Archive for the ‘Mike Huckabee’ Category

Roy Barnes, the Democratic nominee for governor, isn’t waiting to see whether he’ll face Nathan Deal or Karen Handel in a general election battle tomorrow morning.

One note on the TV ad: Barnes campaign manager Chris Carpenter said this may be the first use of an iPad in a 30-second political spot. Something to tell the kids.

From the Associated Press:

Democrat Roy Barnes launched a pre-emptive strike in Georgia’s race for governor Tuesday, unleashing his first campaign ad of the general election even as voters were selecting the Republican who will face him in November.

The ad — a broadside against the state’s ruling GOP — was to begin airing Tuesday around the state. It sketches out what is sure to become a familiar line of attack as the general election gets underway: that Georgia is falling behind.

Without ever mentioning the word Republican, the TV spot asks if Georgians want to continue with “the same team that gave us ethics violations, teacher furloughs, tax …

Continue reading Roy Barnes doesn’t wait — he’s up with first TV ad of the November race for governor »

The local Republican-oriented strategy firm of Landmark Communications, which last week gave Karen Handel a 46 to 37 percent lead over Nathan Deal in the Republican runoff for governor, is out this afternoon with a follow-up poll – that says Deal has closed the gap.

Says Landmark:

Deal leads 44-42% over Handel with 14% saying they will vote but are still undecided. Based on a previous Landmark poll conducted August 1st, Deal has moved up eleven percentage points over the past week, from nine back to two ahead….

“Nathan Deal has moved from behind to a statistical tie,” said Landmark President Mark Rountree. “Over the past week, Deal effectively won many undecided and less committed voters, making this a dead heat. We don’t make a prediction on the outcome of this.”

A poll released over the weekend by the AJC and the Georgia Newspaper Partnership showed Handel and Deal in a tight race, but with Handel leading Deal 47 percent to 42 percent. The GNP survey indicated a …

Continue reading Landmark poll: Nathan Deal and Karen Handel in dead heat »

A confession from the Sarah Palin event: The Insider took most of Sunday off and was not at the Mike Huckabee event for Nathan Deal in Gainesville.

And yet, the Palin rally for Karen Handel, is something different.

Mary DuBose from McDonough borrowed a mannequin from her daughter's wig shop to create a likeness of Sarah Palin to today's rally in Buckhead. Phil Skinner pskinner@ajc.com

The crowd is packed in a ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental in Buckhead – though the fire marshal hasn’t yet been summoned. Probably between 1,500 and 2,000. The Huckabee event for Deal drew about 700.

The Huckabee event probably did not include Huckabee impersonators. The Palin event does. There’s a woman here in a red suit, brown hair piled on top, with glasses.

The Huckabee event probably did not include Huckabee’s head on a stake, held aloft for all the crowd to see. The Palin event does, with wig and glasses.

What’s that? I asked. “A disembodied Sarah Palin head. In a good way,” said …

Continue reading One difference between Huckabee and Palin rallies: A disembodied head »

You can see photographs of the Sunday event from the Gainesville Times here. But the following account comes from Shannon McCaffrey of the Associated Press:

Gainesville — Nathan Deal pulled out some political star power Sunday, stumping with former presidential contender Mike Huckabee just two days before a runoff election that will bring the state’s bruising GOP primary season to a close.

Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Associated Press

At a rally that drew about 700 supporters in Deal’s hometown of Gainesville, Huckabee called Deal “a principled conservative who doesn’t have to go back to his own campaign literature to see what he’s going to do.”

As Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial slugfest hurtles to the finish line, Deal and his runoff opponent Karen Handel are rolling out their political heavyweights. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is set to headline a rally with Handel on Monday in Atlanta.

Talking to reporters following Sunday’s rally, Deal called …

Continue reading Mike Huckabee on Nathan Deal: ‘This is about the now’ »

Two pieces of news out of the Nathan Deal camp within the last few minutes:

– Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will helicopter in with Deal for a 1:30 p.m. Sunday rally in Gainesville.

Sarah Palin will be rallying for Karen Handel at a Buckhead hotel on Monday.

– Brian Robinson, spokesman for Deal campaign, has just told my AJC colleague Cameron McWhirter that the campaign raised more than $1 million for the runoff election. Robinson said donations – not including in-kind contributions which they are still being counted, totaled $1,034,881.81 from July 1 to Aug. 4.

