Chambliss wins runoff race

Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss handed the GOP a firewall against Democrats eager to flex their newfound political muscle in Washington, winning a bruising runoff battle Tuesday night that had captured the national limelight.

Chambliss' victory thwarted Democrats' hopes of winning a 60 seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. It came after a bitter monthlong runoff against Democrat Jim Martin that drew political luminaries from both parties to the state and flooded the airwaves with fresh attack ads weeks after campaigns elsewhere had ended.

Minnesota - where a recount is under way - now remains the only unresolved Senate contest in the country. But the stakes there are significantly lower now that Georgia has put a 60-seat Democratic supermajority out of reach.

With 92 percent of the precincts reporting, Chambliss captured 58 percent to Martin's 42 percent. Chambliss' win is a rare bright spot for Republicans in a year where they lost the White House as well as seats in the House and the Senate.

Chambliss portrayed his win as an encouraging sign for Republicans looking to regroup as they head into the next election cycle.

"I'm excited to be the first race that leads us into the 2010 campaign because it'll be a tough fight," Chambliss said at a victory party in Cobb County.

Martin called Chambliss to concede before 10 p.m., then emerged to tell supporters as his voice cracked: "For me and my family and campaign team and all of you this is a sad moment."

Chambliss' mantra on the runoff campaign trail was simple: His re-election was critical to prevent Democrats in Washington from having a blank check. Chambliss, 65, had angered some conservatives with his vote for the $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry and his early support in 2007 for the guest worker provision in President Bush's immigration bill. But fearful of unchecked Democratic dominance, some came back into the GOP fold Tuesday

Martin made the economy the centerpiece of his bid, casting himself as a champion for the neglected middle class. He also linked himself at every opportunity to Barack Obama and his message of change. The Democratic president elect was a no show on the campaign trail in Georgia but did record a radio ad and automated phone calls for Martin.

In the end, Martin, a 63-year-old former state lawmaker from Atlanta, wasn't able to get Obama voters back to the polls in large enough numbers to overcome the Republican advantage in Georgia, which has become an increasingly a reliable red state since 2002.

Turnout was light throughout the state Tuesday. A spokesman for Secretary of State Karen Handel predicted between 18 and 20 percent of the state's 5.75 million registered voters would cast ballots - far less than the 65 percent who voted in last month's general election.

The runoff between the former University of Georgia fraternity brothers was necessary after a three-way general election prevented any of the candidates from getting the necessary 50 percent.

(AP)

GOP leader: Chambliss in 'fight of his life'

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, talking with reporters about his election prospects and his Wall Street bailout vote at a press conference at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Oct 2, 2008. (file/Dave Bender)

This central-Georgia military town outside Robins Air Force Base should be a cakewalk on Election Day for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. But ask people here if they support him and one finds surprising ambivalence, even hostility.

The mood has changed so much in recent weeks that Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart says Chambliss is in "the fight of his life."

"I think he will win," Everhart said prior to Georgia's GOP Victory Dinner in Atlanta last Tuesday. "But not by the large margin we expected early on."

Once considered a safe bet for re-election to a second term, Chambliss suddenly appears vulnerable amid a wave of anti-incumbent frustration and economic turmoil.

"I think everybody is just so totally dissatisfied with what's going on in Washington now that we feel like you probably can't get much worse, so you might as well try somebody new," said Jean Hammock, a longtime Republican who listens daily to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

His newly troubled candidacy is giving Democrats visions of approaching a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in next month's election, instead of just the four or five seats they had expected to take from Republicans. Democrats control the Senate 51-49.

Chambliss' "yes" vote for the $700 billion financial package earlier this month is the latest in a series of positions that haven't sat well with the conservatives who make up his base. He also faces a potential surge of newly registered Democratic voters excited about Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and a general anti-Republican sentiment after eight years of the Bush administration.

Without question, Georgia remains a GOP stronghold, and Chambliss is still favored over Democrat Jim Martin. The state supported President Bush with 58 percent of the vote four years ago. Martin would need impressive turnout — and perhaps a strong assist from Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley — to win.

But recent polls show Chambliss with a modest lead, but the race tightening. And Democrats relish the possibility of revenge against the man who, in a 2002 campaign ad, criticized Democratic Sen. Max Cleland's commitment to national security even though Cleland lost three limbs in the Vietnam War. Chambliss defeated Cleland with 53 percent of the vote.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, head of the Democrats' Senate campaign committee, said Martin and Chambliss are virtually tied, even in polls that Schumer believes don't fully capture Obama's effect on African-American and young voters.

