Barrow Is The Loneliest Number

This morning The Economist published a Broderesque story about Georgia reactionary John Barrow, The Loneliest Man In Congress. “Will 2014,” they ask, “spell doom for the last white House Democrat in the Deep South?” I guess it depends how you define Deep South. Apparently North Carolina, Florida and Texas aren’t deep enough, at least not viewed from a British perspective. Anyway, we should only be so lucky to see Barrow, the worst and most useless Democrat in the House finally go down to defeat. His voting record is absolutely abysmal and he votes with Boehner on crucial roll calls more frequently than some Republicans! The DCCC is spending millions of dollars desperately trying to reelect Barrow, who voted more frequently against progressive legislation this session than New York Republican Chris Gibson, who the DCCC is trying to defeat for a bad voting record.

Barrow’s startlingly bad voting record for the 2013-14 session— a ProgressivePunch crucial vote score of 26.87— is further right than Justin Amash’s (R-MI), Gibson’s or Walter Jones’ (R-NC). Jones’ score is 41.28, a helluva lot better than Barrow’s.

In case you’re wondering where The Economist is coming from on Barrow’s race, please watch the 30 second video at the bottom of the page and then think about this first two sentences of their article: “The best political ad of the 2012 election involved Congressman John Barrow and his favourite guns. A Democrat who represents a conservative part of Georgia, Mr Barrow used his 30-second spot to woo two very different groups of voters, both numerous in his district: government-loathing rural whites, and blacks seeking protection against injustice.” Barrow has been successful in rolling his African-American constituents for a long, long time. They see he’s a Democrat and don’t realize how abysmal the specifics of his voting record have been for their families. Or they just figure he’s the lesser of two evils. “Thanks to tireless constituent services and a centrist record (recently he has voted about half the time with House Republican leaders), Mr Barrow has been elected five times. He is a stalwart of the Blue Dog coalition of conservative Democrats,” offers The Economist. In fact he’s the co-chairman, as well as a member of the Wall Street-funded New Dems. The Economist article keeps referring to him as a “moderate” rather than a conservative, which is what he is.

[S]ome call Mr Barrow “deceitful,” accusing him of being both for and against such laws as Obamacare. But more call him “a good guy” whose defeat— if it comes— will be a verdict on national politics. Bill Werkheiser, a Republican running for a state legislator’s seat near Reidsville, expresses heartfelt regret that, if Mr Barrow only voted “five times in 20” with the Democrats, that is enough to damn him in today’s hyper-partisan climate. He ventures that Mr Barrow “is so well-liked” that if he followed other Georgia Democrats and switched party, he would sweep all rivals aside. Asked why he does not become a Republican, Mr Barrow offers well-polished swipes at both parties, adding that a change of partisan label “wouldn’t change the way I vote.”

Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is Georgia’s foremost political journalist. In a column about Sam Nunn’s latest whining about his daughter’s Senate run, Galloway mentions that Barrow was the first choice of Beltway Democrats, not his daughter.

Michelle Nunn’s father also said his daughter, the Democratic nominee for Senate, has little obligation to support Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., should Democrats maintain the chamber in November— given that Reid, in the spring of 2013, asked her not to run for Sam Nunn’s old seat.

“They said they had their eye on another candidate,” Sam Nunn said. Presumably, that other candidate would have been U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, whom many Democrats were attempting to lure into the contest at the time.

Michelle Nunn, her father said, rejected the advice to withdraw. Barrow declined to enter the race.

I have no way of knowing if that is true or not— if the Democrats in DC were clueless enough to imagine that a worm like Barrow could win statewide— but it does sound like a familiar story that is true. In South Dakota, DSCC Executive Director, Guy Cecil, and his boss, Reid, promised the Democratic Party Senate nomination to Barrow colleague and fellow Blue Dog Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who was driven from office in 2010 because the Democratic base refused to turn out for her conservative ass. Knowing she had no chance of winning a primary, she told Cecil she would only run if he could guarantee her there would be no primary. Cecil and Reid immediately forced retiring Senator Tim Johnson’s son out of the race. Grassroots Democrats in South Dakota— an independent bunch— were furious. They didn’t want Reid interfering in who their nominee would be and they sure didn’t want Herseth Sandlin as their candidate. So state Democrats gout behind Rick Weiland, Herseth Sandlin demurred, Weiland got the nomination and Cecil and Reid set about bad-mouthing and sabotaging his campaign. Apparently Reid is now so feeble-minded that he would rather the Democrats lose the Senate than accept a defeat for his bossism. I don’t believe for a second that a dipshit like Michelle Nunn would be independent of Reid in the Senate— but there’s no doubt that Rick Weiland would be.

