Fresh Loaf

Huffington Post reported this afternoon that former Veep Al Gore will campaign here Sunday for Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin. I’m sure Young Thomas will be getting us more details later.

Meanwhile, here are details on former President Bill Clinton’s visit tomorrow (or today by the time you read this) at Clark Atlanta University on behalf of Martin. For those keeping score, John McCain and Mike Huckabee have campaigned for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, while this gun-totin’ man joins him Wednesday and investment banker Mitt Romney stumps for him Friday.

The AJC’s reporting that both candidates aren’t planning to participate in a debate the Atlanta Press Club was to tape on Sunday — Martin because he’ll be campaigning with Gore, Chambliss apparently just because he’s a big ol’ scared-y-pants.

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1. Serious injury at Atlanta Downhill Soapbox Derby By Andisheh Nouraee

2. Paul Broun compares Obama to Hitler By Andisheh Nouraee

3. Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People: No. 6 By Andisheh Nouraee

4. Atlanta’s 11 Least Influential People: No. 7 By Andisheh Nouraee

5. Wendy Whitaker faces under court ruling By Scott Henry

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Creative Loafing Inc. has asked a bankruptcy judge to allow it to pay $495 an hour to the investment banker who engineered last year’s purchase by CL of two other alternative weeklies, according to Atlanta Magazine’s Steve Fennessy. This time, Skyway Capital Partners’ Bryan Crino would be tasked with helping to solve the company’s financial woes.

Under the company’s Nov. 10 motion to the bankruptcy court, if Crino engineered a sale of Creative Loafing Inc., he and Tampa-based Skyway would be paid “whichever is greater—a cut of the sale or $600,000,” Fennessy wrote Friday on his Cityscape blog.

CL Inc. CEO Ben Eason told Fennessy in an interview that Creative Loafing Inc. — which filed Sept. 29 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — isn’t for sale: “When you draft these agreements, you’re trying to think through any and all options that might come up.” But Eason does think Crino could help raise the money Eason needs to “recapitalize and recast” the company’s debt. For that, CL Inc. is proposing that Crino be paid at least $250,000.

Meanwhile, Eason said the company may suffer more layoffs. “We’ll probably continue to trim staff as it relates to market conditions,” he told Fennessy.

Creative Loafing/Atlanta is one of six alternative newsweeklies owned by Creative Loafing Inc. The others are Creative Loafing/Charlotte, Creative Loafing/Tampa, Creative Loafing/Sarasota, the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper.

The Chicago and DC papers were purchased last July in the purchase that Crino helped orchestrate. Eason is battling the Atalaya investment fund, which lent CL Inc. $30 million as part of that deal, for control of the company.

The motion to has yet to be ruled upon by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Caryl Delano.

Fennessy is a former news editor and senior writer for Creative Loafing/Atlanta.

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After eight years during which the federal government didn’t even have an urban policy, an aide  President-elect Obama is indicating that he plans to coordinate help for cities.

The Washington Post reports that Obama plans to establish a White House Office of Urban Policy.

“He’s going to have a White House chief of urban policy,” [transition co-chair Valerie] Jarrett told the Trotter Group, an organization of black columnists.

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1. AJC censors comics, movie ads By Scott Henry

2. Georgia Court of Appeals: The most important vote you may skip on Tuesday By Ken Edelstein

3. Election night photos By Alejandro A. Leal

4. Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Obama celebration photos By Thomas Wheatley

5. The Libertarian effect on Georgia’s U.S. Senate race By Thomas Wheatley

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Jeanne Cummings of The Politico writes about the Saxby Chambliss-Jim Martin runoff:

President-elect Barack Obama may risk some of his newly earned political capital in Georgia, where a Dec. 2 Senate runoff could move Democrats a step closer toward a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority in the upper chamber.

Cummings, who was a reporter for the AJC in the early ’90s, writes of “eerie similarities” between Obama’s dilemma and President-elect Clinton campaigning in the 1992 runoff that Democratic Sen. Wyche Fowler lost against Paul Coverdell.

… Republicans crowed that it was a signal of Clinton’s already weakened political standing.

Clinton’s allies scoffed at the criticism, but it stung, all the same.

Clinton’s experience and the history of runoffs suggest that Obama’s safest course may be to keep some distance.

