Braving bitter cold and gushing crowds, former President Bill Clinton stumped for U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Jim Martin Wednesday night at Clark Atlanta University and urged the former state lawmaker’s supporters to return to the polls in the Dec. 2 runoff.
(Photos by Joeff Davis)
View the rest of CL’s Sideshow.
Former presidential candidate Fred Thompson has endorsed U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in his runoff race against Democratic candidate Jim Martin. Big surprise there, eh?
But there was also this in the e-mail announcement, sent to reporters by Chambliss’ campaign, by Will Andrews of Thompson’s PAC:
The Georgia seat is key to all of these battles and many more. Barack Obama is going to Atlanta to drum up support for his Democrat candidate. The unions and ACORN and every other left-wing group is on the ground working night and day.
Night and day! Eating only Socialist food rations that we’ll all riot over on Jan. 21, 2009. Yo, Will! Let us know when Obama’s coming, please. Everyone here is saying it’s unlikely.
STAR POWER Former president stumps for U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Martin
In the quickening cold on Wednesday evening, Augustine Smith, a wide-grinning middle-aged man from Duluth by way of West Africa, leaned against a railing in the crowded Arnett Quadrangle at Clark Atlanta University, Barack Obama hat perched atop his head, and waited for the man many of these people came out to see.
Not U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Jim Martin, although the event was in his honor and Smith said he’d vote for the former state lawmaker again, but former President Bill Clinton. The president had visited Atlanta to stump for Martin in his runoff race against incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss before zipping off to a local fundraiser.
“This country does not need to build a firewall,” Clinton told the energetic crowd of 1,500 people, referring to how Chambliss has described his role in a Democrat-controlled Senate under Pres.-elect Barack Obama. “It needs to build a bridge to the future. Martin’s the bridge, Chambliss is the firewall.”
Clinton repeated this mantra over and over as he attempted to enthuse supporters to do what Republicans know best and Democrats have historically proven unable — the tricky task of getting the voters back to the polls in a runoff.
— The right-wing whackos will never give up. Like the email I got this morning from Janet (Folger) Porter of Faith2Action. See, the Electoral College doesn’t meet until December 15, so there’s stlll time to stop this Obama thing. He’s not even a U.S. citizen. Can’t we just wait and beat him four years from now? No way. In four years, we won’t be able to recognize what’s left of our country. The time for action is now. Oh, boy … The good news is that Obama is still our president-elect and, reports Amy at Georgia Women Vote, he’s keeping his campaign offices open in Georgia in order to help out Jim Martin.
— DCup isn’t bothered by the citizenship issue. As she writes on Politits, her concern is about trust and power. We entrust power to a president and after eight years of Alfred E. Neuman, her trust feels kicked around and abused. She has her fingers crossed that we won’t be fooled again.
— For Sid at Cracker Squire, there’s reason for hope. He likes Obama’s first two major decisions: his selection of Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff and his stance that Joe Lieberman shouldn’t be cast out for his case of man-love for Johnny Mac.
— How scared are the Republicans that Martin can upset the Big Sax Machine? Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered says the Republican National Committee is sending $2 million to help make sure Martin isn’t the 60th Democrat in a filibuster-proof Senate.
— Blog For Democracy predicts that the youth vote is going to be Martin’s secret weapon. The Young Democrats of Georgia have launched a campaign through places such as Facebook to get out the vote in the Dec. 2 run-off.
— And, finally, on a day when a former CIA bigwig visits the Wren’s Nest, they also get a call from a desperate grandmother. And then there was the pimp’s answering machine. Certainly a strange day for the house that Joel Chandler Harris built. But at least he was a certifiable U.S. citizen.
Now that Ted Stevens has been sent packing back to Alaska, the two most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country are Minnesota and Georgia. The race in the North Star State won’t be decided for a while thanks to a recount.
Down here, Rasmussen Reports’ latest polling shows that incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss holds a four-point lead over Democratic nominee Jim Martin.
Chambliss leads 50% to 46%, with the vote scheduled for December 2. Four percent (4%) are undecided. However, runoff elections typically have lower voter turnout than general elections and can be impacted in either direction by organized get-out-the-vote efforts.
…
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Georgia voters say they are certain to cast their ballots in the runoff. Of this group, 51% favor Chambliss, 46% are for Martin, and three percent (3%) remain undecided.