"We're doing extremely well in places we didn't expect to do well," said Schumer. "Georgia was a surprise to us."

The Democratic committee, however, still doesn't list the state as a battleground, and so far hasn't put much money into the race. Schumer declined to say whether it will run ads in Georgia as it has in other competitive races. Georgia is "a state we're taking a very close look at," he said.

Martin has been running television ads throughout the state but trails Chambliss in fundraising. The Democrat has stepped up his attacks in recent days, criticizing Chambliss for his bailout vote and loyalty to Bush.

Chambliss said he always predicted the race would be tight. He knew he had not endeared himself to conservatives by supporting a compromise immigration package that drew him boos at a state GOP function last year and, more recently, championing a bipartisan energy measure criticized by Limbaugh and other conservative commentators.

He also was well aware of the political risks of supporting the bailout package. But he said Congress had little choice but to respond and try to contain economic losses. He's hoping sharp market declines in recent days will strengthen his case that action was urgently needed.

The senator downplayed suggestions that the bailout vote would make or break him.

"I've cast hundreds and hundreds of votes over the last 14 years," Chambliss, a former House member, told reporters before the GOP Victory dinner in Atlanta. "To say any one is going to cost me the election, that's just not the case."

At least one self-described lifelong Republican thinks otherwise. Ron Davis of Dallas, Ga., said he was so infuriated by Chambliss' bailout vote that he set up a Web site http://www.FireSaxby.com

"I never really followed politics closely. This was a wake-up call to me," the 31-year-old information technology administrator said.

Davis said he'll vote for Buckley in November, adding that GOP friends in his neighborhood are also disillusioned with Chambliss.

"I think he should be worried," Davis said.

(The Associated Press)

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McCain: Lewis' remarks 'shocking, beyond the pale'

Lewis addressing the audience at a rally held at the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, on September 23, 2008. (file/Dave Bender)

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Gov. George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.

Republican candidate John McCain on Saturday called Lewis' remarks "shocking and beyond the pale."

The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator doesn't believe McCain or his policy criticism is at all comparable to Wallace and his segregationist policies.

In a statement issued Saturday, Lewis said McCain and running mate Sarah Palin were "sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse." He noted that Wallace also ran for president.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights," said Lewis, who is black. "Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

One of the seminal events of the civil rights movement was the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church on Sept. 15, 1963. Four black girls died in the blast, which was linked to a Ku Klux Klan group.

Late Saturday, Lewis released another statement saying it was not his "intention or desire" to directly compare McCain or Palin to Wallace.

"My statement was a reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior," he said. "I am glad that Sen. McCain has taken some steps to correct divisive speech at his rallies. I believe we need to return to civil discourse in this election about the pressing economic issues that are affecting our nation."

Lewis' comments follow widely reported examples of anger at McCain rallies that has been aimed at Obama, the first black man to be a major party's nominee for president. During some rallies featuring McCain and Palin, supporters have shouted "traitor," "terrorist," "treason," "liar" and even "off with his head."

The outbursts came amid a harshly personal line of attack against Obama by the GOP campaign. McCain and Palin have said Obama failed to tell the truth about his ties to 1960s radical William Ayers, had a radical agenda on abortion, and wasn't really known to voters. Last weekend, Palin signaled the uptick in the criticism when she charged that Obama was "palling around with terrorists," a reference to Ayers, and that he didn't see the U.S. as others did.

McCain drew boos at a town-hall meeting Friday in Minnesota when he defended Obama after a supporter said he feared what would happen if Obama were elected president. He also cut short a woman who said Obama was an Arab, and he called his rival "a decent, family man."

On Saturday, McCain called on Obama to repudiate Lewis' remarks. While dismissing the comparison to Wallace, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Lewis was on target in other ways.

"John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for president of the United States 'pals around with terrorists,'" Burton said in a statement.

In his remarks, Lewis also said: "As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

McCain rejected any comparison to Wallace.

"I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track," McCain said.

In August, while appearing at a forum on faith, McCain was asked to name three "wise people" he would listen to. He cited Lewis as well as Gen. David Petreaus, head of U.S. troops in Iraq, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a top adviser to his campaign.

