak across the country. He talks about his own American Dream, his belief in conservative values, and the need for a Fair Tax to get this country turned around.

The Admission is normally $30 for the convention; however, we have arranged for free admission for you and a friend…

Maurice Atkinson of Macon, the fellow behind the effort, called to say that he was acting independently of the Cain campaign.

***
Fellow Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich will address Georgia Republicans this evening. He’s let …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: A Herman Cain move to pack the GOP convention hall »

Morning TV chatter is circling around the likelihood that Osama bin Laden lived several years in his in-plain-sight compound.

How could the Pakistani government not know? many members of Congress are asking.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson isn’t one of them. Nor is Isakson yet buying into assertions from both the U.S. and Pakistani governments that there was no contact between the two about the Sunday raid that resulted in bin Laden’s death.

“You don’t land helicopters in a compound like that, in the middle of a foreign country, without some help and cooperation. So let’s just leave it at that,” said Isakson, in an interview with Denis O’Hayer of WABE (90.1) on Monday.

In other words, Pakistani claims of ignorance, and U.S. claims of lone wolf-ism may be a ruse for local consumption.

Isakson said he would wait until a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before he did any more speculating.

***
Politico.com this morning wonders whether the Osama bin Laden raid marked the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Johnny Isakson skeptical of claims that Pakistan didn’t know of Osama bin Laden raid »

State Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, defends two of his amendments during Tuesday's HOPE scholarship debate. Both lost. AP/John Amis

After more than four hours of debate, Gov. Nathan Deal’s legislation to alter some of the basic premises of the HOPE scholarship passed the Senate on a heavily partisan 35-20 vote this evening.

The House is expected to agree to all changes and give final passage on Thursday. We’ll let others cover the main points.

Democrats never stood a chance of stopping the legislation, but they have reason to remain upbeat. They were able to force Republicans to concede a number of changes to the bill. Perhaps more important, the HOPE debate saw the rise of two new Democratic leaders.

On the House side, newly elected House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams of Atlanta took a chance and negotiated directly with the governor over many points previously enumerated here.

In the Senate, the HOPE debate on Tuesday saw the debut of Jason Carter of Decatur, who took office …

Continue reading The HOPE scholarship and Jason Carter’s debut »

Secretary of State Brian Kemp has posted the demographic breakdown of those who cast ballots in the November 2010 general election.

Which helped prompt Jim Coonan, the Atlanta-based Democratic consultant, write this quick note:

There are two very interesting reports out today, especially so when read together and in the context of Georgia’s 2006 and 2010 elections.

The first is the demographic breakdown of votes cast in the 2010 election posted on the Secretary of State’s website. It shows that the African-American share of both the pool of registered voters and the actual votes cast continued its upward trend in 2010. Here are African-American voters as a percent of all registered voters at the time of the general election:

– 2002: 25.62%

– 2006: 27.18%

– 2010: 29.27%

And here are African-American voters as a percent of all votes cast in the general election:

– 2002: 22.60%

– 2006: 24.06%

– 2010: 28.18% [of 2.6 million cast]

In other words, the Democratic …

Continue reading African-Americans cast 28 percent of November ballots in Georgia »

Four months after Republicans complained, and three months after his bid to return to the Governor’s Mansion was crushed, Roy Barnes has been cleared of the stigma of keeping his cows too close to the Marietta Square.

From this morning’s Marietta Daily Journal:

The cows Roy Barnes keeps in a pasture by his Victorian-style home off Whitlock Avenue can stay, Mayor Steve Tumlin said Wednesday.

During Barnes’ campaign for governor, a number of calls came into City Hall inquiring about the legality of the cows, city attorney Doug Haynie said.

Livestock may be kept in the city if the property owner has at least five acres and the property is zoned R-1. Haynie said Barnes had enough property, but it was zoned R-4. Barnes’ cows are grandfathered in, however, because he kept livestock on the property without a six-month lapse since purchasing the property in 2008, before which former owner the late Dr. Charles Henderson kept horses there.

