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One sure sign that an election is near – apart from the increasing proliferation of attack ads on cable TV – is the launching of statewide bus tours by candidates hoping to boost the turnout of their supporters.
The Georgia Republican Party released their itinerary Thursday for a “Victory Tour” statewide swing during the period from Oct. 24 – Nov. 1 that will be highlighted by an appearance from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Shortly after the state party disclosed its tour plans, Senate GOP candidate David Perdue and Rick Allen, the Republican nominee running against Rep. John Barrow in the 12th Congressional District, announced their own bus excursions.
Perdue’s tour will get into gear on Oct. 23 and make nearly 50 stops – times and locations to be announced later – before wrapping up with a fly-around on Nov. 3, the Monday before election day.
The Perdue campaign said his tour will incorporate appearances by Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
Allen is starting his bus tour on Monday and has planned stops at these locations within the district: Augusta, Millen, Sylvania, Springfield, Statesboro, Vidalia, Hazlehurst, Alamo, Claxton, Stillmore, Dublin, Soperton, Douglas, Swainsboro, Waynesboro, Glennville, Baxley, and Martinez.
Has the GOP found its silver bullet?
Republicans think they may have found the silver bullet that will take out Democrat Michelle Nunn in the U.S. Senate race: a videotape clip of her recent encounter with a GOP tracker from the organization America Rising.
The tracker confronted Nunn earlier this week in Atlanta (view the video here) and shouted the question at her, “Ms. Nunn, did you vote for President Obama in 2008, 2012?”
The query was inspired by a recent controversy in the Kentucky Senate race, where Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes declined to answer a debate question about whether she had voted for Obama.
In what has become standard operating procedure for both Republican and Democratic candidates, Nunn walked silently by the tracker without responding to the question.
Republican activists are speculating that Nunn’s silence will sink her campaign against David Perdue.
State Rep. Buzz Brockway (R-Lawrenceville) pondered on Peach Pundit: “The question is now out there and one would think would be easy to answer. Another Democratic Senate hopeful Alison Lundargan Grimes of Kentucky was asked if she voted for President Obama, refused to say and now it’s turned into a big deal. We’ll see in the coming days if Michelle Nunn handles this better than Grimes.”
Over on Z Politics, the question raised was: “Could it derail her campaign like it has with Grimes in Kentucky? Georgia Republicans – and the Perdue campaign – sure hope so.”
If the non-answer actually did any damage to Nunn, it hasn’t shown up in the polls. The most recent ones for WXIA-TV in Atlanta and WRBL-TV in Columbus showed her leading Perdue by margins of three points and one point.
Larry Sabato and Kyle Kondik at Sabato’s Crystal Ball have changed their rating on Georgia’s Senate race from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up/Leans runoff.”
They wrote:
Money the DSCC might have spent in Kentucky now appears to be going to Georgia, which is good news for Michelle Nunn (D) in her challenging battle against David Perdue (R). Perdue has led most public polls by about three to four points — though Nunn led by three in a new SurveyUSA poll Wednesday — but Perdue needs to get to 50% to avoid a runoff. Right now, he’s stuck between 46-47% in the poll averages. Perdue also apparently has been hurt by comments from several years ago about outsourcing jobs.
Alexis Levinson at Roll Call quoted National Republican Senatorial Committee officials as confirming that there is a tighter-than-expected Senate race here:
The executive director of the NRSC, Rob Collins, told reporters the race “has tightened up” between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michele Nunn in Georgia.
Recent public polling has shown Nunn gaining traction, and Perdue is struggling to move past his comment that he was “proud” of outsourcing jobs during his business career. Last week, the NRSC announced they were putting another $1.4 million into the state to help Perdue, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee followed by announcing additional spending for the state.
“Candidly, we view that strategy in South Dakota and Georgia as similar to things we’ve done in the past where we’re kind of getting to the end of the campaign, and we’re a little anxious, start believing rumors and looking at polls differently and say, ‘Well, why don’t we put some money in here and maybe we’ll shift the dynamic,’” Collins said.
Dueling ads from Deal, Carter
In the other statewide race everyone’s following, Gov. Nathan Deal and state Sen. Jason Carter both went up with hard-hitting TV spots on Friday.
Carter’s commercial focuses on the improvement in Deal’s financial status during the four years he has been the state’s chief executive:
“He came into the office with millions in personal debt. Now, after four years as governor, Nathan Deal’s worth millions.
How did he get rich? Deal sold his salvage yard for over $3 million to a company that owes the state of Georgia $74 million in back taxes.
Nathan Deal made $3 million. The company still owes $74 million. And the middle class has fallen further behind.
Nathan Deal: Putting money in his pocket. Not ours.”
The Carter ad is referring to an auto salvage business in Gainesville that Deal co-owned with his business partner, Ken Cronan. Deal and Cronan sold the business in 2013 to Copart, a Texas-based car auction company.
Carter’s attack triggered a lengthy response from the Deal campaign, which emailed these assertions:
- Gov. Deal was never on the verge of insolvency and always had a positive net worth.
- Gov. Deal and his business partner built a successful venture from scratch. Unlike what Carter and President Obama might believe, they DID build that.
- The business sold for almost exactly what Gov. Deal said it was worth during the 2010 campaign.
- Upon being elected, Deal placed his financial assets in a blind trust. A blind trust is a mechanism by which day-to-day management and decisions are made by an independent trustee.
- Gov. Deal didn’t “get rich” in office. His personal financial worth went from a tangible business asset to a liquid asset.
- Gov. Deal has said repeatedly that Copart will pay every cent that it owes and has advocated that the case be determined by a court to remove any appearance of conflict of interest.
Deal, meanwhile, aired a TV spot lambasting Carter on the HOPE scholarship issue:
Jason Carter has big ambitions, but his big promises fall short of the truth.
He claims to be for education and the middle class, but Jason Carter’s plan would cap and restrict middle class access to the HOPE scholarship.
And Carter’s big plans increase spending $12.5 billion, requiring highers taxes on small business and the middle class.
Jason Carter. Falls short. Dishonest. Untrustworthy.
Dogs of the no-legged variety
For a little comic relief, there’s the latest TV ad from Rep. John Barrow in the 12th Congressional District race in which Barrow recounts the ways he helps his constituents back home. It may have one of the funniest closes ever from a voter named Barbara Powell:
They’re saying John Barrow doesn’t get anything done? Tell that to the veterans around Statesboro, where John Barrow got a VA clinic.
Tell it to the 5,000 new workers from expanding Plant Vogtle.
Tell it to the seniors who’ve kept their Medicare advantage because John Barrow kept it from getting cut.
And tell it to Barbara Powell from Lyons, whose husband got his VA benefits:
“Anyone who says John Barrow don’t get things done is lying like a no-legged dog.”
© 2014 by The Georgia Report
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