(The Associated Press)

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Martin assails Chambliss over financial meltdown

Democratic Senate race candidate Jim Martin, talking to reporters at a press conference in downtown Atlanta, Sept, 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Jim Martin called a press conference to criticize Saxby Chabliss, and conservative economic policies.

Martin says Chambliss and other Republicans have ignored the conditions that led to Lehman Brothers’ closure on Monday, and the resulting 500-point stock market dive:

Martin came out against Chabliss, and federal financial policies in the wake of the closure of the Lehman Bros closure on Monday, and the resulting 500-point stock market dive:

“Saxby Chabliss has received 474,000 dollars from the financial interests for his campaign. He hasn’t been present to help with this.”

Martin says he wants increased regulation of the finance industry, and blamed the President George Bush, along with Chambliss, for the financial meltdown:

"This is just more of a fallout of the disastrous economic policies of the Bush Administration that Saxby Chambliss has supported the entire time he's been in the United States Senate."

Martin says that Republican proposals to lower gas prices ignore speculation in the oil futures market, and says he supports offering incentives to find alternative energy sources.

The Chambliss campaign accused Martin of using peoples misery and the economic turmoil to get headlines.

Click here for more GPB News political coverage.

Latest statewide election results (Updated)

From the Secretary of State's Office:

Unofficial And Incomplete Results of the Tuesday, August 05,
2008 Primary Election Runoff

The results displayed are UNOFFICIAL AND INCOMPLETE until
certified by both county election superintendents and the
Secretary of State, a process that will not be completed until
the week of August 11.

Last Updated Wednesday, August 06, 2008 7:55:08 AM

United States Senator, Chambliss 97% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Jim Martin 188,331 59.8% Vernon Jones 126,577 40.2% Totals 314,908 County Results
State Senator, District 13 91% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes John Dickey Crosby 1,779 33.6% Wally Roberts 1,193 22.5% Rusty Simpson 1,115 21.0% Horace Hudgins 695 13.1% Bob Usry 515 9.7% Totals 5,297 County Results
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
State Senator, District 44 95% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Gail Buckner 7,516 54.9% Gail Davenport 6,166 45.1% Totals 13,682 County Results
State Senator, District 50 96% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes Jim Butterworth 6,175 62.3% Nancy Schaefer 3,734 37.7% Totals 9,909 County Results
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
State Representative, District 61 84% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Ralph Long, III 1,357 57.9% Keisha Waites 986 42.1% Totals 2,343 County Results
State Representative, District 91 95% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Rahn Mayo 2,795 55.2% Rita Robinzine 2,267 44.8% Totals 5,062 County Results
State Representative, District 93 100% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Dee Dawkins-Haigler 2,374 60.8% Malik Douglas 1,530 39.2% Totals 3,904 County Results
District Attorney, Clayton Circuit 98% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Tracy Graham-Lawson 15,148 60.7% Jewel Scott 9,825 39.3% Totals 24,973 County Results
District Attorney, Eastern Circuit 99% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes Larry Chisolm 5,790 65.9% Jerry Rothschild 2,992 34.1% Totals 8,782 County Results
District Attorney, Piedmont Circuit 98% of precincts reporting Republican Candidates Votes % of Votes Brad Smith 5,502 56.6% Donna Sikes 4,219 43.4% Totals 9,721 County Results
Democratic Candidates Votes % of Votes No Candidates 0 0.0%

Polls close as Georgia chooses

Polls closed across Georgia Tuesday as voters selected which Democrat will take on Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in November.

DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones is facing off against former state lawmaker Jim Martin in what has been bitter three-week runoff race.

Both candidates predict the contest will hinge on turnout, which was sparse across the state.

Just 18 percent of registered voters made it to the polls in July's primary and elections officials say fewer than half of those voters were expected to return to the ballot box for the runoff.

The last U.S. Senate Democratic primary runoff, in 2004, posted 6 percent turnout.

Jones and Martin were the top vote getters in the five-man Democratic primary three weeks ago. Jones won 40 percent of the vote in that contest and Martin earned 34 percent.

The runoff race has featured a duel over voting histories.

Jones accused Martin of voting against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Martin voted for John Edwards in Georgia's Feb. 5 presidential primary even though the North Carolina Democrat had already withdrawn from the presidential race.