Nunn would be tantamount to having Barrow in the Senate— gutless, without core values, always second-guessing if she needs to vote more conservatively so she could keep the seat 6 years hence. Years of garbage politics, like Mark Pryor and Mary Landrieu. Weiland… just look what he’s campaigning on— a New Deal Democrat all the way, outspoken on a fair deal for working families and ending the dominance of the 1% over our increasingly facile democracy. There’s a reason Michelle Nunn is not on this page and Rick Weiland is.

DSCC: Dereliction Of Duty

Conservative Democrats who cannot win

Progressive Democrats who can win

Recent polls-- like this morning's release of the latest NBC News/Marist poll in Kentucky-- confirm what astute observers have been saying for some time: the DSCC braintrust-- Harry Reid, Michael Bennet and Guy Cecil-- are wasting their money on conservative candidates in deep red states. The DSCC has helped Alison Lundergan Grimes raise $11,353,760 and they and their Senate Majority Pac have spent close to another $4 million on TV ads in Kentucky already. Similarly, in Georgia, the DSCC has helped Michelle Nunn raise $9,211,931 while they and EMILY's List have spent over a million dollars on outside ads so far.

The most recent SurveyUSA polls shows Republican David Perdue beating Michelle Nunn 50-41%. Today's Marist poll has McConnell absolutely trouncing Grimes, 47-39%. OK, maybe Nunn and Grimes, both conservative Democrats eagerly wrecking the Democratic brand in their state to promote their own doomed candidacies, will lose less badly with DSCC support. So?

If the DSCC and its allies were funneling that kind of money and support into two winnable states they are ignoring-- Maine, where an outstanding progressive, Shenna Bellows, is taking on tired conservative hack Susan Collins, and South Dakota, where a plucky populist is hammering conservative corporate whore Mike Rounds-- the Democrats would have a far better chance to hold onto the Senate… and keep the majority without putting it's effectiveness into the hands of two idiots who will spend the next six years worrying about if they are voting conservatively enough for their reelection challenge.

Shenna Bellows, with no help from the DSCC or from EMILY's List beyond lip service, has raised $1,330,516 to Collins' $5,380,803 (45% of it-- $2,404,553-- legalistic bribes from PACs with agendas antithetical to the voters of Maine. The DSCC and its allies have spent exactly zero dollars in Maine this cycle. How could they when they're dumping so much down the toilets in Kentucky and Georgia? On her own-- and without a single Democratic senator with the guys to go up against Collins (and that, alas, includes Grimes-booster Liz Warren)-- Bellows is closing the gap between herself an Collins. She's now in a position where some help from the DSCC could help her do to Collins what Democrat Bill Hathaway did ("impossibly") against Margaret Chase Smith in 1972. Today's Portland Press Herald featured a debate between former Republican state Senator Phil Harriman and former Democratic state Senator Ethan Strimling on how the contours of the race are shaping up:

Phil: Now I understand why Mary thinks you need help. How about the U.S. Senate race? Is Shenna Bellows gonna be able to break 30 percent against Susan Collins?

Ethan: For sure. She has positioned herself well for the final stretch. The “walk across Maine” solidified her standing among Democrats and introduced her to many people who wouldn’t know her otherwise.

Phil: And many people smiled politely, shook her hand, and will then go into the voting booth to vote for Susan Collins. Collins’ level of popularity is verging on iconic (rightfully so) and will put her on the same plane as Margaret Chase Smith and George Mitchell.

Ethan: I am just saying that Shenna is turning out to be a much stronger candidate than many expected. She has money in the bank. She is very likable on camera. And she is working her butt off. She is turning out to be the Little Engine That Could.

Similarly, Rick Weiland's grassroots campaign in South Dakota-- for an open blue seat-- is getting no help (what would be the opposite of "help?") from the DSCC. Weiland has raised $1,094,098 (to Mike Rounds' $3,716,986). The DSCC has stubbornly refused to spend a dime in South Dakota, even though the most recent polls show him consistently gaining on Rounds.

Public Policy Polling’s newest South Dakota survey finds that Rick Weiland is continuing to cut into Mike Rounds’ once double digit lead in the race to replace Tim Johnson.

