Fresh Loaf

Danny: I didn’t like any of the candidates in the first one. It’s probably peer pressure, people telling you that you should vote and I have a close friend that works for Mary Norwood and she gave me the scoop on her, and I liked what I heard and I got a chance to meet Mary Norwood recently and I like her. That was a big turnaround. I’m planning to vote [in] this one ’cause I made promises to people to vote this time. I don’t know much about Reed but there’s something that don’t flow right with me about him.

Mike: I was out of town on business and didn’t have the foresight to get an absentee ballot. I was hoping for a runoff. I felt like a moron because this was an important election. I felt like a jerk, I really did. There’s no more important thing that we do than vote. I’m voting for Kasim Reed. He knows how to negotiate and get things done. Mary Norwood is just a jackhammer. She’s going to poke away at people. I don’t see her being as effective as she is enthusiastic about her job.

Danielle: I did not vote in the first part because I went to Target instead. I meant to when I got back but didn’t. My mother called to make sure I voted. She works for a Board of Elections in a county in Florida. She called to make sure I did my civic duty and I lied. I’m sure she doesn’t read [Creative Loafing].  So I’m going to make up for my lack of civic duty and vote and won’t have to feel so awful about lying to my mother. I’m not 100 percent sold on either one, but I’m leaning towards Mary.

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What's got her so excited?

Speaking only for myself, the events of the past two weeks — at least those relating to the mayoral runoff — have certainly confounded expectations.

In the fortnight leading up to the Nov. 3 general election, Kasim Reed’s campaign pulled something of a rope-a-dope, implying that his opponents weren’t true Democrats. Both Mary Norwood and Lisa Borders took the bait, spending time and energy trying to establish their own Democratic credentials — an effort that likely lost them both some votes.

It was a masterfully divisive maneuver on Reed’s part, but I’ve talked to some voters who were disgusted by it for that very reason, folks who didn’t like seeing a wedge driven between political parties in a non-partisan race.

I assumed the runoff campaigning would get dirtier still. How could it not, given that Norwood seemed to have a lock on white Northside votes? It appeared the only way Reed could hope to win was by undermining Norwood’s curious popularity among black voters — and the only way to do that was to make race an issue in the race.

But I was mistaken. That’s not what has happened — at least, not yet. In fact, it’s been quite the reverse.

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Reed, flanked by Barnes and Borders

So, as we know, ol’ Roy came out for Kasim Reed today on the steps of the Capitol.

Barnes lavished praise on Reed as a legislator for helping advance the then-governor’s progressive agenda, which included hate-crime laws and changing the state flag.

But the two words he used most often to tout Reed were noteworthy: “competent” and “qualified.”

Nobody — not with the campaign or with the press corps — mentioned Mary Norwood’s name, but it seemed fairly clear those two words were chosen to imply a distinction between the two candidates for mayor. (It’s a distinction we raised ourselves in endorsing Reed.)

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How much does momentum help when you’re running for elected office? Just ask Hillary Clinton and the many other candidates who’ve stalled out after an early surge.

Look, Kasim Reed has a lot of ground to make up in his effort to win the Dec. 1 runoff for mayor against front-runner Mary Norwood, but right now, he’s got the momentum. On Monday, he picked up an endorsement from former state legislator Jim Martin. Yes, Martin has been twice defeated running for higher office, but he was a longtime House member who still enjoys respect as an honorable public servant. I know I’m often dragging race into these matters, but it doesn’t hurt Reed’s image that Martin is white.

But that boost was a lead-up to today’s announcement that former candidate Lisa Borders is endorsing Reed at an event going on at this moment. From the pre-release:

“After many months of campaigning, it is critical for us to come together as a demonstration of strength and unity. Atlanta lies at a critical crossroads and her very future depends on leadership that can unite us and move us forward,” Borders said. “Now is the time to lay aside our differences and work in the best interest of all citizens to ensure each has the opportunity to rise to their full potential. Senator Reed’s ideas for afterschool recreation centers, his focus on public safety and his willingness to work toward increasing revenue opportunities for Atlanta are in line with my policy objectives.”

