SWGA Politics

Fear Mongering and Voting in Georgia

[UPDATE Aug 20 2010] After some requests, I’m bumping this post back to the top of the page this morning while I work on another post on this topic that I hope to get up over the weekend. -Jeff

Republicans for several years now have consistently played the “fear” card when it comes election time. They consistently set up some Democrat – be it Al Gore, Roy Barnes, John Kerry, Mark Taylor, or Barack Obama – as some kind of Big Evil that is out to destroy us all, and then try to make us so afraid that we HAVE to vote for the Republican to avoid the Boogie Man. They tell us that if we vote for some “third” party that is more in line with our personal values rather than Their Candidate, the Boogie Man will win and all hope will be lost.

The problem is, Georgia is a “Runoff State” in every election other than the actual Presidential Election. In every race in this State other than President of the United States, a single candidate MUST receive 50% of the votes plus one vote in order to win the election.

It is due to Georgia being a Runoff State that the case for third parties is actually made EASIER, upon any amount of thought.
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The Irrational Fear of The King

Jason has a GREAT post about Republican scare tactics related to one Roy Barnes over on his site (and yes, I liked his title so much I largely borrowed it, so I’m giving him credit here).

Here’s a sample, I encourage you to go there to read the rest. (emphasis mine)

The “pseudo-crisis[es]” Jace is talking about is the “King Roy” meme and worries about redistricting.

The “King Roy” meme is just ridiculous. Republicans held the minority during his term as Governor from 1999 to 2003, so I’m sure the Republicans that were in the legislature at the time remember unpleasant fights over legislative issue. That stuff happens, especially when your party isn’t in control.
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Is John Monds Already Polling At 20%?

For “third” Parties, the magic number in any Gubernatorial election is 20%. At 20%, Ga law says the “third” Party is finally legally equal to the “Big 2″.

At least one site seems to think that John Monds could be near the 20% mark:

From the Free Independent-Sun:

I noticed something quite disturbing when studying recent polling for elections around the country. Rasmussen Reports will include upwards of 6 or 7 candidates in the Democrat and Republican Primaries, sometimes with candidates that only receive 1% of the vote, yet when it comes to the General Election they will only include the two Democrat-Republican candidates despite there being sometime upwards of 3 or 4 other candidates from Third Party Nominations or Independent Nominations. This case is most present and most dangerous in a particular Governor’s election in Georgia, where the African-American Libertarian Candidate John Monds is left out of General Election polls despite having won 33.4% in a statewide election in 2008, and apparently the most likely winner of the 15- 20% of unaccounted votes in Rasmussen Polls.

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Georgia GOP Nominates Racist For Governor

The results are in, and it appears the Georgia Republican Party has nominated a racist who denies President Obama’s natural American birth for Governor. (Sadly, per one recent poll, 25% of Americans agree with him on that second part in particular.)

Fortunately for Georgia, there is another man running who is NOT a racist in any way, is a strong fiscal conservative, and is dedicated to restoring the Freedoms Georgians have the God-given right to enjoy, but that the Democrats and Republicans have stolen from them.

That man is John Monds, and we welcome all disaffected Republicans who cannot in good conscience vote for Deal to vote instead for John.

Remember, Georgia is a runoff state, meaning there is absolutely NOTHING to lose by voting your conscience on November 2, and then your fear in the runoff – contrary to what Republicans are going to cram down your throat over the next few months (indeed, this has already begun).

Note: “Racist” in the title is in reference to the “ghetto grandmother” comment in the above video. We are fully aware that birtheism does not imply racism, and we sincerely apologize if we implied otherwise above.

Choose Wisely

4 videos of 2 candidates speaking:

Sam Olens, as Chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission:

Remarks from Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and ARC Chair Sam Olens from Atlanta Regional Commission on Vimeo.

In this video, note the repeated reference to following the “European Model”. While he is specifically speaking of transportation, if he is so interested in following the “European Model” in one area, will he be similarly interested in following it in other areas?
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Runoffs Getting Nasty

While Nathan Deal and Karen Handel fight over abortion and teh gayz, there is another battle getting very nasty that you may not be aware of:

The Hudgens/Sheffield battle for Insurance Commissioner.

Both Hudgens and Sheffield are trying to put the noose of The Ox around the other’s neck. Both have been tied to him at various points – Sheffield as a lawyer and lobbyist for the Insurance Department, Hudgens as the Chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, where Ox was a frequent speaker.

Both have donors who have supported Ox in both his Insurance Commissioner and Governor races, though Hudgens has the support of Ox’s Assistant Commissioner and was the only candidate of these two to receive money from John Oxendine himself. The money in question here was $500 to Hudgens’ State Senate account in 2008, a year before Hudgens filed to run to replace Ox, from Ox’s Better Georgia PAC.
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Are We REALLY Going In A New Direction?

a message from John Monds, Libertarian candidate for Governor:

This was supposed to be the year of angry voters, right?

Apparently the handful of establishment voters in yesterday’s primary didn’t get the message. Whatever they might say with their mouths, they spoke more clearly with their votes.

And what did these partisans say?
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Primary Results

First, I want to congratulate Lee County Elections Supervisor Veronica Johnson and her team for a job well done. With the help of County IT staff, they were able to put up results of Lee County voting live as they got them. Those results can be seen here.

In the only contested race in Lee County, Lee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Ed Duffy of the Palmyra District pushed back challenger Lester Leggette handily, 71% – 29%.

The overall results can be seen on the SoS site, but I want to look briefly at how the candidates did in Lee County as compared to the State:

In Lee County, the top three were Handel (27.3%), Johnson (26.3%), and Oxendine (25.2%), with Deal only getting 12.7% of the Lee County vote. Throughout the State, however, Handel and Deal came out as the top 2 (34.1% and 22.9%), with Johnson losing to Deal by 2.8% and Ox not quite cracking 17%.

According to just Lee County votes, Hudgens and Sheffield should face a runoff, with Hudgens getting 18.45% of the Lee County vote to Sheffield’s 17.1%. Across the State, it is also Hudgens and Sheffield, who pulled out 20.7% and 19.6% across the State.

I’ll have more analysis tonight.

Primary Returns United Live Blog

Once again, several Ga political blogs will unite to cover an event live. Tonight’s United Live Blog will be covering the incoming returns from the Primary Elections being held today throughout this State.

Please join us for the latest returns, as well as just some good old political banter. We look forward to seeing you from 6:30p tonight to….

Guest Post From Tim Echols, Candidate For PSC

Rising Utility bills Should Heat You Up This Summer

By Tim Echols

The Georgia summer is hot, and not just because of the weather. That’s because two of Georgia’s largest utilities are fishing for rate increases from the Public Service Commission. Atlanta Gas Light recently submitted a $54 million rate request and the Georgia Power Company is asking for almost $1 billion, their largest increase in 20 years. This is on top of the SB 31 increase for the pre-construction charges for Plant Vogtle.

I strongly oppose SB 31, which all of my opponents support, because it violates a fundamental tradition here in Georgia. We have never allowed utilities to pre-charge for construction projects. Many may remember the 90 or so lobbyists that Georgia Power brought to the capitol to convince my two legislative opponents and others to vote for this bill. This is something that Georgia Power’s parent company, the Southern Company, should ask shareholders to pay for, not ratepayers here in Georgia. I see it as a form of corporate welfare of sorts.
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