Key findings from the survey include:

• Rounds’ lead now stands at just 6 points- he’s at 39% to 33% for Weiland, 17% for Larry Pressler, and 4% for Gordon Howie. Rounds’ lead has dropped from 10 points in April to 8 points in early August to now just 6 points in late August as Weiland has become better known and more popular.

• Weiland is considerably more well liked by voters than Rounds. 48% see him favorably to only 27% with an unfavorable opinion. That +21 net favorability rating for Weiland is up from +15 earlier in the month, and it’s 24 points better than Rounds’-- only 44% of voters see him positively to 47% who have a negative opinion.

• There are several reasons to think the race could close further. Among voters who are familiar with Weiland, whether they have a positive or negative opinion of him, he leads Rounds 42/36. Rounds is ahead in large part thanks to greater name recognition, but as Weiland has become better known, Rounds’ lead has gotten smaller and smaller.

Additionally Pressler supporters say that if they had to pick, they’d choose Weiland over Rounds 48/29. Third party candidates tend to see their support fade as an election gets closer. If Pressler sees a decline in his support over the next two months, Weiland is likely to be the beneficiary-- he trails Rounds only 45/42 when you take Pressler out of the mix.

Rick Weiland has the momentum in this race. The more voters get to know him, the more they like him, and it’s making what was once a wide lead for Mike Rounds less and less comfortable.

If you've been waiting, now's the time to put your money to work for the two progressive Democrats who can save the Senate despite the jaw-dropping incompetence of Michael Bennet and Guy Cecil. Please give what you can to Rick and Shenna here.

Yes, There's A Democratic Primary In Georgia… And There's An Actual Democrat Running Against Nunn's Daughter

Democrat Steen Miles on the left; Sam Nunn's daughter on the right, of course

Professional Democrats are very excited. Sam Nunn's daughter-- who is running for the open Georgia Senate seat on the Democratic Party line-- is doing well in the polls. Not only does she absolutely thrash each of the far right-wing extremist congressmen in the race-- GOP sociopaths Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey and Jack Kingston-- she also beats anti-Choice fanatic Karen Handel and the guy with the familiar name no one knows, David Perdue, who is leading the Republican primary pack. Time to celebrate? Not so fast. The Republican primary has been bloody and they are all tearing each other apart like mad, ravenous dogs. And the Democratic primary…? Well, you don't hear much about it. According to the DSCC and the Beltway pundits on their gravy train, Sam Nunn's daughter is the Democratic candidate. End of story. But that's not true.

Former state Sen. Steen Miles and Branko Radulovacki are also running and, unlike Nunn's daughter, they are running as actual Democrats. If Nunn's daughter's platform is that she's the real conservative and the Republicans are just a bunch of reactionary extremists, Miles and Radulovacki have a more recognizably Democratic approach.

“My political philosophy is ‘Together Georgia Forward’ based on proven servant leadership and a moral vision to put people before politics,” said Miles, whose top priority is job creation through education, infrastructure and other means. “Too much is at stake for Georgians and the nation to send a political neophyte to Washington or someone completely out of touch with the issues faced by everyday working and middle class Georgians.”

Radulovacki, a doctor and cancer survivor, said his No. 1 priority is ensuring universal health care is available to all.

“Government exists to serve all of the people, regardless of race, income, gender or party affiliation. Citizens United, extreme partisanship, and career politicians have created a dysfunctional system in Washington that has lost sight of this, and instead serves the few at the expense of the many,” he said. “It will take citizens like me, with courage and conviction, to reclaim government for the people and restore its ability to serve its intended purpose.”

If I were living in Georgia there are two things I could never bring myself to do. I could never vote for one of the dangerous fringy kooks running for the Republican nomination. And I would never vote for San Nunn's daughter, who represents all that's wrong with the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. But, thank God, I'm not a professional Democrat. I'm a progressive American. In his report last week, HaroldMichael Harvey, dissects Nunn's daughter's campaign-- and finds it severely lacking.

As has been her practice during the race, Nunn stayed away from this gathering of Democratic candidates. Her presence on the ticket with Carter in November is not likely to encourage a strong turnout from the Democratic base. Instead, Nunn seems content to woo Republican voters in November.

But Miles, attired in her Democratic cloth suit, did attend the Americus event and made her case for the Democratic nomination. Miles is the daughter of the late Rev. Austin Davis, a Baptist preacher and an assembly line worker at Studebaker in South Bend, Ind.