Having talked to Borders’ campaign folks over recent weeks, it was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to support Norwood. I know this will irk many Norwood followers for me to point this out, but almost no one on the City Council believes Norwood has the competence to be a decent mayor. She simply doesn’t command much respect down at City Hall. I don’t want to put words in Borders’ mouth, but it’s my strong impression that she considers Norwood a lightweight.

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On Dec. 1, an abysmally small percentage of Atlanta voters will return to the polls for the city runoffs:

Reed celebrates on election night

MAYOR

As the city saw on Nov. 3, Kasim Reed’s an expert finisher who passed Lisa Borders heading into the home stretch and now carries that momentum into the runoff.

But it won’t be easy to beat Mary Norwood, whose supporters hail from all corners of the city and arguably are more enthusiastic than Reed’s, and thus more likely to flock to the polls on Dec. 1. Last week’s results also confirmed previous polls that suggest Norwood seems to have a lock on north Atlanta’s white vote, which may convince the Reed campaign to try to peel away her strong support among black voters. If Reed decides to employ racial politics, the race could turn ugly and divisive.

“Reed has to increase his black voters, but it would be to his detriment to make an overt racial appeal,” says Emory political science professor Michael Owens. ” I suspect you’ll see his surrogates and supporters do that for him.”

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Borders reacts to the shocker

Probably the biggest surprise of Tuesday’s elections was Lisa Borders’ poor showing. Granted, various polls had showed her support waning and Kasim Reed’s numbers growing. But no one I talked to had expected Borders to net only 14 percent in what was widely perceived as a three-way race. I mean, City Hall shouter Dave Walker got nearly 10 percent in the Council president’s race and he didn’t raise a dime!

So how did the former runoff hopeful become an also-ran? A few thoughts:

1. She didn’t define herself — Easy for us to say, but it’s true. Mary Norwood positioned herself as the throw-the-bums-out, anti-City Hall candidate, a spokesperson for everyone sick of business as usual. Reed cast himself as the determined outsider, criticizing those on whose watch the city had faltered and promising to restore hope to inner-city neighborhoods. Quick — what did Borders claim to represent?

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In a very long interview yesterday with Atlanta Progressive News, Atlanta mayoral front-runner Mary Norwood explained why she’s voted in Republican primaries and attended state GOP conventions.

From APN:

[Norwood] said she was disgusted with the Republican Convention and decided never to return. “There seemed to be two agendas. Evidentally in all these party politics, there’s stuff that goes on on the floor and there’s stuff that goes on in the back room,” Norwood said.

“Just because you go on a date with someone doesn’t mean you’re gonna marry them,” Norwood said, making an analogy. “Just because you did cocaine once doesn’t make you an addict.”

Emphasis added, because hot damn that’s a great quote! And the image of Republicans conspiring in the “back room” followed up with a unrelated reference to the devil’s dandruff? Excellent!

Granted, Norwood’s technically correct. But this is by far the best analogy we’ll read before noon. And it made us think of other excellent analogies. “Just because you once choked a man with your bare hands doesn’t make you a bloodthirsty maniac.” There are many others out there, we’re sure.

(Courtesy Mary Norwood)

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From the Lisa Borders campaign on Mayor Shirley Franklin’s announcement that she’ll vote for Kasim Reed:

“I have enjoyed working with Shirley and her administration. I have learned from both her achievements and her mistakes. I will take both of those lessons into office.”

Borders said Franklin’s low-key endorsement of Reed was not unexpected. Franklin has been working in the shadows of his campaign for a number of weeks, primarily by attacking Mary Norwood. Franklin has a history of endorsing candidates the day before an election.

Worth noting: One could argue that Franklin’s criticism of Norwood the last few weeks could have also helped Borders.

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Let’s say that, after voting, you want to go out tomorrow evening to support your favorite candidate for mayor — and score some free food. Here’s where you’ll find ‘em on election night:

• Lisa Borders — Her party’s in the new W Hotel Downtown at 45 Ivan Allen Blvd. She’s booked a 4th floor ballroom.
• Kyle Keyser — Yes, the longshot activist is throwing a party, too. It’s at Noni’s restaurant at 357 Edgewood Ave.
  
