Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 6, 2014

Donations received and disbursed

Last week, the readers of GaPundit.com responded to a request for donations and we collected more than was needed. We were delayed in disbursing part of the remainder, and yesterday, we decided to make two gifts. I’m writing to let you know what we did, and once again, to remind donors that they have a right to request return of a contribution.

Yesterday, a personal friend of mine posted on Facebook about a mother whose 4-year old was diagnosed with terminal metachromatic leukodistrophy. The child is losing the ability to walk and must be carried, and the family wanted an Ergo carrier to make it easier. I spent $121.89 of the donated funds and the carrier is due to be delivered on Wednesday to the family’s home. It falls outside the scope of dog rescue, but I thought our donors would be okay with it — let me know if you’re not, or if you want all or part of your donation returned for any reason.

This is a family here in Metro Atlanta, and due to your generosity, their lives will be a tiny bit easier during a very difficult time. Other friends of the family will be posting a Facebook page to support the family, and once that is public, I will share that with you, along with other ways in which we can support our neighbors.

Also through Facebook, I learned that a woman I know from her work in the dog rescue community is having problems with a neighbor and must move very quickly for safety reasons. Because of the unexpected moving expenses, she is unable to pay the $290 for vetting that one of her own dogs needs. With your consent, I’ll pay that bill for her, bring the donations balance to $22.

As far as Dixie Dog Rescue goes, I’m sending them a couple bags of kibble today. Rather than make a lump-sum payment to them, I’m working with a group of supporters on a secret project to help them out in a bigger way that will help them continue their mission of saving dogs in South Georgia. Stay tuned for the unveiling of that project.

Once again, since these gifts were outside the scope of what the money was originally raised for, if you made a donation and want all or part of it back, simply email me your request and it will be done, no questions asked, no judgment rendered.

To you, the readers of GaPundit.com, I extend my heartfelt thanks. You’ve trusted me with your donations and allowed me to make two contributions to neighbors of ours, members of our community, whom you may never know. Yesterday was a great day due to your generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Georgia History

On May 6, 1789, the Constitutional Convention in Augusta, Georgia adopted a new Georgia Constitution.

Jefferson Davis spoke in Savannah, Georgia on May 6, 1866.

Davis … defend[ed] the South’s cause in the Civil War, stating, “In 1776 the colonies acquired State sovereignty. They revolted from the mother country in a desperate struggle. That was the cause for which they fought. Is it a lost cause now? Never. Has Georgia lost the State sovereignty which … she won in 1776? No, a thousand times no.” Davis’s fiery remarks were captured by reporters for the New York Times and other northern newspapers.

Because of the national attention generated over his visit to Alabama and Georgia, Davis took a more conciliatory tone in a speech that evening, noting, “There are some who take it for granted that when I allude to State sovereignty I want to bring on another war. I am too old to fight again, and God knows I don’t want you to have the necessity of fighting again… . The celebration today is a link in the long chain of affection that binds you and the North together. Long may it be true.”

Roger Bannister became the first person to break the four-minute barrier for running the mile.

For years, so many athletes had tried and failed to run a mile in less than four minutes that people made it out to be a physical impossibility. The world record for a mile was 4 minutes and 1.3 seconds, set by Gunder Hagg of Sweden in 1945. Despite, or perhaps because of, the psychological mystique surrounding the four-minute barrier, several runners in the early 1950s dedicated themselves to being the first to cross into the three-minute zone.

At 6 p.m., the starting gun was fired. In a carefully planned race, Bannister was aided by Chris Brasher, a former Cambridge runner who acted as a pacemaker. For the first half-mile, Brasher led the field, with Bannister close behind, and then another runner took up the lead and reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 3 minutes 0.4 seconds, with Bannister at 3 minutes 0.7 seconds. Bannister took the lead with about 350 yards to go and passed an unofficial timekeeper at the 1,500-meter mark in 3 minutes 43 seconds, thus equaling the world’s record for that distance. Thereafter, Bannister threw in all his reserves and broke the tape in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. As soon as the first part of his score was announced–“three minutes…”–the crowd erupted in pandemonium.