…
In Georgia, 52% of voters say they are less likely to vote for Martin if it means the Democrats will gain a 60-seat majority in the Senate. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say they are more likely to vote for Martin if that’s the outcome.
Interestingly, nine percent (9%) of those who plan to vote for Martin say the prospect of a 60-Democrat Senate makes them less likely to vote for him. Only 2% of Chambliss voters who say it makes them more likely to vote for Martin.
Jim Galloway with the details:
The fourth former GOP presidential candidate will make his way to Atlanta on Monday — that’s three days before Thanksgiving — to help Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss gather cash for the final week of his U.S. Senate runoff.
The price of the evening fund-raiser at the Linstrum + Matre Artworks is $500 per couple. They will take more if you insist.
The former mayor of New York, you’ll recall, took .7 percent of the vote in Georgia’s Republican presidential primary.
Giuliani’s last stop in Georgia — that I can remember at least — was a toe-touch in Marietta during his presidential run. That was a lot of fun.
Josh Putnam at Frontloading HQ crunches Monday’s early voting results. After he listed the raw numbers, here’s what he found:
* Turnout is down, but that’s not a surprise. Barely 13,000 votes cast is a fraction of what we were seeing early on in the general election early voting. [I'm still trying to get a hold of the day-by-day data on this in order to draw a proper comparison.]
* The percentage of African American participation is down. This isn’t a fair comparison, but over the entire early voting period for the general election, blacks made up nearly 35% of early voters (via Michael McDonald). For that proportion to sink to 22% is not good news for Jim Martin.
* The female percentage of the early vote is also down; another possible omen for Martin. Again, according to McDonald, women made up over 56% of early voters prior to the November 4 election. That proportion is now down to just under 48%.
Granted, Putnam says, some counties with large African-American populations — like Fulton County — don’t start early voting until today. Top five counties in terms of turnout were DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Hall and Forsyth.
He also says that the length of early voting periods could play into Chambliss’ favor. Look again at the counties where you saw the greatest turnout — three of those are pretty scarlet.
And some more tidbits:
The complicating factor is that a county like Fulton will only have the final three business days of this week and the first three business days of next week — truncated due to the Thanksgiving holiday — for early voting. And those advance voting-only counties will only have the three days next week. Again, if those are predominantly Martin counties, then the challenger may be getting the short end of the stick. And to think, there was all this fuss over the Republicans having lengthened the time between the general election and the runoff when they reinstituted the 50% rule for the runoff. The talk over the last week or so here in Georgia was that the extra week would give enthusiastic Democrats even more time to vote. Well, not if they can’t. So, the 50% rule hurt Chambliss, but the time between the general and the runoff may not.
Great work by Putnam. Give his site a visit — he’s got more info there for you about the results.
No worries, it’s still at Clark Atlanta University. But event organizers have moved it to:
Clark Atlanta University
The Quad
James P. Brawley Drive and Fair Street
Atlanta, GA
“The Quad” sounds like it’s outdoors to me. Be sure to wear your mittens.
You’d think that by this point in the U.S. Senate Runoff race between incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democratic nominee Jim Martin all the issues would be hashed out. But that’s not the case.
On Sunday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released an ad that questions why Chambliss has refused to testify about whether executives from Imperial Sugar — they owned the Savannah refinery that exploded in February and killed 14 people — asked him to help the company avoid blame for the incident. Chambliss has received campaign contributions from Imperial Sugar and browbeat a company whistleblower during legislative testimony.
A Chambliss spokeswoman told the Associated Press that U.S. Senate legal counsel told the incumbent Republican the U.S. Constitution prevents him from testifying.
But government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says the senator has it wrong. And in a post on the group’s website, executive director Melanie Sloan delivers the senator a zinger.
Signs! They make us think! They make us laugh! They’re great tools for pranks!
No outside signs are allowed at tomorrow’s Bill Clinton rally for U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Jim Martin. And this afternoon you’ve got a chance to make some authorized ones at one of the campaign’s satellite offices in Fulton County.
Here are the details from the Martin HQ:
ATLANTA – This afternoon Jim Martin for Senate supporters will gather at one of the Democratic Party’s Campaign For Change Offices located in Fulton County for a sign-making party in preparation for the Bill Clinton rally. Afterwards, supporters will phone bank to get out the vote for Jim Martin. Martin will work with President-elect Barack Obama to fix the economy and cut taxes for middle class families in Georgia.