Martin has hammered Jones for voting twice for Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Tuesday's winner will face an uphill climb against Chambliss, who has $4 million in his campaign warchest even after a massive media buy to blanket television airwaves statewide with his first re-election ad. The ad will debut after Tuesday's runoff.

Chambliss on Tuesday sent letters to both Jones and Martin saying he looks forward to debating whoever emerges as his opponent.

"After today's vote, the people of Georgia have a right to know what distinguishes their United States senator from the other candidates," Chambliss wrote. "A crucial part of that process for Georgians will be public debates."

He did not commit to specific debates.

Chambliss sent a similar letter to Libertarian Senate candidate Allen Buckley, also on the ballot in November.

Runoffs are also being held Tuesday night in six legislative races. Three of them are incumbents facing challengers.

Click here for more GPB News election coverage.

(The Associated Press)

Martin says he's ready to take on Chambliss

When Jim Martin took over Georgia's Department of Human Resources in 2001, some friends were surprised. Running the state's unwieldy social services bureaucracy is seen as a sure ticket to political oblivion.

But for Martin it was a no-brainer.

"I've always taken the hard jobs where I thought I could make a difference," Martin said.

Labeled "a nice guy" by friends and foes alike, the bespectacled Martin is soft-spoken and almost professorial. Even supporters quietly worry he lacks the fire to make a serious run at Republican Saxby Chambliss in November. Martin, 62, already lost one statewide race - the 2006 contest for lieutenant governor - to Republican Casey Cagle.

Still, Martin insists that he's the best Democrat to defeat Chambliss and that he's up for the fight.

First he'll have to get past DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones in Tuesday's runoff. Martin pulled 34 percent of the vote in the five-man Democratic primary held July 15. Jones earned 40 percent of the vote.

Martin has been portrayed as the hand-picked candidate of the Democratic leaders in Washington. He only entered the Senate race in April after being lobbied by party leaders who also pledged financial backing.

But Martin said he's no reluctant campaigner. He held out, he said, because he figured former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes might enter the field.

"I knew what it was going to take to run statewide and I was willing to take that on because Saxby Chambliss needs to be defeated," Martin said in an interview with The Associated Press. "If someone with the stature of Roy Barnes had decided to get into the race there was no sense in me getting in."

He won his first campaign for the statehouse in 1982 - a 10-way race for a legislative seat representing parts of Atlanta. He went on to spend the next 18 years in the Legislature, rising to chair a key legal committee, while also maintaining a private law practice.

In 2001, his political track changed when then-Gov. Barnes called Martin to tell him that the state human resources commissioner had resigned.

"I said well, governor you need to do a national search but I want to apply. And the line sort of went dead he got so quiet," Martin recalled. "It was seen as a political dead end. But I had a passion for all of those programs."

He took over the department in September 2001 and soon had to implement deep budget cuts as the nation's economy struggled in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

Martin said he worked to streamline department operations, such as child support collections, to save money and help alleviate the impact of budget cuts on the children the department served.

But Jones and other political opponents have criticized Martin for heading the department at a time when children died under his watch.

Martin responded by saying those figures stayed flat while he was commissioner, and that he worked to make the investigations more transparent.

Normer Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children, praised Martin's leadership of the department.

"He was instrumental in moving DHR into the modern era when it came to child welfare," Adams said.

Still, Martin resigned under pressure following the beating deaths of two young children in state care. The deaths came after child welfare officials had received repeated complaints. He said he has no ill feelings about his departure and is proud of his tenure.

He said it's that experience - combined with his campaign for lieutenant governor - that prepared him for the Senate bid.

"I am plenty tough enough to take on Saxby Chambliss, make no mistake about it," he said.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB election coverage.

Advance voting tomorrow in Ga. primary runoff

Advance voting begins on Monday for Georgia's primary runoff.

Georgians can vote in the runoff whether they cast a ballot in the July 15th primary or not. Voters who did participate in the primary and selected either a Democratic or Republican party ballot can only vote on the same party ballot in the runoff.

The biggest race in the Aug. 5 runoff is the Democratic U.S. Senate contest between DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones and former state lawmaker Jim Martin.

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel reminded voters to bring a photo ID to the polls.

Advance in-person voting ends Friday, Aug. 1. Georgians also have until Friday to request an absentee ballot. Absentee ballots must be received by election day.

