Georgia Politics, Campaigns & Elections for May 14, 2013

Tricia Pridemore Announces Campaign for CD-11

Is anyone here shocked? Here’s the full press release on the website, with an excerpt below.

“After a great deal of prayer, much discussion with my family and friends, and encouragement from so many throughout our community, I am excited to announce my candidacy for Congress,” Pridemore said. “I strongly believe, our country demands new leadership and a return to common-sense conservative principles. I look forward to bringing principled leadership, a true desire to serve our community and real world experience to Congress.”

Pridemore, a resident of Marietta, made her announcement to a group of over 200 supporters at Dave Poe’s BBQ in Marietta on Monday night. Pridemore, a technology entrepreneur and pioneer in the online marketing industry, stressed to those gathered the need to put Georgia and our nation back to work by fostering an economic environment that encourages growth and small business innovation. Nearly two decades ago, she and her husband started a marketing automation software company in the guest room of their home, growing the business into a multi-million dollar organization servicing some of the nation’s leading Fortune 500 companies.

Two points for opening the campaign in a barbecue restaurant.

So that’s female GOP candidates for Congress in the 10th (Donna Sheldon) and 11th (Tricia Pridemore). Any female candidates for the First District?

Speaking of female candidates, Martha Zoller, a former Congressional candidate herself, has a nice post on women and the GOP.

It’s a pretty safe bet the Republican nominee for Governor will be Deal and in case you haven’t noticed, he’s a white guy. On the campaign trail last year and on my radio show, I often say, “I love middle aged white guys, I’m married to one, but it’s time for others to step up.”

Until we know how Karen Handel will do or if she will get into the Senate primary on the Republican side or if Kelly Loeffler throws her hat in the ring, it’s a pretty safe bet the Republican senate nominee will be a man. Polls indicate, Democrats are “banking” it will be Jack Kingston, but it’s too early to tell.

I believe there’s a reason for this. Even though Democrats have a “slim to none” chance of winning either of these seats, having women as “place holders” in these races will give them experience and will allow big money to come into the races from outside and will allow a full fledged strategy of the “War on Women” in these races.

David Schwarz for Congress in First District

And the website’s live too. Facebook and Twitter. Pretty good online rollout.

Five points, because it’s a little more complex to pull off.

Privatizing the Georgia Republican Party

We mentioned yesterday that some of Sheldon Adelson’s dirty casino money will be taking up residence in Georgia, though we don’t know whether it’ll end up being spent in any Peach State races.

Now we have an announcement by the Atlanta Tea Party that it will be participating in a grassroots organizational effort beginning at the precinct level called the Georgia Integrity Party.

On May 17th at 2:00 PM we will hold a press conference to announce a massive statewide precinct organization project. The press conference will take place outside the main entrance of the Classic Center where the GA GOP State Convention will be held. You are invited to join us.

Tea party and 9-12 groups across Georgia will be partnering with some of the largest conservative grassroots organizations in Georgia for this project that will rival Obama’s Organizing for America. We will be the conservative alternative to Organizing For America.

So, we’re outsourcing the money side of the equation to SuperPACs and outsourcing precinct-level organization to volunteer organizations like the Tea Party. What’s left for the Georgia Republican Party? Will it be just some dude sitting in a shared suite somewhere in Buckhead occasionally filling out the paperwork required to maintain access to the ballot for state and federal candidates?

That may not be the best vision, and arguably, we’re coming close to that situation now as we enter the 2013 Georgia Republican Party State Convention down a Political Director and a fulltime Communications Director.

Or maybe this is the creative destruction that will lead to a rejuvenated GAGOP. Is this part of the cycle that Randy Evans talked about in which political parties ~~evolve~~ change over time as they go from minority to governing majority then back?

Anyone want to bet on whether Karl Rove will spend part of his weekend in Georgia at the State Convention sweet-talking potential major donors?

Whether he’s hitting up donors or not, Rove will be hawking his new book, Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fightat noon tomorrow in Marietta and at 4 PM in Lawrenceville, as well as Thursday at noon in Peachtree City (note those links take you to the GaPundit calendar, which has Google maps for each location).

The only question is whether Debbie Dooley will be at the book signings with one of her “Beware the RINO” stickers.

Jack Kingston: Preventing Default Means Protecting Our Future

It’s currently behind the paywall at InsiderAdvantage, but will be public tomorrow:

In just over a week’s time, the federal government will once again reach its statutory debt limit. This will trigger what the Treasury Department terms as “extraordinary measures” to continue operating.

If past is precedent, the coming days will feature campaign-style speeches from President Obama saying that congressional Republicans are threatening default and economic calamity by refusing to give him a blank check.

There is something on which we can all agree: defaulting on the national debt would wreak havoc on our economy and have a lasting, negative impact on the future of this country.

It would almost certainly send us back into the throes of a recession and would send interest rates skyrocketing. As a result, the cost of servicing our national debt would begin to crowd out every other program.

