This isn’t a commercial, but it is the only video from the campaign on his youtube channel:
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Here are the videos for the first official debate between the five current candidates for the GOP nomination to duke it out with Sanford Bishop this November. The two videos I’m putting above the jump are the preliminaries from before the debate actually began – Gary Black singing the National Anthem, and Jeff Chapman speaking to the crowd about his run for Governor. After the jump will be the 22 videos (5 introductions videos 16 question videos, 1 closing statement video) that comprised the actual debate. Gary Black: Jeff Chapman: Over the last 18 hours or so, Preston Smith, the State Senator representing the 52nd District (which includes Rome and parts of my native Bartow County), has become the talk of Georgia politics. Over 100 people have already joined the effort to draft him to challenge Lt Governor Casey Cagle, and virtually every major political blog in the State, as well as many of the newspapers I read daily, have discussed his speech yesterday – many of the blogs re-posting the text of the speech in its entirety. But one thing has not come out yet, and I think it needs to be discussed. You see, this whole battle rages in and around one certain bill in the Georgia General Assembly – HB 307. The fact that this is a House bill that has now passed the Senate means that every single member of the General Assembly who is running for Statewide office has had some degree of say on this bill, and I want to run down the list briefly: State Senator and GOP GAGOV candidate Jeff Chapman (R-St Simons Island) needs your help. His grandson is in the Top 10 Beautiful Babies Contest on Live with Regis and Kelly, and they need your vote to help get him a future college scholarship. Here’s the email I just got:
Recently, some McBerry supporters have been telling me I needed to get my facts straight on him while maintaining that he has “won every straw poll except one in the winer’s home county.” So I went through the PeachPundit archives – possibly the best single source of information for GOP straw poll results – looking for straw polls from 2009 and specifically how Ray McBerry did in them. The general data was also very interesting from the 14 straw polls I found from April through November, here’s what I saw: Ray McBerry seems to want to make the intensely personal issue of religion a campaign ploy, so let’s humor him for a moment, shall we? Ray mentioned his religion three separate times in Tuesday night’s debate. I honestly don’t recall any of the other candidates mentioning theirs a single time – which is what prompted this post. You see, Ray seems to think that by constantly telling you he is a Christian, you will think that none of the other candidates are, and if that is one of the major things you vote for a person based on that he will get your vote. What Ray leaves out is that from what I can tell, he is a member of an ultra-conservative fringe sect, the likes of which make even the stereotypical “Independent Baptist” church look hedonistic. Indeed, he sent this guy to speak for him at the Plains Tea Party. (In Ray’s defense, he and that guy have since had a falling out a couple of months ago. There have also been reports of him being at various PeachPundit gatherings in bars, yet simply not drinking himself, and I have been told he does not have a problem with Sunday Sales.) I can tell you from personal experience that one of the things Austin Scott said he liked best about the South Ga leg of his Walk of Georgia was that he was close enough to home to go to his own church on Sundays, and several times he reported being invited to attend churches near his route while he was walking in other parts of the State. I can also tell you from personal experience that Jeff Chapman prays over his meals, even in public restaurants when meeting someone for the first time. And while I wanted to mention those two, they are not the real subject of this post. No, for this post I want to look at someone who is so dedicated to his religion that he will travel literally halfway around the world to further its message, yet is comfortable enough with his own religion that he does not feel the need to mention it at every appearance on the campaign trail. That man is Eric Johnson. I had a chance to meet Jeff Chapman last night when he came to Albany to speak with me “on his way” back home to Brunswick, and it was a really great conversation. Chapman is the Republican running for Governor that you’ve probably never heard of – but should. He is most well known for his vocal opposition to a case of attempted eminent domain (legal property theft) regarding a major developer (and Republican donor) and his plans for Jekyll Island. Chapman is not the Chair of any committee in the Ga Senate, and he was removed from the Transportation committee due to casting the lone nay vote against a bill that Senate Leadership wanted a unanimous recommendation from committee on. His Agreeability Index is 319 – the third lowest among Senate Republicans who are not the President Pro-Tem, behind only John Bulloch and Dan Weber. He is known as a bit of a maverick within the Caucus, and not one who can be strong-armed into voting against his beliefs. Obviously, when the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives is accused of threatening to beat his (ex)wife, it becomes an issue for Governor candidates. So let’s look at each of them in regards to this issue (in strict alphabetical order by last name): Thurbert Baker: No statement yet. Understandable, given that he is currently the top lawyer in the State and this could turn into a criminal case. Roy Barnes: No statement yet. As a former Governor, he should have a bit of insight here, though he also has to contend with the King Roy image that his opponents would be sure to bring up in response to any statement he issued. Carl Camon: No statement yet. As someone WELL below the radar, he could have made a name for himself – possibly – by being the first to come out calling for Richardson’s resignation. Jeff Chapman: No statement yet. Has a record of bucking the GOP establishment which could help him weather this issue – could even improve his chances, given the rest of the GOP field. Nathan Deal: No statement yet. Faces corruption charges of his own, has been listed as one of the 15 most corrupt Congressmen. Also had a multi-million dollar scandal of his own surface this year that began when he was still in the General Assembly. Scandals anywhere within the GOP become fodder for reminding people of these things, which is not good for him. Futhermore, Richardson -along with Speaker Pro-Tem Mark Burkhalter and Majority Leader Jerry Keen – is a maxed-out donor to Deal, meaning that Deal is clearly the chosen candidate of Richardson. Georgia leaders like to talk about how they are bringing jobs to Georgia, especially under this economic climate. DuBose Porter has one plan and Republicans in the General Assembly consistently talk about how proud they are of their own efforts this past session with the passage of the JOBS Act. But I ran into a dirty little secret over the past few days, one which State Rep Jeff Mays was kind enough to point out to me was part of Georgia Law. You see, I like to do most of my Christmas shopping online. Quite frankly, I’m not such a fan of the crowds on Black Friday or pretty much any day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and most stores offer the same deals online as you get in the physical store. So I get the same price with nowhere NEAR the hassle. As an added bonus, if I shop online I don’t have to pay sales tax. But that is where the dirty little secret comes in. Late last night, after I got home from buying my first ever truck from the great folks over at Ford Town (2006 Ford F-150 Triton XLT), I got an email from the Ox campaign that basically wanted me to look at EVERYONE’s numbers over the three polls in question – they specifically mentioned Handel and Deal, though I’m expanding this to look at everyone’s numbers. Jason has a great table over at GeorgiaLegislativeWatch.com (where I’ll once again be helping him out once the General Assembly starts back) with all the polling data, including the Rasmussen polls in question, which is specifically what I am looking at here. |
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