After this event, Rosalynn Carter said that money doesn't win elections, but votes do.

While she has made rare appearances in the state, Nunn has crisscrossed the country to attend fundraising events that have netted her a hefty campaign kitty.

“With pennies,” Miles said in a recent telephone interview with this reporter, “we have traveled the state to let our views be known to the electorate. We have been to every Democratic county caucus and debate and we are yet to run into Michelle Nunn.”

Asked if she was frustrated with Nunn running away from Democratic Party functions, Miles said, “I take solace in a recent statement made by President Obama.” He said, ‘”We should all be reminded that it is the power of the vote and not the size of the bank account that drives our politics.’”

The DNC’s gamble is that by running Nunn away from traditional Democratic positions, she will be more acceptable to Republican voters. Republicans are chomping at the bit to get at Nunn.

The first wave of Republican attack ads have begun running in the Atlanta television market. They point out that Nunn did not attend public school in Georgia, opting for a private high school in New York.

Meanwhile, Nunn’s ads portray her views as more Republican than Democratic. Nowhere in Nunn’s ads does she mention she is running in the Democratic primary.

In her few public pronouncements on the issues, Nunn supports delaying the implementation of Obamacare. This is in keeping with the dictates of Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who refuses to accept federal money to expand Medicare which so the state’s poorer members could have affordable health care.

Nunn also believes that Justice Department preclearance should not be applied to Georgia, thus eviscerating the effect of the 1965 Voter Rights Act in the state.

“If a candidate is not accountable to the voters during the campaign,” Miles queried this reporter, “how do you expect to hold them accountable once elected?”

On Monday of this week, Nunn flew into Atlanta from a west coast fundraiser to cast her early ballot in a Democratic primary she refuses to acknowledge.

A few days later, Harvey followed up with another assertion that Nunn's daughter is ignoring Democrats entirely and won't even attend any public party functions-- like debates and forums.

According to a SurveyUSA poll taken two weeks ago, Nunn’s chief competitor for the Democratic nomination is Steen Milles, a veteran Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and a former state senator. If the margin of error of 4.7 percent is on the minus side, Miles in poised to force Nunn into a run-off. Yet most mainstream news media accounts of the Democratic primary race will only say that Nunn is the "likely to win."

If elected, Miles would be the first woman to serve in the Senate from Georgia and the second woman to serve since 1922, when 87-year-old segregationist Rebecca Latimer Felton was appointed by Gov. Thomas Hardwick to fill out an expired term.

Also, Miles would be the first African American and the first African American woman elected to the Senate from the Deep South.

...In disclosing certain information from this poll, the AJC declined to report any polling data from the Democratic primary. Their reporters, Greg Bluestein and Daniel Malloy, would only report Nunn as the “likely Democratic nominee.”

When this reporter shared this information with Miles, she queried: “What are the numbers? If Nunn has such a big lead that she is the likely nominee, why won’t they release the numbers?”

Then Miles put on her journalist hat: “Every time the media release a poll,” she said, “they never say what the percentages are between Nunn and me. I know better than that-- they have to know what the numbers are.”

“I am out every day talking to voters. I know what they are telling me about the positions I take on the issues and how frustrated they are with the fact that Nunn does not come out to meet with them,” Miles said.

I don’t know why the public does not have any polling data on the Democratic primary race.

Perhaps the AJC did not poll the Democratic primary given the fact that Georgia is a red state and a Republican is most likely to win in November.

On the other hand, the big bosses may think that the family name of Nunn and $6.5 million in a perfect world should produce a winner.

These assumptions defy the ground game Miles is grinding day in and day out. Political polls tend to disregard unlikely voters and minorities who are drawn to Miles’ message.

Then again, Bluestein asked Miles after a Tuesday-night forum this week, “Why do you think your campaign is doing so well?”

It could be that 10 days from the election, the AJC does not have a clue as to how the race in the Democratic primary is shaping up.

We On The Grind In... Georgia

In Georgia, they want Medicare expansion and they want to keep their crazy anti-healthcare Governor. Maybe they listen to too much Hate Talk Radio and watch too much Fox News and have wound up with addled brains, but an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released today yields a portrait of one very confused electorate. Let's start with this interesting finding among Peach State respondents: 57% of them favor Medicaid expansion. OK, that makes sense and is pretty much in line with what voters in other red states without Medicare expansion want. But the guy who's preventing Medicare expansion-- and keeping 450,000 from getting healthcare-- in their state, right-wing Governor Nathan Deal, has a healthy 54% job approval rating going into his reelection campaign. The poll shows him leading Democrat Jason Carter 47-38% in a head-to-head matchup (although Carter leads in metro-Atlanta and it's basically the really backward parts of the state where Deal piles up his big margins).

