Within 48 hours of landing in a runoff, the 9th District congressional campaigns of Republicans Doug Collins and Martha Zoller found themselves in agreement over what the next three weeks will look like.
They just don’t agree on what to call it.
On Wednesday, the Collins campaign declared itself in a fight against interlopers – Alaskan ex-governors, celebrities from D.C. and such. By which it meant Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain. All have endorsed Zoller, a former radio talk show host, and were joined today by another GOP presidential candidate, Rick Santorum.
Call Collins approach a North Georgia mountain strategy that could require much input from former U.S. senator and governor Zell Miller, whose grandson Bryan Miller is running the Collins campaign.
Meanwhile, the Zoller campaign on Thursday fully embraced as precursor the tea party victory of Ted Cruz in Texas, who beat Gov. Rick Perry’s choice in the Republican race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate. From an email to supporters:
We are part of a national movement that is changing the political landscape throughout this country. Just this week, following Marco Rubio’s earlier example in Florida, Tea Party Conservative Ted Cruz took down the professional-politician establishment in Texas.
Just like Texans and Floridians, voters in Georgia’s 9th Congressional District are poised to do the same.
Responds Collins strategist Chip Lake: “Martha’s no Ted Cruz”
There’s no word yet on whether Palin will pay a visit to northeast Georgia on Zoller’s behalf, but the Washington Post this morning has an assessment of the former governor’s endorsements:
Each of five candidates she has endorsed this year who have faced primaries or other campaigns have won, including former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz, who Tuesday beat the state’s well-connected lieutenant governor for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate….
For candidates, Palin’s endorsement process is as mysterious as it is desirable. She conducts no formal interviews, distributes no candidate surveys. Often she keeps her nods secret even from their recipients until just before they become public.
She has endorsed just nine Republicans this year — five of them women, according to the Web site of SarahPAC, her political committee. In an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Palin said that she is making down-ticket races, not the presidential campaign, a focus of her efforts this year. She called Senate and House races “so instrumental in reforming government, shrinking it, allowing the private sector to grow and thrive.”
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Chick-fil-A claimed record sales on Wednesday, when conservative Republicans called on supporters to show their support for a fast-food franchise embroiled in the debate over same-sex marriage. Those critical of CEO Dan Cathy’s comments on the issue have called for a “kiss-in” today.
But check out this map put together by the Wall Street Journal that shows why, at least in the short term, Cathy’s remarks aren’t likely to hurt his company. Currently, CFA outlets are primarily in the South, which has shown the most antipathy toward marriage equality. Expansion into other areas could become a problem, however.
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The Transportation Leadership Coalition will have a press conference in the state Capitol this morning to begin its campaign to eliminate penalties faced by transportation regions that failed to pass the TSPLOST on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, an opponent of the transportation sales tax, explained his take on the issue to Channel 2 Action News:
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State Sen. Bill Heath of Bremen on Thursday challenged his runoff rival Bill Carruth of Dallas to a series of three debates in each of the counties covered by the District 31 seat. From a letter he has sent to the Carruth campaign:
”You have made many false and misleading accusations about me. Frankly the voters are confused as some of the accusations are difficult to believe.
Therefore, as a service to the voters, I have reserved venues in each county where we can gather and discuss these very important issues. I know the timing is very short, but with early voting beginning on August 13th, time is of the essence….
If I haven’t heard from you by 5:00 pm on August 3, 2012 I will assume that you do not want to face the voters to explain your accusations.
Heath says he has lined up an AJC reporter to moderate the three gigs. We’re not sure who that is.
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The AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s assertion that 900,000 military veterans are without jobs.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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