A “sub-four” is still a notable time, but top international runners now routinely accomplish the feat. Because a mile is not a metric measurement, it is not a regular track event nor featured in the Olympics. It continues, however, to be run by many top runners as a glamour event.

On May 6, 1984, Spinal Tap played a “comeback show” at CBGB’s in New York.

On May 6, 1996, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Atlanta was the most dangerous city in America.

Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio on May 6, 1997.

Erick Erickson endorses Nancy Jester for State School Superintendent

In the light of what I have planned for the rest of the morning, here’s a radical thought for you. Is Erick Erickson the conservative star most likely to endorse women? This cycle, Nancy Jester joins Karen Handel among Erickson’s preferred candidates and one of his big past picks was current South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Speaking of Women and the GOP

National Public Radio had a story this morning on Republican efforts to not repel attract more women voters.

Republicans have a problem with women.

Since the 1980s, women have been much more likely to vote Democratic than men.

Increasingly, however, Republican operatives see getting more women to vote for their candidates as key to the party’s future.

The effort began shortly after the 2012 presidential election, when Mitt Romney lost the women’s vote by 11 percentage points. The loss prompted all the major GOP groups — the NRCC, the NRSC, the RNC, the College Republicans and others — to begin working together, holding regular meetings with the sole purpose of figuring out how to better appeal to women, says Kirsten Kukowski, press secretary for the Republican National Committee.

Kukowski says a few months ago, GOP planners decided they needed a strategy to counter Democrats’ Paycheck Fairness pitch. They found a poll showing that if Republicans were silent on the legislation, as they have been in the past, they would lose the issue.

“We kind of said, we’re going to have an aggressive posture on this,” Kukowski says. “We’re going to show women, we’re going to show D.C. and the political world that we’re not going to take a back seat to this anymore. We’re going to be aggressive on this messaging.”

The poll also found that Republicans needed to make an economic argument. So Kukowski appeared not once but twice on MSNBC on Equal Pay Day, arguing that more regulation would hurt women and all employees.

“Women are 54 percent of the electorate,” says Andrea Bozak, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “They aren’t a coalition; they are the majority, and if you aren’t actively engaging with women voters, you’re going to lose.”

The GOP internal struggle

Stuart Rothenberg, writing at RollCall.com, puts the Georgia Senate Primary in the context of insiders and establishment versus Tea Party outsiders.

Who is winning the primary campaign war within the GOP between pragmatic conservatives and the anti-establishment wing of the party?

It’s a simple question, but it isn’t as easy to answer as you might think. Part of the problem is deciding which candidates and races are part of the war.

The anti-establishment wing of the party actually consists of two different elements: economic libertarians, supported most notably by the Club for Growth, and tea party groups such as FreedomWorks, the Senate Conservatives Fund, the Madison Project and the Tea Party Express. (Anti-establishment voices like Sarah Palin and RedState’s Erick Erickson fit in with the tea party groups.)

Some groups and individuals have already proved that their endorsements and independent expenditures matter, while the impact of others remains an open question.

The Georgia Senate race (along with a number of open GOP House primaries) can be seen as part of the insider-versus-outsider battlefield. But the most obvious anti-establishment hopeful, Rep. Paul Broun, has only been endorsed by the Madison Project and isn’t raising any money. Of course, the Senate runoff could still produce a classic fight between the party’s two major wings.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has waded into the internal fight in North Carolina, endorsing Greg Bannon, a tea-tinged conservative.

The Kentucky senator originally backed obstetrician Greg Brannon last October, when the campaign was only a blip on the public’s radar. But in dropping into Charlotte on the day before the primary for a sun-soaked midday rally with Brannon, Paul went all in on behalf of a cage-rattling candidate who terrifies many national Republicans.