• Mary Norwood — Breaking with the tradition of using a hotel or event facility, Norwood is holding her party at the Varsity. Slaw dogs for everybody!
• Kasim Reed — He’ll be somewhere in the Hyatt Regency downtown. Check with the concierge for directions.

And, let’s not forget the candidates for council president:

• Ceasar Mitchell — He’ll be raising the roof at Park Tavern at the corner of 10th and Monroe.
• Clair Muller — Not too surprisingly, Clair isn’t a big party gal. We’re told she’ll be hanging out at home tomorrow night.

Be sure to vote, folks!

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Here’s the second of two Democratic Party of Georgia mailers that allege mayoral candidate Mary Norwood is actually a Republican. Jim Galloway’s got photos of the other. SpaceyG also provided a link to one.

Click to enlarge. More photos, including Norwood’s TV commercial response, are after the jump.

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Remember yesterday when I was praising a TV ad by Kasim Reed for its positive, upbeat, love-everybody tone?

Well, that was then. Today Reed has a new ad that smears Norwood as a Republican:

So much for civility. Now that polls indicate that Reed has pulled comfortably ahead of Borders, he’s changed tack and is trying to pull support away from Norwood in order to prevent her from winning on Nov. 3 without a runoff.

Will it work? Damned if we know, but we’ll be watching carefully to find out…

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A new Insider Advantage poll shows Mary Norwood’s still the frontrunner in the Atlanta mayor’s race with 45 percent support. Kasim Reed trails with 25 percent. Lisa Borders, who until two weeks ago was second in the race, is third with 16 percent. Jesse Spikes is in the low single digits. Eleven percent of the poll respondents were undecided. (Here’s a link to a PDF of the poll’s crosstabs.)

So sayeth pollster Matt Towery, CEO of IA:

“Based on this survey, if the election were held today, Norwood would likely be within one or two percent of winning the race without a runoff. Her barrage of ads and the apparent decline in Borders’ support suggests that white voters are moving to Norwood. That said, Reed now appears to be the African-American candidate with substantial support from the black community.

What’s interesting about the mayor’s race right now: It’s about image rather than platforms.

Borders, Reed and even the Georgia Democratic Party have accused Norwood of being a Republican. Norwood, who invited the criticism after she said earlier this week that she couldn’t remember if she ever voted for George W. Bush, responded with a TV ad. In it, she rattles off the names of Democrats and even Ross Perot, which, in my opinion, might’ve done her more harm than good.

The Reed campaign today issued a statement calling the Norwood spot a “slick and calculated denial of her well-documented Republican past” and a “scheme to trick Atlanta’s Democratic majority into making a false choice on the eve of this election.”

Political wonks take note: Campaign disclosure reports, which’ll tell us how much cash each candidate has to spend in the final days before Nov. 3, are due today at 5 p.m.

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Buck Man, we don't need your vote

In the final days before next Tuesday’s mayoral election, it seems both Lisa Borders and Kasim Reed have ceded Buckhead to Mary Norwood and are focusing their remaining efforts on Southside Atlanta.

What makes us say this? Consider the evidence:

Last night, both were no-shows at a candidate forum hosted by the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association, a group that includes residents who live south of Lenox Square between Lenox and Roxboro roads.

Also, both have gotten into a war of words over who makes the better choice for Democratic voters, an argument that is unlikely to resonate with a good percentage of Northsiders.

Borders is now taking every opportunity to say she’s a Democrat, from her latest TV ad to ongoing phone solicitations in which callers ask the called to “Vote for Lisa Borders, Democrat.” And those calls are going out to Buckhead.

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Can’t decide who you’ll vote for in the mayoral election next Tuesday because you’re just not fired up about any of the candidates?

May we suggest you try process of elimination? Sometimes choosing a candidate to support is best approached by determining who wouldn’t get your vote even in the event of ice-skating on the River Styx.

Fortunately, there are plenty of people with Internet access who are only too willing to help eliminate some candidate options through the careful application of innuendo, character assassination and good old-fashioned trash-talking.