The poll shows that the Senate race to replace retiring Saxby Chambliss is also a hodgepodge that defies reason. Anti-Choice extremist Karen Handel seems to be the frontrunner among the Republicans… maybe-- and depending how you look at the numbers. OK, so, keeping in mind, there are no Republican candidates that are objectively better than any of the others and that any of them would go immediately to the bottom of the senatorial barrel, let's look at this hot mess. The 3 percentages are favorable/unfavoranble/never heard of

• Karen Handel- 39/24/21
• David Perdue- 35/20/27
• Michelle Nunn (D)- 31/18/33
• Paul Broun- 31/21/29
• Phil Gingrey- 31/26/26
• Jack Kingston- 30/19/32

I included Michelle Nunn's numbers in that little chart as well, but the primary is May 20 (with a July 22 runoff) and the Republicans still have plenty of time to bash each other up but good before then. Broun, a John Bircher and former drug addict, has been endorsed by Ron Paul and the dangerous radical right Gun Owners of America. David Perdue has been endorsed by his cousin, Sonny, a former Georgia governor. And Handel has been endorsed by Vivien Scott and Betty Price, whose husbands are crazed right-wing congressmen Austin Scott and Tom Price.

Before today's poll, a PPP survey in August showed Gingrey ahead with 25%, followed by Broun with 19%, Kingston with 15%, Handel with 13% and Perdue with 5%. That same poll also showed Nunn beating Broun 41-36%, beating Handel 40-38%, beating Kingston 40-38%, tying Gingrey 41-41%, and tying Perdue 40-40%. At the time, Tom Jensen wrote that PPP's first poll showed the race was competitive and PPP President Dean Debnam said "The Georgia Senate race starts out as a toss up. None of the Republican candidates are particularly well known or well liked to begin the race. Meanwhile the Nunn name still carries a lot of weight with voters in the state."

Since then Gingrey, Broun and Kingston has made repeated missteps and shocked people with their extremism and obvious lack of qualifications for the job. Just this week, for example, Kingston, who had insisted school children from poor families be put to work because "there is no such thing as free lunch," was exposed for taking thousands of dollars for his own free lunches… and dinners from lobbyists and other trying to bribe him to vote for their own special interests, something Kingston is notorious for in Washingtion.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Kingston has traveled to four continents, racking up $24,313 in per diem allowances. While the allowances were allotted for more than just lunch money, midday meals were included.

…Beyond taxpayer dollars, Kingston has enjoyed many free meals on the campaign trail. WSAV 3 reported $145,391.26 in expensed meals and catering for campaign events, $26,066.45 of which was charged at the Republican Club of Capitol Hill, an exclusive, members only venue.

"Isn't this a free lunch?" a WSAV 3 reporter asked Kingston.

"This is what we need in America," Kingston responded. "We need workfare over welfare. I learned a lot when I was 14 and 15 years old doing chores inside and outside the household and as a result i grew up with a good work ethic. ... It's hard in today's society to have a discussion where you want to challenge the status quo because of the 'I gotcha' politics."

It's going to be a long campaign. And to put it in a little context, let me go back to the healthcare reform that 57% of Georgia voters seem to say they want-- albeit while voting for political leaders who solemnly swear to prevent them from having it. According to a report from the House Ways and Means Committee, repealing the Affordable Care Act-- which all the Georgia Republicans advocate-- would be a catastrophe for the state's residents. Thanks, the report asserts, to the Affordable Care Act, in Georgia:

• 2,202,000 individuals on private insurance have gained coverage for at least one free preventive health care 
service such as a mammogram, birth control, or an immunization in 2011 and 2012. In the first eleven months of 2013 alone, an additional 728,900 people with Medicare have received at least one preventive service at no out of pocket cost.

• The up to 4,324,000 individuals with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, cancer, or diabetes-- including up to 613,000 children-- will no longer have to worry about being denied coverage or charged higher prices because of their health status or history.

• Approximately 2,036,000 Georgians have gained expanded mental health and substance use disorder benefits and/or federal parity protections.

• 1,699,000 uninsured Georgians will have new health insurance options through Medicaid or private health plans in the Marketplace.