(The Associated Press)

Click here for more GPB News election coverage.

Georgia lawmakers back Bush on drilling

Georgia lawmakers largely support President Bush's call to lift a long-standing ban on offshore oil drilling, including off the state's coast.

All nine of Georgia's Republican congressmen, including both senators, back the proposal. Three of six Democrats also support it, along with Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The new push for drilling is a response to increasingly urgent complaints from constituents about $4-a-gallon gasoline.

Many experts, including Energy Department forecasters, predict that offshore supplies would amount to a drop in the global bucket and would have little effect on gas prices. But drilling supporters say no one really knows how much oil is out there and that Congress can no longer ignore it.

"People all too often want to say ... 'not in my backyard.' But as a nation in a fuel crisis, we simply cannot afford to take any option off the table," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta. "We're not talking about setting up an oil rig on the sandbar where you collect seashells. We're talking about responsible exploration."

President Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban that his father put in place in 1990 that prohibits offshore drilling in most parts of the country. He is pressing Congress to lift a similar legislative ban.

Based on studies done 25 years ago, the Interior Department estimates that 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil likely will be found beneath coastal waters now off limits. The U.S. consumes about 8 billion barrels per year.

In a report last year, the Energy Department forecasting arm said it would take until 2030 before offshore production really got going. Even then, the report said, "because oil prices are determined on the international market ... any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant."

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, said the benefits are "not worth the risk."

"Every week I advise constituents that there is no easy fix and we will not be returning to the era of cheap gas and oil," he said.

Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, said that while he might support limited new coastal drilling — such as what Congress opened recently in the Gulf of Mexico — Republicans are missing the point by focusing on oil.

"We must find substitutes for oil and natural gas so that crises such as this do not occur again," he said.

But Scott and Johnson are in the minority among Georgia lawmakers, along with Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, who has long opposed new drilling.

The rest of the delegation backs offshore development, including Democrats John Barrow of Savannah, Sanford Bishop of Albany and Jim Marshall of Macon.

Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, who have been trying to broker a bipartisan energy compromise recently, said Congress can no longer ignore potential resources. Even if offshore production would play only a bit part in a broad energy portfolio, Isakson said, making it available would influence market forces that are driving up prices.

"Those who speculate on the future prices would understand that the United States has finally had enough," he said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Supporters also say oil rigs would be so far off the coast that beachgoers wouldn't see them.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Grantville, said the new production also could become a major revenue source for the state, as it has been in Louisiana and other Gulf states, which get a share of government royalties.

Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah, said domestic production is "step one."

"It's just like dieting we need to reduce intake and increase output," he said.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the gas crisis and energy issues.

(The Associated Press)

Powell to Handel: Stop Being Like Katherine Harris

Jim Powell says he first started hearing the rumors over the weekend. What was different about this rumor, as opposed to most political rumors, is that it was one hundred percent true. Jim Powell, largely considered by Democratic leaders as the front runner for the Public Service Commission District 4 Nomination, was kicked off the ballot. This is how Powell says he found out about it:

“I received an email Sunday night, July 13 from a Pickens county Election Board member telling me that he had received an email indicating that I had been disqualified as a candidate.”

Powell has been dogged by other rumors he moved into the district just to run for the seat. Eventually, those rumors made their way to court. However, an administrative judge ruled Powell is a legitimate resident of District 4. During a debate earlier this month, Powell declared “It’s no longer an issue.” His primary opponent, Robert Indech, concurred, saying “In my opinion it is a dead issue.”

Call it the issue from beyond.

Less than a week before the primary, the Secretary of State rose that "dead issue" from the grave and has seemingly buried Powell’s candidacy. Secretary Karen Handel ruled because Powell did not claim a homestead exemption for his house in Towns County, he does not live in the district.

Handel has the authority to determine whether a candidate is eligible, and can do so anytime before the election.

Powell says the whole thing looks like a “sham.” In a lengthy discussion with Georgia Public Broadcasting last night, he objected to the fact he was never personally notified. The Secretary of State’s office instead contacted his attorney, who is out of the country.

Powell also called Handel “the second coming of Katherine Harris,” in reference to the former Florida Secretary of State at the center of that state’s 2000 Presidential re-count.