That could be one reason McCain’s committed to campaign for Chambliss while Martin hasn’t yet secured a visit from Obama. Then again, the president-elect’s probably a bit more busy.

Obama may end up helping with support from his campaign’s Internet lists and radio ads geared toward increasing black turnout in the runoff, rather than by stumping the state, according to one of Cummings’ sources.

See the full story: “Senate runoff a test for Obama.”

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Georgia’s Democratic state legislators may be the only members of their party who failed to hitch a even a short little ride on Obama’s coattails.

The Republican edge in the state House of Representatives looks to drop from 34 seats to a 33 or 32 seat margin. Whoopie.

No incumbent state senators lost and Republicans look set to hold onto their 34-22 margin. (more…)

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McCain’s concession speech wasn’t just gracious. He also managed to pivot from the narrow perspective of the moment to generously recognize the magnitude of this election. From AP:

“[Obama's] success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance,” McCain said, adding that he “deeply admired” Obama for inspiring the hopes of people “who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence” in electing a president.”

Unsurprisingly, Obama’s victory speech took things even higher by elevating his “Yes We Can” mantra into a tight expression of the American spirit.

But after blogging all evening and jumping frenetically from website to website, I finally felt the significance of the moment when I heard the honking begin on Peachtree outside a Midtown condo. (more…)

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Ann Louis Nixon Cooper, the 106-year-old Atlantan whom President-elect Obama referred to in his victory speech, turns out to be quite a lady.

The Shelbyville, Tenn., native moved with her dentist husband to Atlanta in 1922 — when she was either 19 or 20. She knew W.E.B. Du Bois, John Hope Franklin and other 20th African-American intellectuals. She also was active in community activities, including a tutoring program at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Obama used the sweep of Cooper’s life to launch into a call-response evocation of his “Yes We Can” mantra:

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

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NPR’s interview on the significance of Obama’s victory with Atlanta’s own U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

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Just heard a recording on WABE-FM (Morning Edition) of two Chambliss supporters comparing Obama’s victory to “another 9/11″ in terms of the damage to the country. Amazing.

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Still with only 96 percent of ballots counted, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss has slipped below 50 percent. In all likely, this means he’ll be forced into a runoff against Democrat Jim Martin.

Chambliss 49.8; Martin 46.8.

Big caveat: This is so tight that Chambliss still could jump above 50 percent.

But if he stays below 50 percent, it’s huge. A runoff would make Georgia the national political battleground for the next four weeks — until the Dec. 2 runoff.

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Democratic Public Service Commission candidate Jim Powell is running almost even with Republican Lauren McDonald. This wasn’t unexpected, but Powell’s results are impressive considering all these obstacles he’s had to overcome.

With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Powell is running a percentage point ahead of Barack Obama and Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin. He’s at 47.3 percent, just half a point behind McDonald. That lead seems likely to close, because the votes that remain to be counted are likely to lean Democratic. (more…)

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Late counts of early voters still may squeak Jim Martin into a runoff against incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s website has Chambliss at 50.3 with 96 percent of ballots counted. Buoyed early in the evening by early counts in heavily white North Georgia, Chambliss’ lead has slipped throughout the nigh — first as votes came in from the closer suburbs, then from Fulton and DeKalb, and finally additional early voters — who tilted young and black.

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Better late than never, we endorse state Sen. Michael Meyer von Bremen in the only contested Georgia Court of Appeals contest. See the rest of our Voter’s Guide and our Fulton and DeKalb Cheat Sheet.

In the Court of Appeals contest: While there are other strong candidates, Meyer von Bremen has proven himself as a fair and judicious public servant, and stands the best chance at turning over a religious right-winger’s attempt to win the seat.

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Creative Loafing regular commenters Mr. T and DaleC begged me to let them do a point-counterpoint column (actually I had to bribe them with Moon Pies). This week: the liberal Mr. T (not that Mr. T) urges you to vote for John McCain, while our conservative commenter DaleC endorses Barack Obama. I’m sure they’ll change your mind. Let them know what you think by commenting. (more…)

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Perry McGuire has never argued before the Georgia Court of Appeals, is a harshly partisan politician running for a nonpartisan post, and was deemed in a State Bar poll of attorneys to be the least qualified in a field of seven candidates this year for an open seat on the Court of Appeals.

