Archive for the ‘Foreign relations’ Category

Much going on today:

— Last night, an entity called Southern Polling Group gave an automated phone to the house in Kennesaw.

One couldn’t call it a push-poll, but it was oriented toward the Republican race for governor, and did ask respondents to choose a candidate: Secretary of State Karen Handel, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, or state Rep. Austin Scott.

The key point of the survey could be found in these two questions: Do you consider Gov. Sonny Perdue to be a “solid conservative,” and would you prefer “a solid conservative” as governor?

A Google search, by the by, turns up nothing called the Southern Polling Group.

— Tim Echols, a Christian conservative in Athens who had been considering a run to replace state Sen. Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull), has decided against the move. “It’s the wrong time for me with my young family,” Echols said.

Echols was one of the organizers opposing the Sunday sales bill in the Legislature this …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: On a poll for governor in the field, tea parties, and a state Senate race »

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss phoned home from Rome on Monday.

After a multi-nation, Middle East-oriented tour of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Georgia senator is ready to get down to some real turmoil.

When he arrives in D.C. on Wednesday, Chambliss wants a word with Michael Donley, secretary of the U.S. Air Force. Before Chambliss left town last week, the senior senator from Georgia was under the impression that Donley wanted more — not fewer Marietta-produced F-22s.

But in Chambliss’ absence, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who like Donley is a Bush holdover, announced that Donley had changed his mind. This morning, as co-author of a Washington Post op-ed piece, the secretary of the Air Force agreed.

Wrote Donley:

Based on different war-fighting assumptions, the Air Force previously drew a different conclusion: that 381 aircraft would be required for a low-risk force of F-22s. We revisited this conclusion after arriving in …

Continue reading Saxby Chambliss: On his coming bout with an Air Force secretary, and ‘campaign rhetoric’ from Benjamin Netanyahu »

Bloomberg is reporting that former U.S. senator Sam Nunn of Georgia will be party of a small but elite delegation that will meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev this week, as part of President Barack Obama’s attempt to “reset” relations with the country.

Writes Bloomberg:

[Henry] Kissinger is among a group of U.S. “wise men,” including former Secretary of State George Shultz, ex-Defense Secretary William Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn, who will see Medvedev on March 20, the Kommersant newspaper reported today. They will also meet with Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and ex-Chief of General Staff Yury Baluyevsky, Kommersant said.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Nunn sighting: He’ll be one of the guys working the real ‘reset’ button »