As a rule of thumb, you haven’t earned your stripes as a candidate yet unless you’re the target of an anonymous opposition website. So, without further ado, here are selected hater sites:

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In March 2008, Mayor Shirley Franklin commented on a Fresh Loaf post about the sentencing hearing for her daughter, Kai Franklin Graham. We were surprised she’d jumped into the online fray, but we welcomed her input. But then for months she went silent, only holding something called “press conferences.” We didn’t hear much from the online persona known only as “Shirley” after that. And we became sad.

On Sunday, someone named “Shirley” commented on a post by the AJC’s Jim Galloway. In it, the poster says Mary Norwood, who according to polls has a big chance of becoming Atlanta’s next mayor, isn’t qualified for the position.

Galloway checked with City Hall to confirm it was Franklin. It was. From her comment:

I support candidates with vision, integrity and intelligence and I have voted for candidates with these 3 characteristics throughout my life. Mary Norwood has none of these. Therefore, I do not support her candidacy for mayor.

Should she win I will wish her well and continue my activism in politics and civic affairs. Race nor gender are the issues for me. Competency is. Norwood has not demonstrated vision, competence or integrity in her public life as an elected offical. Rather she has spent her time building a political network to run for mayor. It looks like she’ll be successful.

She’s provided no evidence in her service on the Council as to her competence to govern. She has not led on ethics or public policy. In fact she’s known for slips of the tongue about what she’ll do as mayor.

Read the rest of Franklin’s comment over at Galloway’s den of political intrigue.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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What's in it for Mable?

Just yesterday, one of our commenters predicted — jokingly, or so I thought — that former state Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas would endorse Councilwoman Mary Norwood for mayor.

Well, it’s happening. I just got an e-mail alert from the Norwood campaign about an endorsement photo-op scheduled for Friday.

How weird is this? Anyone who’s been around Atlanta any length of time knows “Able” Mable — herself a former Council member who most recently ran against U.S. Rep. John Lewis — to be a career politician and lip-service populist who never gives away what she can sell.

So, the question is, what did Norwood offer her in return? Just askin’.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Atlanta mayoral candidate and grassroots activist Kyle Keyser is the latest City Hall hopeful to release a campaign commercial. Only this one won’t be airing during every “Georgia Gang” commercial break, a la the frontrunners’ ads. It’s an online-only spot.

The ad was shot by Atlanta-based filmmaker Raegan Hodge. The tune is by local musicians Judi Chicago. Keyser’s campaign says it’s an in-kind contribution.

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Southeast Atlanta residents won’t want to miss tonight’s mayoral candidate forum.

Candidates Lisa Borders, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed and Jesse Spikes will field questions from moderators Derrick Boazman and Bishop Matthew Norwood at the Atlanta Youth Academy on Forrest Park Road. (Map here.)

The event, which is sponsored by nine neighborhood and community organizations, is billed as Southeast Atlanta’s first mayoral forum. Discussion will focus solely on the issues that impact the part of the city which includes the Grant Park, Reynoldstown, Benteen Park, Summerhill neighborhoods, among others.

A reception will be held from 6:30-7:00 p.m. The two-hour forum follows. Child care will be available.

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Agree or disagree with our endorsement picks? Have a say in our endorsement live-chat with Mara, Scott and Thomas, today at 1:30 pm.

If the chat window doesn’t appear above, click Here

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Do you think we made a mistake in our 2009 political endorsements? Are you voting for the same candidate as us? Talk to staff writers Scott Henry and Thomas Wheatley on this blog tomorrow from 1:30-2:30 p.m. NOW! to get answers to your questions about the Nov. 3 mayoral and City Council elections.

And until then, let us know who you’re voting for by taking part in our polls for City Council Post 2 At-Large, City Council Post 1 At-Large, City Council president and mayor.

Update: Like Billo very wisely said, “Fuck it! We’ll do it live!“

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KASIM'S OUR MAN: Reed deserves the edge for his clear-eyed, pragmatic vision of Atlanta’s future

Even as it heads into the final days before the election, the Atlanta mayor’s race remains, as it has for months now, a showdown between three well-funded, skilled politicians, who are followed some distance behind by an earnest outsider. Voters seem largely indifferent and indecisive — perhaps because there’s a tough choice here, but also some easy ones.