“What North Carolina needs is what America craves,” Paul thundered as he stood on a stage with the city skyline serving as the backdrop. “It’s not a rubber stamp, it’s not another go along to get along politician, it’s not another cog in the wheel. What America craves is a dragon-slayer, and that dragon-slayer is Dr. Greg Brannon.”

In Tuesday’s primary Brannon is locked in a competitive contest with Thom Tillis, the state’s polished and well-funded House speaker. The establishment candidate has stacked up money and endorsements from GOP heavy-hitters such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and as of Monday, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

The third candidate in North Carolina’s Republican Primary for Senate, which is being held today, is Mark Harris, whose general consultant is Georgian Tom Perdue.

If you want to see an establishment Republican get queasy, just mention that Rand Paul is barnstorming North Carolina “on behalf of a cage-rattling candidate who terrifies many national Republicans,” and note that Paul’s father, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul has endorsed Paul Broun for Georgia’s seat in the Senate.

Also notable, the first time I can remember a “top ten most vulnerable Members of Congress” list without John Barrow (D-GA-12).

Kingston v. Perdue

Jack Kingston and David Perdue are going at it over each other’s record of supporting job growth. From Walter Jones of Morris News:

Kingston, while meeting with reporters at the corporate headquarters of Atlanta Gas Light Co. to celebrate his endorsement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said he will no longer allow himself to be attacked without fighting back.

“I have a record of being pro-growth and pro-jobs,” he said, crediting that with the endorsement. “Now, there are other people in this race who talk about being pro-business, but I would have to ask where have they been?”

He focused his gun sights on Perdue, a political newcomer running on his strengths as a chief executive of companies like Reebok and Dollar General. Kingston, though, zeroed in on Perdue’s seven-month tenure at the head of Pillowtex, a North Carolina textile firm with shaky finances that wound up closing where 4,000 workers lost their jobs in 2003, a period when any textile company that hadn’t failed or moved overseas was struggling.

“We have one candidate who has a long history of laying off people, hundreds — indeed, thousands of jobs — and taking golden parachutes on the way out the door,” Kingston said. “Well, that doesn’t create jobs and wealth in Georgia.”

“We will probably need to be talking about other people’s records,” Kingston said. “If Mr. Perdue wants to talk records, a good place to start would be Pillowtex.”

Walter Jones also writes separately that the race for the GOP nod is “fluid and unpredictible.”

Three congressmen, a female ex-statewide official, a successful businessman, the nation’s only black GOP Senate candidate and a newcomer who argues Republicans must broaden their appeal on social issues to grow, together add up to a crowded primary and a range of choices for voters.
Adding to Republican voters’ challenge in picking a Senate nominee is the well-funded political scion expected to win the Democratic nomination. That means GOP stalwarts are not only selecting the person they’d like to see representing them in Washington but also the one with the best chance of winning in November and for re-election six years from now when demographic changes will favor a liberal challenger.
Polls recently made public show how fluid and unpredictable the race is since likely low turnout and a crowded ballot mean a difference of a relatively small number of votes will determine which two candidates get in the runoff and which stay home.

Event Calendar

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Kennesaw Business Association: Candidate Forum – GA 11 GOP & Others

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Gwinnett County GOP: State Senate District 9 Candidate Forum

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Cobb County YR: Meeting with Fitz Johnson & JoAnn Birrell

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Council for Quality Growth: City of Atlanta Advisory Committee

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Savannah Area GOP Women: Meeting – Importance of the County Board of Elections/Candidates for State School Superintendent

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GA GOP 10th District: Candidate Forum

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Chatham County GOP: State School Superintendent Candidate Debate

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DeKalb County GOP: Boots, Blues & Bar-B-Que

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Athens GOP & Oconee County GOP: 2014 Georgia General Assembly Legislative Recap

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