Yet, Powell has never fully explained why he opted out of homesteading his Towns County home. Powell instead homesteaded his home in Cobb county, and also received mail delivered to that address. The Secretary of State’s office concluded his wife also lived there full time. In an earlier statement, Powell said his wife lived with him in Towns County.

Powell maintains his removal from the ballot is politically motivated. A spokesman for Handel’s office disputes that, saying the decision was made based on facts. State office spokesman Matt Carrothers told GPB “It’s disappointing [Powell] is resorting to personal name calling.” Carrothers also acknowledged his office did not contact the candidate directly.

For now, Powell’s name will stay on the ballot. A Fulton County Judge has stayed Handel’s decision.Yet, should Powell win the nomination as expected, he will have to once again prevail in court.

Powell acknowledges this puts him at a disadvantage against his likely Republican opponent, Lauren “Bubba” McDonald. And if he is ultimately booted from the ballot, Powell says he doesn’t know if he’ll steer his grassroots supporters towards Democrat Bob Indech.

“I have reservations” Powell said, before adding, “I just can’t say right now.”

12th District debate gets testy

Sparks flew in a debate yesterday as the two Democrats seeking to represent the Twelfth Congressional district met in a televised debate. In a debate broadcast on GPB radio and television, the Democratic challenger to Congressman John Barrow, Savannah State Senator Regina Thomas, launched into the incumbent over veterans affairs, wiretapping and other hot-botton issues. Thomas accused Barrow of dragging his feet on reducing gas prices.

Thomas said, "Being in Congress for four years and still talking about what you're going to do, it already should have been done. I think we need to be honest to the American people, we need to tell them exactly what's happening, that the big oil companies and their executives are getting all the money, that we're being gouged."

The candidates disagreed over offshore oil drilling. Thomas said it wouldn't help to reduce gas prices much or soon, while Barrow said he voted for the measure. Thomas called herself the "true Democrat" in the race, while Barrow characterized his approach in Congress as one open to working with both Republicans and Democrats.

Barrow said, "In my time in Congress, I've earned a reputation for getting things done by working with folks on both sides of the isle and all sides of an issue to find solutions to the problems of the people of this country. I've taken this approach because I genuinely believe that that's what this country needs and I know it's what the people of this district want."

The Democratic debate was followed by a milder Republican face-off, with three GOP contenders on-stage. John Stone of Augusta and Savannahians Ray McKinney and Ben Crystal didn't stray far from the tax-reducing mantra. Whoever wins the GOP primary will face either Thomas or Barrow. Both party primaries are on July 15th. If no one wins more than 50% on the Republican side, there'll be a run-off on August 5th.

Reminder: photo ID’s required in upcoming election

Voters taking part in the upcoming General Primary Election that begins Monday, July 7 and end Friday, July 11, 2008 must show one of the following six forms of photo ID:

• A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired;
• Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a free Voter ID Card issued by your county registrar or Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS);
• Valid U.S. passport;
• Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority, or other entity of this state;
• Valid U.S. military photo ID; or
• Valid tribal photo ID.

If a voter does not have one of these forms of photo identification, they can obtain a free voter ID card at their county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services, according to a statement issued by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Additional information about Georgia’s photo ID requirement is here:
www.GAPhotoID.com, or call toll free (877) 725-9797.

Contact information can be found on the 2008 Election Center website:
http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm.

Downloadable and printable absentee ballot request forms are here:
http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm.

Voters can find voter registration information, including polling locations and legislative districts, by visiting http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm or by calling (888) 265-1115.

Georgia Dems want probe of CRCT's

Georgia's Democratic leadership is calling for an investigation into Republican Superintendent Kathy Cox's handling of state-mandated tests this year.

38-percent of Georgia's 8th graders did not pass the math test this year. Many are in summer school hoping to pass and move on to 9th grade. Superintendent Cox says the failure rate was expected because Georgia has a tougher curriculum and a more rigorous test. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter called for an independent investigation, saying teachers did not get enough training.

"If we don't get it straight going to this fall, we're going to have the same results next year because teachers still have not been prepared to teach by that new curriculum or the new rigor of this CRCT test".

Cox says teachers are prepared and she makes no excuses for raising the bar in math so quickly.

"I think we've got to say we have not had a rigorous math curriculum and we haven't had the expectations, and our teachers are doing a heck of a job and they'll get there".

Cox says she's been forthcoming with information and expects most kids to pass the math test after summer school.

