More than 100,000 Atlanta voters celebrated on Tuesday by sitting on their hands. Having cast their ballots 12 months ago, they considered the job done.

Other Georgians found more creative ways to mark the ascension of America’s first African-American president.

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville, for instance, celebrated by announcing that he would lend his voice to those who doubt that Obama was born in the U.S.A.

The venue was an online chat room established by Deal’s Republican campaign for governor.

”Do you believe that Barack Obama is a native-born American citizen who is eligible to serve as president?” asked an Atlanta reporter, Tom Crawford.

Deal tapped out his reply: “I am joining several of my colleagues in the House in writing a letter to the President asking that he release a copy of his birth certificate so we can have an answer to this question.”

On Friday, Deal …

A string of e-mails has filtered through the city’s political class over the last three days, ending with a 4:14 a.m. Saturday note from Bunny Jackson-Ransom, ex-wife of the late mayor Maynard Jackson, promising to seek out “one black [Mary] Norwood supporter each day.”

Wrote Jackson-Ransom:

During the next few weeks, I intend to do whatever I can to wake up those African Americans who have become “bamboozled” into believing that a moderately educated, southern white women will do something for them. Obviously they have forgotten what Atlanta was like for our people before we had a Black Mayor. Yes, mistakes have been made; but we are surely not where we used to be.

But let’s walk it back a bit. This is a serious conversation that began with an extensive note from state Rep. Ralph Long, a real estate broker and …

Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava faces an uncertain future in state politics after aborting her congressional campaign three days before elections and throwing her support behind her Democratic opponent.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb, R-Canadaigua, said he’ll decide next week whether or not to remove the Gouverneur assemblywoman as the party’s pro tempore, or floor leader. And Ms. Scozzafava said Wednesday that she’s unsure if she’ll seek a seventh Assembly term next fall.

“I don’t know where I’m going to land in this,” she said. “But I hope, when the dust settles, that people see that the decision that I made put the people first.”

Here’s the killer quote:

“If this is my end, so be it,” she said. “At least I know we have a …

You can presume they’re talking about an endorsement. Borders has scheduled a photo op for 4:30 p.m. at 100 Terminus in Buckhead, with hints that she’ll also have a few words to say.

Reed was on V103 this morning, buttering up Borders during a discussion about improving the city’s economy:

“My colleague Lisa Borders had a wonderful idea of focusing on micro-lending, which I thought was an excellent idea that she actually developed….

“She talked about making small loans – certainly to women-owned businesses, and small businesses, to really get them [on] their feet. They don’t need $100,000 to start a business. They may need $10,000 and $15,000 or $20,000 to start that small business.

“That’s an initiative that she actually developed, that I would like to continue to champion. …

The occasion was an online chat the congressman had with supporters this morning. And the question came from Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact.

Do you believe that Barack Obama is a native-born American citizen who is eligible to serve as president? I am asking because your comments on this issue have been a little ambiguous. I would appreciate your clearing this up.

At 9:17 a.m., Deal tapped out this:

I am joining several of my colleagues in the House in writing a letter to the President asking that he release a copy of his birth certificate so we can have an answer to this question.

This is a new position for Deal. Back in August, my AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin asked much the same question. This was the response he received from Deal campaign spokesman Harris Blackwood:

“He began receiving …

Abramowitz has posted a thick but thorough analysis of Tuesday’s numbers on Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, which includes this:

While almost all of those who disapproved of President Obama’s performance voted for the Republican gubernatorial candidates, only 80 percent of those who approved of the President’s performance in Virginia voted for Deeds and only 73 percent of those who approved of the President’s performance in New Jersey voted for Corzine.

It was Jon Corzine’s unpopularity and Creigh Deeds’ weakness as a candidate, rather than a negative reaction to President Obama, that largely explains the Democratic defeats in these elections.

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Before Tuesday’s vote, the CBS radio station sponsored a 150-minute morning debate that featured all six candidates. This morning, the two mayoral runoff candidates – Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed – were given a combined hour of airtime.

Reed advertised – in a fashion as subtle as the Queen Mary — for Lisa Borders’ support during a discussion about improving the city’s economic situation:

My colleague Lisa Borders had a wonderful idea of focusing on micro-lending, which I thought was an excellent idea that she actually developed….

She talked about making small loans – certainly to women-owned businesses, and small businesses, to really get them [on] their feet. They don’t need $100,000 to start a business. They may need $10,000 and $15,000 or $20,000 to start that small business.

That’s an initiative that she actually developed, that …

The former U.N. ambassador was called before the most powerful group of women in Atlanta — the mothers and grandmothers who led the resident associations for the city’s dismal public housing complexes.

They were a base unto themselves, wielding thousands and thousands of votes — support a politician of the 1980s couldn’t refuse.

Atlanta’s fortresses of poverty have disappeared, and their votes have vanished with them. A new political order is asserting itself — Tuesday’s vote was part of the process.

“In a way, the gay vote has replaced the poor vote in a lot of these areas,” Young said.

The impact of gay voters in Tuesday’s mayoral race was subtle, but measurable.

The candidate who won most of the endorsements from Georgia Equality and other gay institutions, City Council President Lisa Borders, placed only third.

But in the contest …

Reed got an unexpected nod Wednesday at the Atlanta Hotel Council’s monthly meeting from Councilman Ivory Lee Young, whose district includes several overwhelmingly African-American neighborhoods just west of the Downtown Connector.

Council members have largely been mum about their choice for mayor. For example, Councilwoman Clair Muller, who’s in a runoff for City Council President, declined Wednesday to say at the same luncheon who’s her choice for mayor.

Young, however, said he was going with Reed over Norwood. This, despite the fact that Norwood and Young have served together eight years on the council.

“Study the record and you will find the truth,” Young said, asserting Norwood hasn’t accomplished much on the council. “(Norwood) has been the hardest-working member we have …

Ten Atlanta police officers have refused to cooperate with investigations of alleged misconduct, and Chief Richard Pennington has failed to respond to a call for discipline in a case of excessive force against a lesbian couple, an oversight panel said in a letter released today.

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