• As a result of new policies that make sure premium dollars work for the consumer, not just the insurer, in the past year insurance companies have sent rebates averaging $82 per family to approximately 247,900 consumers.

• In the first ten months of 2013, 94,400 seniors and people with disabilities have saved on average $875 on prescription medications as the health care law closes Medicare’s so-called “donut hole.”

• 123,000 young adults have gained health insurance because they can now stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.

• Individuals no longer have to worry about having their health benefits cut off after they reach a lifetime limit on benefits, and starting in January, 3,317,000 Georgians will no longer have to worry about annual limits, either.

• Health centers have received $102,945,000 to provide primary care, establish new sites, and renovate existing centers to expand access to quality health care. Georgia has approximately 175 health center sites, which served about 321,000 individuals in 2012.

Michelle Nunn Fumbles Badly On Syria-- Steen Miles Would Make A Better Choice For Georgia Democrats

Most Senate candidates are on the same page as the American people-- they oppose attacking Syria. According to a report by Sam Stein at HuffPo last week "[o]f the 50 candidates-- which included incumbents, members of the House of Representatives seeking higher office, top challengers and long-shots-- 43 either returned a request for comment or have already announced their position. Of those 43 candidates, 21 fully oppose the president's plan for limited engagement, nine are skeptical of the idea and seven are undecided. Just six support the proposed air strikes."

This could be the unlikely salvation of the Democrats' most vulnerable incumbent, Mark Pryor. Pryor opposes the war. His far right opponent, Rep. Tom Cotton, is as much in favor of it as McCain or Lindsey Graham, a very unpopular position in Arkansas.

In Georgia the 4 leading Republicans, Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston and Karen Handel, oppose attacking Syria. The leading-- handpicked by the DSCC-- Democrat, daughter of famous hawk Sam Nunn, is on the wrong side of this one. Michelle Nunn may have just lost herself the election:

"It is my belief that we must stand together to ensure our nation’s credibility, to deter President Bashar Al-Assad and other rulers from believing they can use chemical weapons with impunity, and to safeguard our own national security from the dangers of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. President Assad’s actions are a clear violation of international law. If we do nothing after our early declarations, not only will President Assad be emboldened to use chemical weapons on a larger scale, but Iran will be emboldened to proceed with its development of nuclear weapons and friend and foe around the world will devalue the word of the United States. I am aware that many Georgians are rightfully leery about getting involved in another military conflict, especially after recent experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. I share those concerns. We should not engage in another extended action at this time, or commit troops on the ground. But ultimately I believe that we must come together and I would join with our two Georgia Senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, in supporting a limited, defined, and strategic military action to be outlined and carried out by our military leadership."

She doesn't sound ready for a big job... like a senator. The other Democrat trying to win the nomination for this race, former state Senator Steen Miles, makes a lot more sense and sounds a lot more mature and thoughtful:

Stay out of Syria! At last report, some 70% of Georgians do not want the United States to get militarily involved in Syria. We absolutely should not use military force against Syria and run the risk of being involved in another no-win conflict and civil war. In addition, we also put our key ally Israel in harm's way, because they are the closest target for Syrian retaliation. There is no empirical evidence of an eminent threat against the United States and our national security. Therefore what is the mission? While our hearts break at the pictures of the victims of chemical warfare, we must negotiate, we must use sanctions and other peaceful means to show our opposition to this horrific situation. Asad is a murderer, no doubt. But we have mass murderers here at home mowing down innocent children in schools and we can't get laws passed to expand background checks and ban assault weapons to prevent this carnage at home. What the devil in sam's hill business do we have going to Syria interfering in their business when we can't take care of our own business here at home? Because I not like what is happening in your home gives me no right to neglect my own home to interfere in your affairs. Our battle fatigued veterans need immediately help for treatment of their mental and physical wounds. In addition we still have thousands of troops in harm's way in Afghanistan. We simply do not have adequate moral justification, resources in funding and manpower to go against the will of the people. Stay out of Syria!

A Democrat advocating for war is not going to beat a Republican in Georgia advocating against it. Nunn's done. She should go back to whatever she was doing and let Miles take the battle to the GOP.