The President’s threats, however, ignore the fact that only one person could decide to force America into default. That would be the President himself.

State Convention Checklist and Buzzword Bingo

We’re compiling a survival checklist for the 2013 Georgia Republican State Convention. Let me know what’s missing by emailing me or by posting to the comments. Best suggestion so far came from two people for a seat cushion. If I had time, I’d have custom ones printed to sell that say, “I sat through the 2013 GAGOP [elephant picture] State Convention and all I got was a sore [donkey picture].”

We’re also compiling GAGOP buzzwords for bingo cards to be handed out at the Convention. Winners will get prizes. Real, honest-to-goodness prizes. Early leaders include “Common Core,” “grassroots,” and “so-called war on women.” Also, “I’m running for Congress.” Let me know what belongs on the list in the comments section on the website.

Newt Gingrich confused by iPhone

Holding up his iPhone, Gingrich said,

“We’re really puzzled here at Gingrich productions. We’ve spent weeks trying to figure out what do you call this? You probably think it’s a cell phone….But think about it – if it’s taking pictures, it’s not a cell phone.

“If it has a McDonald’s app to tell you where McDonald’s is, based on your GPS location, that’s not a cell phone.

“If you can go to Wikipedia or go to Google – that’s not a cell phone.”

Mrs. GaPundit calls the iPhone her husband’s significant other.

Democrats: Bless their Hearts!

Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin makes the case that first-time candidates can win major elections.

In 2008, hardly anyone other than a few of his closest associates and a handful of idealistic, smart, energetic and committed folks (and certainly none of those who now talk about who can and cannot win in Georgia) thought then freshman Illinois Senator Barack Obama had any chance of winning the Democratic nomination for president. Even if he won the nomination certainly few (Rev. Joseph Lowery, myself and a few other Georgia politicos) put much faith in his likely election as President of the United States.

In my case, before I was elected mayor of Atlanta, every mayor for at least 30 years before was an elected official. Some people discounted my candidacy for that reason alone and others because my name recognition was so low. Even more people thought I could not win without a runoff against two city councilmembers. I did.

I don’t think it’s an accident that one of the ~~politicians~~ people pictured in Heronner’s blog post is Michelle Nunn.

The liberals at Huffington Post are making the case that a Democrat can win the Georgia Senate seat this year.

Democrats may not be running with one of their top choices in Georgia’s U.S. Senate contest, but they still think they have a formula to win there, as well as in Kentucky and seven other states where they face tough Senate contests in 2014.

Now [the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s] hoping that nonprofit executive Michelle Nunn, the daughter of well-regarded former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), takes on the challenge.

If she does, Democratic Party operatives think they can plug her into a formula for victory in Georgia….

The DSCC plan includes picking good candidates, building on the party’s technological edge in the last election and developing a ground game that brings every conceivable Democratic voter to the polls. Although the blueprint will be adapted to each individual Senate race, Georgia offers perhaps the clearest example of what Democrats are likely to do, especially with Barrow out of the equation.

Party operatives, who pointed out those statistics, said that with a candidate like Nunn and a boosted turnout machine, they can win the Senate seat — even though President Barack Obama lost the state by nearly 8 percentage points in 2012, and a Democrat hasn’t fared well on the national ticket since Georgia native Jimmy Carter.

“The DSCC is focused on accelerating the demographic changes in the state by focusing on voter registration, particularly African Americans and women in the metro Atlanta area,” Guy Cecil, executive director of the DSCC, told The Huffington Post.

So, that’s straight out of the ~~enemy~~ opposition playbook. What are you going to do about it?

Speaking of Democrats and demographics, Walter Jones of the Morris News Service, has a great piece on the topic.

Adding to the Democrats’ delight and the Republicans’ woes is new data showing the voter-turnout trends are tipping the partisan balance.

Since President Barack Obama’s November re-election, party operatives have talked about how demographics changes are challenging the Republican Party, nationally and in Georgia. The voters in the Democrats’ corner, such as blacks and other ethnic minorities, are growing faster than the whites the GOP relies on.

Higher birth rates and in-migration rates tell the story.

Now comes a report from the U.S. Census Bureau that compounds that by revealing the turnout rate of racial and ethnic groups in presidential elections. Nationally, blacks have been voting at an increasing rate while the turnout rate among whites has been declining.

That pattern is the same in the Southeast, including Georgia.

The difference sounds small; 66.2 percent of eligible blacks voted compared to 64.1 percent of whites in the 2012 election. But the trend is what’s interesting.

In presidential elections since 1996, black voter turnout has steadily risen from 53.0 percent. At the same time, white turnout started higher than blacks at 60.7 percent in ’96, then peaked at 67.2 percent in 2004 before dropping the next two elections.

Georgia political strategists, whether professional or hobbyist, should take the time to read both of those last two stories. Our future as a party depends on how we react to the reality we face going forward.