WHO: Jim Martin for Senate supporters
WHAT: Host sign-making party and phone bank
WHERE: Fulton County
Morris Brown Office
643 Martin Luther King Drive Atlanta, GA 30309
WHEN: 4:30 PM, Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Infowizard Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider brings word that Judy Woodruff of PBS’ “The News Hour With Jim Lehrer” will moderate Sunday’s U.S. Senate debate between incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democratic nominee Jim Martin.
One problem: Neither candidate has confirmed they’ll participate.
The details:
Right now, plans call for the debate to be taped at GPTV studios on Sunday afternoon, then aired at 7 p.m. A C-SPAN broadcast would come sometime afterwards, Strauss said.
Even though Wednesday’s Bill Clinton rally for U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Jim Martin at Clark Atlanta University is free, organizers urge those who are interested in attending to pick up a ticket at Metro Atlanta campaign offices. Here are details:
Tickets to Clinton rally available at Campaign for Change offices
ATLANTA – Tickets to Wednesday’s “America is Back” rally with Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin and President Bill Clinton are now available at six Campaign for Change offices in metro Atlanta. The rally is to be held at Clark Atlanta University’s Vivian W. Henderson Gymnasium. Doors open at 4:00 pm and the program begins at 4:30 pm.
The event is free and open to the public, but obtaining tickets beforehand is strongly recommended. Tickets are available at the following locations:
DeKalb County
2752 E. Ponce De Leon
Suite G
Decatur, GA 30030Clayton County
2745 Mount Zion Road
Jonesboro, GA 30206Fulton County
Morris Brown Office
643 Martin Luther King Drive
Atlanta, GA 30309Fulton County
1020 Woodstock Road
Suite 2108
Roswell, GA 30075Cobb County
1200 Cobb Parkway N.
Suite 700
Marietta, GA 30062Gwinnett County
3245 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road
Suwanee, GA 30024Those interested in attending may also RSVP here.
From the Martin campaign:
EVENT DETAILS FOR BILL CLINTON RALLY FOR MARTIN AT CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY
Former President will tout Martin’s ability to work with President-Elect Obama to Fix the Economy, Change the Direction of the CountryUPDATED EVENT DETAILS:
LOCATION:
Clark Atlanta University
Vivian W. Henderson Gymnasium
650 Fair Street SW
Atlanta, GADOORS OPEN TO PUBLIC:
4:00 PM
— It may have felt like the first day of winter this weekend, but that didn’t stop a large crowd from gathering outside the Gold Dome on Saturday in support of gay marriage. Reporter Cub was there, with words and pictures.
— With the election of Obama as our 44th president, we’re seeing how far our country has come in terms of race relations … as well as how far we still have to go. At Left On Lanier, Gray talks about the “funny” email folks are sending around about Obama, and what it says about our attitudes on race.
— Things are beginning to heat up in the Senate run-off, which is bringing national political heavyweights to Georgia for the showdown. Some view it as right-wing whacko conservatives facing off against left-wing liberal pinko commies. It’s much more complicated than that, writes DriftGrift. And as a country, it’s time to come together with our commonalities rather than split apart because of our differences.
— No one likes to pay taxes. But B. King at Terminal Station points out that taxes are really investments in our future, and that politicians trumpeting their lower taxes have left us holding the bag to pay for all the infrastructure that’s starting to fall apart from age and neglect. It’s a case of “pay now,” or else “pay a lot more” later.
— I’m a big fan of WAGA-TV’s Suchita Vadlamani, even if I’m never up early enough to see her on “Good Day Atlanta.” She’s smart, has a great smile and is a very agreeable TV face to wake up to in the morning. But as Doug at Live Apartment Fire points out, she should leave the pole dancing to the pros. Sure, she looks hot in heels as she attacks the pole like a … you know … a stripper. Except, her “special report” on pole dancing never mentions that the roots of pole dancing go back to burlesque and strip joints. Just that it’s a great work-out. It’s also great eye candy. Of course, it’s all done in context of November sweeps. And for ratings, the sexy tease is in.
— And, finally, on the home front, Muskrat discovers the joy of reading fairy tales to his little Princess. Since she’s too young to read them herself, he feels free to “update” them with a more modern slant. Which leads his wife to ask when he decided the Grimm Brothers need to host a bra-burning party. The answer is priceless.