Final Presidential Preference Primary Results

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel today certified the elections results for the February 5 Presidential Preference Primary. They are as follows:

Democratic Presidential Preference Primary (100% of precincts reporting):

	Votes	Percentage
Joe Biden	2,536	0.23%
Hillary Clinton	329,964	31.1%
Chris Dodd	904	0.08%
John Edwards	18,199	1.71%
Mike Gravel	952	0.08%
Dennis J. Kucinich	2,096	0.19%
Barack Obama	704,237	66.38%
Bill Richardson	1,879	0.17%
Total Votes	1,060,767

Republican Presidential Preference Primary (100% of precincts reporting):

	Votes	Percentage
Rudy Giuliani	7,157	0.74%
Mike Huckabee	326,845	33.92%
Duncan Hunter	755	0.07%
Alan Keyes	1,458	0.15%
John McCain	304,724	31.62%
Ron Paul	28,092	2.91%
Mitt Romney	290,681	30.17%
Tom Tancredo	324	0.03%
Fred Thompson	3,411	0.35%
Total Votes	963,447

2,024,214 voters cast ballots in the Georgia Presidential Preference Primary, bringing voter turn out to 45 percent, according to a statement released by Handel's office.

The results were forwarded to Governor Sonny Perdue. The Georgia Republican Party and the Democratic Party of Georgia will allocate delegates to their respective nominating conventions, based on these figures.

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Smyre Supporting Clinton

Smyre

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton received another boost from a prominent black leader today when the head of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators threw his support
behind her presidential campaign.

Georgia state Representative Calvin Smyre says Clinton has "the strength and experience" to bring about needed change.

Clinton is locked in a battle for the black vote with U.S. Senator Barack Obama, who is trying to become the nation's first black president.

That fight is heated in Georgia where blacks have made up nearly half the vote in the state's recent Democratic primaries. Georgia's presidential primary is February 5.

Clinton has already been endorsed by Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta, a hero of the civil rights struggle.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, the state's only two black statewide elected officials, are also supporting Clinton.

Obama has the support of another pair of black U.S. congressmen from Georgia, Sanford Bishop of Albany and Hank Johnson of Lithonia.

Smyre has served for nearly 30 years in Georgia's legislature, where he has held a number of leadership roles.

He' s a past Chairman of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and a past President of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials. He is an executive vice president for corporate affairs at Synovus Financial Corporation.

(The Associated Press)

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Georgia Democrats push paper ballot trail timetable

Georgia Democrats in Congress are co-sponsoring a bill that would require states to produce a paper record of every ballot by next year's elections. Democratic lawmakers say voters want more assurances that their ballots are counted, particularly with a pivotal presidential election looming. However, Georgia's chief election official, Secretary of State Karen Handel, says meeting the deadline next year is impossible.

Atlanta Democrat becomes Republican

A Democratic state lawmaker from solidly blue DeKalb County has become a Republican.

Rep. Mike Jacobs announced his decision in an open letter he posted on his website:

My strong belief in fiscal responsibility and restraint – a belief that the vast majority of my constituents share – is not a good fit within the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives… I fit best with moderate Republican legislators like Jill Chambers (Chamblee, Doraville, and part of Brookhaven), Ed Lindsey (Buckhead and parts of Brookhaven and Sandy Springs), and Fran Millar (Dunwoody, Huntley Hills, and part of the Murphey Candler area).

Most of Jacob’s district, however, votes Democratic. More than twice as many Democrats as Republicans turned out for the 2006 primary election.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) released a written statement calling Jacobs a "good, dedicated, common-sense representative." With Jacobs, Republicans now control 107 of the 180 House seats.

By joining the GOP, Jacobs, a two-term lawmaker, continues a statewide trend that picked up steam when Sonny Perdue—another party-switcher—became governor. At that time, several rural Democrats became Republicans. They retained their powerful leadership positions, in exchange for giving the GOP a majority in the Senate.

Presidential hopeful John Edwards in Georgia

Presidential candidate John Edwards made a trip to Georgia Thursday. He spoke in Atlanta at the Georgia Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

Edwards told the crowd that there needs to be a continued push for a timetable in getting U-S troops out of Iraq. Edwards also detailed an agenda to boost education and health care, and fight global warming.

The dinner for several thousand Democrats was expected to raise about 600-thousand dollars for the state party.