But McGuire’s likely to come in first after tomorrow’s vote. And, if he doesn’t win outright, he may be favored to win the seat in a Dec. 2 runoff. Unless you do something about it. (more…)

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1. Early voting numbers, crunched By Scott Henry

2. Obama gets off his unicorn By Ken Edelstein

3. Things to do today: Halloween! By Amber Robinson

4. Grant Park break-in video goes viral By Scott Henry

5. About that Saxby Chambliss memo … By Thomas Wheatley

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This is hilarious: Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, two Montreal comedians, tricked Sarah Palin into thinking one of them was French President Nicolas Sarkozy and recorded the six-minute call.

She seems quite smitten by “Sarkozy,” who suggests they “kill animals” together from a helicopter, compliments her on an “edgy” documentary about her life (actually a porn movie), and tells her he’s unclear on whether her husband is Joe the Plumber. They finally tell her it’s a hoax.

The campaign did confirm that it was Palin on the line. No word on whether whether how many campaign aides’ heads rolled afterward.

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… but it was just a vote of Atlanta Public School students. According to an APS press release:

Obama crushes McCain
in APS student mock election

More than 17,000 students in 70 Atlanta Public Schools participated in a national mock election Thursday, chosing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over Republican rival John McCain by a margin of more than 17-to-1. …

Obama garnered 15,798 votes or 92 percent of ballots cast, compared with McCain’s 910 votes or 5 percent. Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney won 99 votes, independent Ralph Nader won 62, Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party won 59 and Libertarian Bob Barr won 45.

Of course, 86 percent of Atlanta Public School students are black, and African-Americans nationally are polling around 98 percent for Obama. I wonder what the mock vote would have been in Cherokee County.

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… just in case McCain wins. More information here:

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So what if Libertarian Allen Buckley got enough votes to keep both Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin from topping 50 percent in the Nov. 4 election? They’d face each other in a Dec. 2 runoff. But which candidate would have the advantage?

It depends on the conventional-wisdom theory you go with.

CW theory #1: Incumbents often lose when they’re forced into runoffs, because people who supported the other candidates are more likely to swing their support to another challenger than to support the status quo.

CW theory #2: Republicans generally win runoffs in Georgia because whites go back to the polls in higher proportions than blacks. (more…)

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Creative Loafing, Oct. 15

I was so pleased with Creative Loafing’s Obama-rides-a-unicorn cover (left), which graced our election issue.

Something about a presidential candidate going bareback on a mythical creature — look, Ma, no hands! — that gives you just a bit of faith in the guy.

I mean, if he can lasso a unicorn he should be able to rein in Wall Street, find peace in the Middle East, make the transition to clean energy, eliminate the budget deficit and win the respect of cowboys everywhere.

Then, this week, Young Thomas Wheatley — who was tipped off by Christa at Pecanne Log — passed along the deflating news that we weren’t alone in a breakout of obamaunicornitas.

It seems LA CityBeat took the concept one step further by dismounting the Messiah off his high horse, so that he could frolic with the animals (left). I gotta admit that I kinda like it.

At the same time, if unicornitas has now gone bi-coastal, I really am concerned that expectations for an Obama presidency have gotten too high.

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CL’s 2008 Voter’s Guide now includes “cheat sheets” for statewide elections, as well as DeKalb and Fulton only contests.

The Cheat Sheets allow you to turn your trip to the voting booth into an open-book test: Just print the appropriate one out and bring it with you.

They include all the races in the order they’ll appear on the ballots, along with our recommended votes for the majority of those contest. But you don’t have to follow our choices; if you usually disagree with us, feel free to take a Cheat Sheet along — just so you can vote the opposite way.

Either way, the Cheat Sheet gives you an easy way to know what’s waiting on your ballot.

You can click to articles on most of the races. I’d love for you to add your own insight or opinion on any of the races in the comment section below each article.

For the DeKalb Cheat Sheet, click here. For Fulton’s here. The statewide contests are included on each of the two county ballots. And for the entire Voter’s Guide, including our articles on specific races, click here.

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1. Early voting becomes advanced next week By Scott Henry

2. Why early voting scares Eric: The untold story By Scott Henry

3. DA’s flawed Troy Davis argument By Mara Shalhoup

4. Bishop’s Eddie Long commits sin of pride on Real Housewives of ATL By Andisheh Nouraee

5. Freaks and veeps: The L5P Halloween Parade By Andisheh Nouraee

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