Archive for the ‘Port of Savannah’ Category

Wrap-ups of the Sunday talk shows primarily focused on Newt Gingrich’s concession that Mitt Romney will “most likely” be the GOP presidential nominee.

Much less focus was placed on Gingrich’s intention of becoming the fellow who will keep Romney pinned rightward during the general election. From the interview with Brit Hume on “Fox News Sunday”:

Gingrich: You have this long term evolution of the party and we’re not an Etch-a-Sketch party. It was an unfortunate comment by Romney’s communications director. We are a broadly conservative party. We don’t have to be severely conservative, as Romney said in CPAC.”

Gingrich’s topics will include energy independence, an overhaul of Social Security, and religion:

Gingrich: We need an approach trying to stand up very firmly for religious liberty. The assault on the Catholic Church is very real and it’s not just the Catholic Church.

Hume: How do you phrase that? How do you express that in the platform?

Gingrich: I think …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Newt Gingrich as Mitt Romney’s drill sergeant »

ABC News this morning is passing around what’s likely to be the most popular video clip of the day, of Mitt Romney touting his Washington connections and understanding of government financing during a 2002 run for governor of Massachusetts:

Says Romney: “I am big believer in getting money where the money is. The money is in Washington.” The clip:

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GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich woke up on the Georgia coast this morning. A fundraiser was on the immediate agenda, according to the Savannah Morning News:

The Chatham Club at the hotel is the venue for a $500-per-person reception and luncheon for the former Georgia congressman and House speaker.

Gingrich hopes to rake in “all the money he can get” as he gears up for Tuesday’s GOP Georgia primary, said Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah.

…About 30 people are expected to attend today’s event, arranged by a firm co-owned by Denise Deal, Gov. Nathan Deal’s top fundraiser. She is the governor’s …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Mitt Romney’s 2002 faith in Washington money »

Gov. Nikki Haley has become quite popular. In Georgia, anyway. From the Associated Press:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday vetoed a bill that lawmakers had passed unanimously in their efforts to undo a permit allowing Georgia to expand its Savannah port.

The measure would retroactively suspend the Department of Health and Environment Control’s ability to make dredging decisions in the river shared with Georgia. Legislators hoped it would strengthen their case in court and supporters of the measure expected the veto to be overridden.

The action “amounts to unconstitutional legislative overreaching into an agency’s ruling,” Haley wrote in her four-paragraph veto message. Additionally, she wrote, it “reflects a fundamental misunderstanding about the administrative process.”

She writes that only DHEC can issue the water quality certifications and notes a 2010 opinion from former Attorney General Henry McMaster. Such opinions don’t carry the weight of …

Continue reading Nikki Haley vetoes S.C. bill to block dredging of Port of Savannah »

Not everyone who attended Rick Santorum’s campaign event Sunday was a friendly.

In keeping with a long-standing tradition in Georgia politics, those who left First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Ga., were greeted at their vehicles with a yellow “smear” sheet under their wiper blades.

On one side reprinted a London Daily Mail account of a long-term romance that Karen Santorum, the candidate’s wife, once had with an abortion doctor. On the other side focused on a Daily Caller article focusing on a 2008 declaration by Santorum that “mainline Protestantism in this country…is a shambles. It is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.”

For the easily appalled: Smear sheets in church parking lots go back at least to the late ’60s. We used to have a fellow in Cobb County who specialized in them.

As far as the latter allegation goes, the distributor of the anonymous tract clearly doesn’t know his/her theological politics. First Redeemer is a Southern Baptist …

Continue reading Your late jolt: Rick Santorum’s wife targeted by smear sheet »

We told you last night that GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum will make his first post-surge appearance in Georgia on Sunday. This morning, The Hill newspaper in D.C. reports that Santorum has included this state in a first round of TV ads – to match frontrunner Mitt Romney:

The campaign is making the purchases in Arizona, which votes Feb. 28., and in Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee and Oklahhoma — all Super Tuesday states except for Arizona — according to Santorum senior campaign adviser John Brabender. The campaign did not disclose any more details about the ads, such as the cost or exact markets where they will air.

Another sign that Santorum will present a full-court press on Super Tuesday: The Times-Free Press today reports that the former Pennsylvania senator will be the headliner at a Chattanooga tea party gathering. A recent poll has Santorum leading in that state.