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Karl, sophomore: Lisa Borders. I like her transportation issues more than anything else. She seemed to be the only candidate who actually knew anything about transportation, and who wasn’t trying to do the John Oxendine plan where you just kind of pave through the city. Mary Norwood is pretty good, but she feels more like gentrification. And she comes in and drives a Buick.  That just stuck in my head. Lisa is the only one that comes off as being able to handle the job.

Ariel, senior: I’m leaning towards Kasim Reed. Crime is a real big issue right now, and he has some of the best ideas as far as hiring more police officers. As a Georgia State student, we’re in the middle of Atlanta. After 6 o’clock, all the stores close. It’s weird, because it’s still daylight but people don’t feel safe. I feel what he’s trying to do is put that police presence back into the city of Atlanta, which is real important for me as a student. I saw yesterday that he was talking about hiring 750 more police officers.

Jessica, senior: Mary Norwood, mostly because I like to vote more conservative. The most important issue to me is taxes, especially since I’m a new Atlanta resident. Not that I pay property taxes, but my water, sewer are taxed highly for a lot of reasons. I’d like to see, at least on a local level, someone I can relate to on some views, compared to Kasim and Lisa Borders, who are more liberal. Economically,  we need reform, and Atlanta is not doing very well managing its finances right now.

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Mary Norwood

What took her so long?

Since January, Councilwoman Mary Norwood has campaigned for mayor in large part by dissing Shirley. Not directly, mind you. I have yet to hear her attack Franklin by name or enumerate her failings. But Norwood has pursued a passive-aggressive smear against City Hall and, by implication, the mayor. Shirley has mostly sat by silently, but this week she snapped.

It began the morning after the murder of Standard bartender John Henderson, when Norwood appeared at the photo-op vigil to lay the blame for the robbery/shooting at the mayor’s feet for having furloughed police officers.

“What we have seen is cuts [in police hours] made without consultation and collaboration,” she declared. But that wasn’t exactly true; Franklin had previously argued that the city didn’t have enough money to keep all employees at full force without a tax increase. Norwood opposed the increase, but never suggested an alternative.

Throughout the mayor’s race, Norwood has criticized the city’s bookkeeping. Fair enough; city finances famously ran aground in early ‘08 because of lousy accounting practices that had persisted for decades. But, again, Norwood hasn’t proposed any solutions; instead, she simply dismisses the city’s budget as impenetrable, inscrutable, unknowable. As I’ve said before, boasting that you can’t make heads or tails of the city’s finances wouldn’t seem to be the smartest campaign strategy.

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Looks like this sucker’s starting to get a little more competitive:

The race for the Atlanta mayor’s office got a little tighter in the last week, according to a new poll released Friday.

The new WSB-TV Channel 2/InsiderAdvantage poll shows that Mary Norwood still leads the race with 33 percent, but her lead over Lisa Borders slipped to just six percentage points. Last week Norwood led Borders by eight percentage points.

Although she is still second in the race, Borders actually dropped in percentage points, going from 34 percent to 27 percent this week.

The big gainer was Kasim Reed. He remained in third place, but jumped from nine percentage points to 15 percent.

There are still plenty of folks to convince. Twenty-three percent of the poll’s respondents are still undecided.

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Don’t read this expecting an answer because I don’t know. Obviously, websites and social networking have assumed a prominent position in politics since Howard Dean first used the Internets to build a coalition of Deaniacs and Daily Kos became a must-read blog for millions.

Speaking as a reporter, I find myself questioning a candidate’s commitment if he can’t be bothered to put up a website. But does Web savvy portend a winning campaign?

Take a look at the three leading candidates for Atlanta mayor. Recent polls say Mary Norwood is leading the pack, followed fairly closely by Lisa Borders, with Kasim Reed trailing. But when it comes to attracting supporters on Facebook, Reed is far and away the front-runner. He’s got 4,502 Facebook supporters, compared with 2,886 for Borders and a mere 881 for Norwood.

According to Emory University associate professor Michael Leo Owens, as quoted in the AJC, “This will be the Facebook election.” Does that mean Borders and Norwood should pack it in?

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