Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 2, 2014

On April 2, 1513, Spanish Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon discovered Florida, claiming it for the Spanish crown. Today he is best-known in Georgia for giving his name to be mispronounced daily on a sketchy street in Atlanta. It is not known if he was wearing jean shorts, or if those were developed later.

On April 2, 1917, Jeanette Rankin took office as the first woman elected to Congress, representing Montana.

Born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana Territory, in 1880, Rankin was a social worker in the states of Montana and Washington before joining the women’s suffrage movement in 1910. Working with various suffrage groups, she campaigned for the women’s vote on a national level and in 1914 was instrumental in the passage of suffrage legislation in Montana. Two years later, she successfully ran for Congress in Montana on a progressive Republican platform calling for total women’s suffrage, legislation protecting children, and U.S. neutrality in the European war. Following her election as a representative, Rankin’s entrance into Congress was delayed for a month as congressmen discussed whether a woman should be admitted into the House of Representatives.

Finally, on April 2, 1917, she was introduced in Congress as its first female member. The same day, President Woodrow Wilson addressed a joint session of Congress and urged a declaration of war against Germany.

On April 2, 1985, Governor Joe Frank Harris signed legislation recognizing the Right Whale as the official state marine mammal. Yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tested a drone aircraft for use in conducting surveys of the aquatic population off the East Coast.

Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary could use it in a variety of ways, including sea turtle and right whale counts, he said. It could even give managers a better idea of how many boats are out in the sanctuary.

“It’s much cheaper than putting an aircraft or a boat out,” Sedberry said.

Campaigns and Elections

Yesterday, yet another poll was released, this one purporting to show Governor Nathan Deal in a statistical dead-heat with Democratic challenger Jason Carter.

Deal, a Republican, leads Carter by a margin of 43 percent to 39 percent – a number within the four-point margin of error. Eighteen percent remain undecided.

“I think it’s great news, not only for Jason but for the Democrats in the state,” political strategist Tharon Johnson said.  “I think that being within a basically statistical dead heat right now, that’s a really good place for a challenger to be against an incumbent.”

Johnson ran President Barack Obama’s campaign in the South and now works with Republican strategist Eric Tanenblatt, finance co-chair for the Mitt Romney president campaign in 2012.

“This race is going to be a referendum on Gov. Deal and he’s going to now have an opportunity to tell his message,” Tanenblatt said.
“I think Jason has a bright future. I just don’t think this election year is the year. We’ll see.”

According to a press release by Landmark Communications regarding the poll, the sample size was 575 active Georgia voters.

Last week I published the first GaPundit Polling Index for the Senate Race, looking at the most recent polls from an aggregative perspective and planned to release the Polling Index for the Governor’s Race. But that project has taken on a little more complexity and we’re currently planning a Monday announcement that will include the Polling Index for the Governor’s Race, along with some historical perspective. I think you’ll enjoy the new product.

We’re also working on the next iteration of the GaPunditPro app, which will include the Polling Index and a few other items to focus in on competitive elections a little more.

Georgia Right to Life PAC endorsements

Georgia Right to Life’s affiliated PAC has begun rolling out endorsements in state and federal elections. At this time, our information is that the endorsement process is not complete, candidates are being interviewed and their applications scrutinized and more endorsements are likely to be released on a rolling basis.

Click here for the most up-to-date list of GRTL PAC endorsements.

Uber and Lyft

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution discusses why some consumers prefer Uber or Lyft to traditional taxicabs and the regulatory jockeying between an established industry seeking to protect its monopolistic hold against newcomers trying to develop new ways of doing business.

Winter Wheeler doesn’t drive, take a cab or have someone drop her off when she heads to the Atlanta airport for business trips. Instead, she uses a mobile app called Uber to hail a town car sedan.

“I don’t like taxis,” said Wheeler, 32, adding she also doesn’t like walking around in a cavernous airport parking garage at night looking for her car when she returns.

Uber and similar services use mobile technology to give customers a new, at-your-fingertips alternative to traditional cab and limo service. Some Uber users first hear about the service as a way to get a ride home from a bar or party, then turn to it for airport rides, too.

But the technology-enabled options are prompting protests among cab drivers, limousine operators and others who operate under an array of regulations and say the new entrants bring unfair competition.

Limo and cab operators lobbied the state legislature this winter to pass regulations governing Uber and a similar service, Lyft, but the effort led only to a study committee. City and airport officials also are weighing what they might change in the rules to include the new services, and how to uniformly enforce them.

With Uber, Wheeler can use her smartphone to see what town cars are nearby, along with an estimated wait time and fare quote, before requesting a pick-up.

It can be difficult to flag down a cab in Atlanta, and calling for one may require a lengthy wait. At the airport, a long line of cabs wait to pick up customers, but service levels are inconsistent — and some cabs don’t take credit cards.