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Meanwhile, financially pinched Newt Gingrich – or at least, his affiliated super PAC — this …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Rick Santorum will join TV war in Georgia »

Before they get too worked up over President Barack Obama’s budget for 2013, Republicans might want to take note of these two paragraphs from a press release issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer:

The budget contains $2.8 million in the Investigations Appropriation for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP). The funding will further the harbor deepening pre-construction engineering and environmental analyses leading to a “Record of Decision,” which completes the Corps’ approval process.

(Last week, the expansion project also received $2.5 million in federal funding following the release of the Corps’ Headquarters work plan for fiscal year 2012 appropriations to the Army Civil Works program.)

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.

Continue reading Federal 2013 budget includes another $2.8 million for Port of Savannah dredging »

So Rick Santorum went three-for-three on Tuesday night, sweeping up Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado in those presidential contests. Bad news for Newt Gingrich, but good news for Mitt Romney – even though it may mean a longer slog.

In particular, Santorum’s strong showing could be another enticement for Romney, who makes a short visit to Atlanta today, to make a large commitment in Georgia as we get closer to March 6 and Super Tuesday.

Romney still needs to show he can win in a Deep South state – the Republican party’s geographic base. And no, Florida doesn’t count. A revived Santorum, especially one who does well in blue-collar Michigan on Feb. 28, could weaken the Gingrich campaign here by drawing away evangelicals.

That would give Romney, who won most of metro Atlanta in 2008, a decent chance to win a plurality in the state.

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The campaign of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich this morning unwrapped an endorsement from former U.S. Sen. Mack Mattingly and …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: What a revived Rick Santorum might mean in Georgia »

It’s all about Newt Gingrich this morning.

According to Public Policy Polling, overnight tracking in South Carolina shows no sign of damage to the former U.S. House speaker as a result of the allegations of ex-wife Marianne Gingrich. He continues to lead Mitt Romney in the state by 35-29. In fact, says PPP:

For the first time in our South Carolina tracking this month his favorability is better than Romney’s, with 53% of voters holding a positive opinion of him compared to 51% for his chief competitor.

Gingrich’s lead with evangelicals held steady today at 40-22 over Romney. He’s also doing well with Tea Party voters (46-21), registered Republicans (38-30), voters describing themselves as very conservative (41-21), men (39-27), and voters in the Upstate (36-25).

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GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich hasn’t gotten an endorsement from former rival Herman Cain, but he’s getting sympathy. On Fox News this morning, Cain applauded Gingrich’s lambasting of CNN’s John …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Herman Cain’s defense of Newt Gingrich »

As the rest of the political world pondered the news of his alleged 13-year relationship with an now-unemployed businesswoman, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was defending himself at a D.C. fundraiser. From The Daily Caller:

Washington, D.C. attorney Mary Brett, who attended the event, [said] Cain swore to supporters that if he had a Bible, he’d put his hand on it and vow that the allegations are false.

“He said you’re probably going to hear — if you didn’t before you got here — another allegation about a 13-year affair and it’s absolutely not true,” Brett, who lives in Reston, recalled as she left the Hilton hotel where the event was held.

Late last night, Ginger White, the woman who said she had an off-and-on, consensual affair with Cain, told Channel 2 Action News that the candidate’s denial doesn’t surprise her.

“I can’t imagine him actually confirming. It’s the name of the game, I guess,” she said. See it here:

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Don’t …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Give Herman Cain a Bible, and he’ll swear it’s not true »

Signs of pessimism in Washington, over Congress’ inability to reach a deficit reduction agreement in the next seven days, includes this from Politico.com:

Supercommittee co-chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), speaking bluntly to a closed House Republican meeting Tuesday said any deal that the panel produces will either be an “abject [failure] or a ‘kiss your sister agreement.’”

One assumes that [failure] is something unprintable. On the other hand, green sprigs of hope include the decision by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to release a 37-page report this week critical of government subsidies for wealthy Americans.

He called it “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous.” From the Associated Press:

The report found that in an average year, those earning $1 million or more each year benefit from tax breaks and federal grant programs totaling $30 billion. His report noted that in tax year 2009, nearly 1,500 millionaires paid no federal income tax.

Among the government …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: If a deal’s at stake, consider bigger tax hikes, says Saxby Chambliss »