It's Almost As Though The Georgia GOP Has Figured Out A Way To Elect Michelle Nunn To The Senate

Sam Nunn (L), Michelle Nunn (R)

Virginia Republicans who weren't paying close enough attention are still wondering how their party got saddled with such radical extremists at the top of their ticket. Neo-fascist Ken Cuccinelli and certifiably insane sociopath E.W. Jackson are not going to attract any of the independent swing voters Virginia Republicans need to win statewide, not even against a Democratic candidate as patently unattractive as Terry McAuliffe. But there was no primary. The Cooch manipulated the system so that a nominating convention, dominated by extremists and radical ideologues, would determine who the candidates were. That was a disaster for Virginia Republicans-- and some Georgia Republicans would like to follow suit.

With Michelle Nunn looking more likely to run for the open Senate seat-- and looking like she could beat any of the extremists, especially Handel or Broun, the far right of the Georgia GOP is doing exactly what Nunn's advisors were hoping they'd do: follow Virginia down the yellow brick road... to electoral oblivion. The far right activists are petrified that Rove and other "pragmatists" are trying to manipulate the process in favor of someone who could win a general election.

Georgia Republicans are weighing an election shift that could reshape the state’s political landscape by giving grass-roots activists tremendous new clout in picking the party’s nominee.

State GOP leaders plan to vote Saturday whether to take a first step away from the summer primaries that elect the party’s nominee and toward allowing a convention of party insiders to choose the candidate for statewide and national office. Consider it an audition for a more sweeping electoral change.

Not surprisingly, some elected Republican leaders and assorted power brokers are wary of an overhaul they fear could disenfranchise the roughly 700,000 people who vote in party primaries and cede power to a smaller group of activists.

But supporters say the change is needed to offset what the resolution calls the “power of Big Money and Big Media” and give more say to the activists who feel they’ve been ignored during the GOP’s ascendancy.

“This is an effort to try to remove money from the nominating contest, and some who aren’t in support of it are the ones who enjoy the privilege to dictate who will be our nominee through their money,” said Dale Jackson, a LaGrange businessman who chairs the state GOP’s 3rd district.

“Right now there are a very few people who are participating, and those are the people who can afford to spend hundreds if not millions of dollars to influence who wins the nomination.”

The pitch comes at a pivotal moment for Georgia Republicans. Gov. Nathan Deal and other leaders routinely acknowledge the party needs to broaden its message or risk facing a resurgent Democratic Party emboldened by a growing minority population. And the heated competition for an open U.S. Senate spot triggered a race to the right that some fear could give Democrats a better chance at seizing the seat.

...The party’s establishment wing hasn’t been keen on the idea, and some point to Virginia as a prime example why. Virginia’s Republicans selected E.W. Jackson, a little-known minister and attorney, as their candidate for lieutenant governor despite controversial comments about gays and abortion that could haunt him during the general election.

“I’m not sure less democracy is the solution, at this point in our history, to whatever ills or frustrations are out there,” House Speaker David Ralston said this week. “I can’t support that and I don’t support it. I re-read the resolution this morning and I’m not sure what the rationale for it might be.”

Brant Frost V, the Coweta County GOP chairman who brought the resolution, said his reasoning is simple: The grass-roots base that powered the GOP for generations during its political exile has been “discriminated against” as the party came to power in the past decade. Enough members of the party’s 16-member resolution committee agreed, setting up Saturday’s vote.

“We’ve seen the cost of a primary spiral out of control, and that means you’re excluding candidates who can’t raise the money,” said the 23-year-old, whose family has been influential in GOP politics. “Politics is like a stew. You’ve got to have money, support, the ground game. But we’ve so spiced it up with the money angle that we’ve completely deadened the effect of all the other essential ingredients.”

...Top Republicans, though, are wary of any changes. Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, said the voters in his North Georgia district spend their nights going to Little League games and weekends hunting and fishing-- not at party meetings and insider conventions.

“Are we going to tell them that if they don’t have time to be an activist then we are going to disenfranchise them?” he asked. “I’m not going there.”

He may have no choice-- and that would open the door further to a crackpot like Paul "Lies Straight From the Pit of Hell" Broun, a John Bircher, Karen Handel or Phil Gingrey, all fringe candidates Nunn could beat statewide. Although there's another Democrat running as well, Branko Radulovacki-- "call me Dr. Rad"-- an Atlanta psychiatrist, Republicans are blasting away at Nunn.

“National Republicans are so terrified of the possibility of a Michelle Nunn candidacy that they are already misleading the public about her and her record,” said Matt Canter... at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “The divisive Tea Party primary and the demographic changes in Georgia, make this seat one of the best pick up opportunities for Democrats this cycle,” he said.