We’re hearing that Karen Handel has raised just under $1 million, but the number remains unofficial.

The Deal number did not include any personal loans to the campaign. Robinson said the campaign spent $1,192,917.16 in the same period.

That means the Deal campaign has raised about $3.5 million total for its campaign.

Financial reports detailing money raised and spent by the campaigns are due …

Continue reading Mike Huckabee to come Sunday – and has Nathan Deal just out-raised Karen Handel? »

Nathan Deal, the Republican runoff candidate for governor, is out this morning with his harshest response yet to rival Karen Handel’s attacks on his performance as a member of Congress.

Deal accuses Handel of misrepresentation – which she denies – and raises the same gay rights-related issues that he hit the former secretary of state with in the days before the July 20 primary:

The 30-second spot includes no images of either candidate – just a menacing field of wheat.

The script:

Male voiceover: The last straw. For some, it’s Karen Handel’s support for taxpayer-funded gay partner benefits.

For others, the last straw is Karen Handel’s vote to give our tax dollars to Youth Pride, a group that promotes homosexuality among teenagers as young as 13.

But for all, the lies Karen Handel tells about Nathan Deal — a veteran, former prosecutor and judge, to hide what she’s done — are the last straw.

The ad does not mention Deal’s 18 years in Congress.

As is always the case in the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Nathan Deal on Karen Handel and ‘the last straw’ »

This piece from my AJC colleague Bob Keefe, on a building confrontation between Congress and the state of Georgia, hasn’t gotten enough attention:

Taking direct aim at controversial gun legislation just passed by the Georgia General Assembly, a New Jersey senator has introduced a bill that would expand federal regulations on guns in airports.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)/Associated Press

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s “Firearm-Free Airports Act” would make it illegal to carry a firearm into any non-federally regulated area of an airport, including the lobby, baggage claim and ticket counter areas.

The bill would counter legislation passed by the General Assembly that would allow gun permit holders to carry weapons in any non-secure areas of a Georgia airport — including Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest. The Georgia legislation is awaiting Gov. Sonny Perdue’s signature.

“In the post-9/11 world, it simply defies common sense …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Congress vs. Georgia over guns at Hartsfield-Jackson »

Over the weekend, one of the Political Insider’s dedicated readers in Marietta, blessed with fast keyboard fingers, received a call from a polling firm that had taken aim at state employees.

The survey was clearly trolling for union support – with all the talk of layoffs, the subject is a natural. But the questions also attempted to determine where state employees are leaning in the race for governor.

Respondents were asked to say whether they rated the following favorably, or unfavorably:

– The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees;

– Barack Obama;

– Workers United;

– Nathan Deal;

– Sonny Perdue;

– The Georgia State Employees Association;

– The National Association of Government Employees;

– John Oxendine;

– Service Employees International Union;

– Roy Barnes;

– Karen Handel;

– Labor unions;

–The Democratic party

– The Republican party;

– The tea party.

There was no mention of Eric Johnson, the former GOP state senator from Savannah. Then came this …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: State employees and the race for governor »

The winner of the 2008 GOP presidential primary in Georgia is shifting his residency. This from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

Mike Huckabee, who as governor for more than a decade was the Republican standard bearer in Arkansas, is now a registered voter in Florida.

The landslide winner of Arkansas’ 2008 presidential primary will now cast votes in the Sunshine State, famous for its warm weather, low taxes and hanging chads.

The [newspaper] reported Tuesday that Huckabee’s wife, Janet, had signed a “Declaration of Domicile” in Walton County, Fla., in March. The couple, who own a home in North Little Rock, also rent a house in Miramar Beach on the Florida panhandle and spend time in New York City, where Huckabee tapes his weekly Fox News show.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

Continue reading Mike Huckabee becomes a Floridian voter »

It’s fair to say that a 2012 Republican candidate for president may have just been eliminated. This from the Seattle Times:

Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing this morning of four Lakewood police officers, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.

Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protests of prosecutors.

“This is the day I’ve been dreading for a long time,” Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ Pulaski County said tonight when informed that Clemmons was being sought for questioning in connection with the killings.

Clemmons’ criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. The record also stands out for the number of times he has been released from custody despite questions about the danger …

Continue reading Huckabee granted clemency to suspect in killing of four Washington cops »