“I’m glad the weighty matters of state at …

Continue reading Marietta rules Roy Barnes can keep his cows »

Why is this important? Because the Reynolds family is one of the most important underwriters of Republican causes and campaigns. From my AJC colleagues Rachel Tobin and J. Scott Trubey:

The developers of the Reynolds Plantation, one of Georgia’s most exclusive enclaves of vacation homes and golf courses, have floated a plan to sell off key assets like golf courses, clubhouses and even swimming pools to pay off $45 million in debt to impatient lenders.

The news about Reynolds Plantation came to light after a letter was sent to homeowners Thursday, detailing issues for the development that is about an hour and a half drive east of Atlanta on I-20 on Lake Oconee.

According to the letter, signed by Reynolds Plantation Chairman Mercer Reynolds III, a group of banks is demanding a hasty payment of $45 million by April. The payment was requested while the development company was negotiating renewal of a line of credit.

In the letter, Reynolds says he and his cousin, Jamie Reynolds, …

Continue reading Reynolds Plantation may dump millions in assets to satisfy creditors »

This morning’s post made reference to a Marietta Daily Journal question-and-answer session with Tricia Pridemore, one of three candidates for the chairmanship of state GOP.

She’s backed by Gov. Nathan Deal.

In the article, Pridemore told of an encounter she had with Karen Handel during her campaign for governor – when Handel, in the aftermath of the Glenn Richardson scandal, hammering at the issue of ethics in the state Capitol.

Said Pridemore, in the MDJ:

”[T]he Handel for Governor team was talking with me, and I liked them and thought they had a lot of momentum and liked both Mr. and Mrs. Handel and at the end of ‘09 that campaign took a stark trip into calling out members of the General Assembly and people that work at the Capitol.

“Now I’m a former intern down at the state Capitol and it was a great experience for me and I have many friends that served in the General Assembly. They work hard. They don’t do it for the fame. They sure don’t do it for the fortune, but they do …

Continue reading A dispute between Tricia Pridemore and Karen Handel over who met whom, and when »

Two weeks ago, a Democratic operative sent news of a curious online ad – with a link to this new web site – that he had run across at nyt.com.

It was an attack on Nick Ayers, the former aide to Gov. Sonny Perdue who made good in D.C. as the executive director of the Republican Governors Association.

The anonymous web site takes a look at a DUI charge that Ayers, at age 24, was hit with in 2006 while he was campaign manager of Perdue’s multi-million dollar re-election bid. The charge was later reduced, as these things often are in Georgia.

Without knowing the source of the attack, we let the tip pass. But the Ben Smith team at Politico.com, knowing a little more about the Internet, did not:

”We’ve tracked an anonymous site set up to attack Ayers to the IP address of a Georgia Democratic consulting firm with informal ties to former governor and losing 2010 gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes….

An email to the site was not answered — but an IP tracking tool in a separate email …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Post-election intrigue and an attack on the RNC’s Nick Ayers »

In the last 24 hours, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has touched base with several prominent Republicans in his former home state, telling them that he intends to make a run for president in 2012 using Georgia as his base – and that he already has his eye on office space in Buckhead for a campaign headquarters.

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich

Gingrich met on Thursday with Nathan Deal, whom Gingrich endorsed during a critical phase of last year’s Republican primary for governor.

House Speaker David Ralston introduced Gingrich Thursday night at a downtown Atlanta affair hosted by the Paulding County Chamber of Commerce.

The visits and conversations – some face-to-face, others on the phone — appear to be an attempt by Gingrich to revive his old campaign network and lock down as much support as possible in a state won by Republican Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary.

A spokeswoman for Johnny Isakson said Gingrich called the U.S. senator earlier this …

Continue reading Newt Gingrich tells Georgia Republicans he’ll be a candidate in ‘12 »