Fresh Loaf

In a sign that the presidential race has tightened and the contest is narrowing to just a few battleground states, the New York Times reports today that the Obama campaign has pulled ads in Georgia.

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As you may have read on state politics websites and in news reports today, some of the documents from Speaker Glenn Richardson’s divorce have been unsealed after government gadfly George Anderson sued.

Just got my hands on ‘em AND…they’re pretty tame. No mentions of alleged trysts or cloakroom deals for natural-gas pipelines.

What they do show is that the case was a political hot potato in Paulding County. It went from judge to judge, with each one recusing himself from the case, until it ultimately returned to Paulding County Superior Court Judge James Osborne, who according to the documents was the “only remaining judge in the the Paulding County Circuit to which this case can be assigned.”  Osborne, who originally sealed the documents, is a former law partner of Richardson’s.

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Bob Barr’s Libertarian bid for the presidency could put Georgia in play for Barack Obama, the New York Times quoted U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson as saying over the weekend.

“If Barr got 8 percent, and you’ve got the higher African-American turnout from Barack Obama, then you’d have a significantly close race in the state,” the Georgia Republican told the Times in an article published Saturday.

That differs from the line of most local Republicans, who’ve generally pooh-poohed the potential Barr effect. But several polls have shown Obama surprsingly within 10 percent of John McCain in Georgia, and Barr with support as high as 8 percent — presumably drawn from libertarian-leaning conservatives who’d otherwise back McCain.

Barr, a former uber-conservative congressman from the north Atlanta ‘burbs (who gained true fame as a Creative Loafing columnist), was dissed by Bush, Rove and the Republican establishment during redistricting earlier this decade when he was lumped into an unfriendly district dominated by a more lockstep party mate. He doesn’t seem to bothered by the prospect of harming McCain’s chances:

“ ‘Well, gee, you might take votes from Senator McCain,’ ” Mr. Barr said this week, mimicking one of the complainers, as he sat sipping Coca-Cola in his plush corner office, 12 stories above Atlanta. “They all said, ‘Look, we understand why you’re doing this. We agree with why you’re doing it. But please don’t do it.’ ”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Although 58 percent of Georgia voters chose to re-elect President Bush in 2004, the president’s approval rating is a mere 35 percent in the state now, according to a recent poll by Strategic Vision. The rating still puts Georgia well ahead of Bush’s national approval of 26 percent — the lowest of his presidency, according to Newsweek.

An overwhelming 81 percent of those polled don’t view Bush as a “conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan.”

Still, the president’s unpopularity does not translate into support in Georgia of the Democratic-controlled Congress. Only 19 percent of respondents approved of Congress’ performance.

Most Georgians are moderately satisfied with their senators, with Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson earning approval ratings of 50 percent and 52 percent, respectively.

With more than 100 Georgia service members killed in the Iraq war, the desire for troop withdrawal is high: About 45 percent of Georgians support a withdrawal of troops within the next six months, the poll shows.

The company polled 800 people who are likely to vote, and the poll has a margin of error of 3 percent. In other results:

— Gov. Sonny Perdue enjoys an approval rating of 55 percent.

— Hillary Clinton (29 percent) enjoys a slight lead over Barack Obama (26 percent) for the Democratic presidential nomination.

— Fred Thompson (25 percent) enjoys the lead for Republicans over Rudy Giuliani (20 percent).

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