This is what the Georgia neo-fascist/KKK/Bircher grassroots wants to send to the U.S. Senate:

Many People Think Georgia Will Elect A Democratic Senator Long Before Texas Does

Future Senator Michelle Nunn and ex-Pres. George H.W. Bush

Zac McCrary and Brian Stryker from the Blue Dog polling firm, Anzalone Research, see Georgia turning into a purple state as soon as 2010. Demographics really are destiny, they assert. Florida, Virginia, Nevada, and Colorado have trended Democrat and now Texas is moving in that direction.

Texas is no doubt becoming more Democratic by the day, and groups like Battleground Texas are already hard at work smartly building the infrastructure to help make Texas competitive. However, demographic and election data indicate the same trends that will make Texas a swing state will even more immediately put Georgia's 16 electoral votes in play, expanding Democrats' paths to an electoral vote majority.

In 2012, Georgia was the second most competitive state carried by Mitt Romney (+7.8% Romney)-- behind only North Carolina (+2.0% Romney)... And in 2008, Georgia was the third most competitive state won by McCain, behind only Missouri and Montana... Obama's Georgia vote share declined in 2012, as did his national vote share. However, the Obama vote share decreased less in Georgia than it did nationwide, and Obama's 2012 Georgia performance came even closer to his nationwide vote share (5.57% vs. national) than did his 2008 performance (-5.99%).

...Most fundamentally, Georgia is quickly becoming less white and less rural. In 2000, Georgia's population was 63% white; as of the 2010 Census the state's population is 56% white. Of the state's 1.5 million new residents between 2000 and 2010, more than 80% (1.2 million, or 81%) were non-white.

Over the past decade, the 6% growth among Georgia's white population pales in comparison to the 26% growth rate among African Americans. This is in stark contrast to the growth patterns of the 1990s, when Georgia's white population grew by more than double that rate (16%). Since 1990, Georgia has gained more than 1.2 million African American residents and has served, according to the Wall Street Journal, as a "magnet for black professionals" from other parts of the country.

However, Georgia's increased competitiveness is not driven solely by African American voters. Georgia's Hispanic population grew by 96% over the last decade-- a growth rate double the national average and second only to North Carolina's. From 1990-2010, the state's Hispanic population has risen from roughly 100,000 to more than 800,000-- now totaling 9.1% of the state's population. Additionally, Georgia's Asian American community grew by 81% from 2000-2010 and has almost quintupled since 1990.

The epicenter of these demographic changes is the Atlanta metro area. As this area grows more diverse, it is becoming more Democratic and expanding its footprint on the state's body politic. Metro Atlanta comprised roughly 52% of the electorate in the 2000 presidential race, but 54% in the 2012 election (and likely 56% in the 2020 election). Of metro Atlanta's roughly one million new residents over the past decade, 90% are non-white (54% African American / 31% Hispanic). This growth reduced the metro area's white percentage from 60% in 2000 to 51% in 2010. Conversely, African Americans (from 29% to 32% of the area's population) and Hispanics (from 6% to 10%) have undergone a population boom. The electoral effects have been unmistakable. In 2012, Obama actually took a majority (50.3%) of the two-party vote in the metro area, roughly six points higher than John Kerry's 44% in 2004.

...Over the next ten years, Georgia will likely add 500,000 more Hispanic and 600,000 more African American residents. The 2008 electorate (that yielded just a 5-point McCain win), is on track to be several points less white (from 65% to 61%), more African American (from 30% to 32%) and more Hispanic (from 3% to 5%). These projections indicate that a 2020 Democratic nominee who performs the same among each racial subgroup as Obama did in 2008 (according to exit polls) would take roughly 50% of the statewide vote, reminiscent of the Obama campaign's narrow victory in North Carolina in 2008.

While Georgia Democrats have struggled in recent statewide elections, Democrats have a solid bench of rising stars including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Congressman John Barrow, state legislators Jason Carter, Stacey Abrams, Scott Holcomb, and non-profit founder/CEO Michelle Nunn, among others. (Disclosure: Kasim Reed and Jason Carter are Anzalone Liszt Grove clients). Such Democratic candidates will be well-positioned to run for Governor or Senate as the state's political hue shifts from red to purple. And while the Atlanta-media market is very expensive, a statewide television buy in Georgia is roughly the cost of a North Carolina buy and 20% less expensive than a statewide buy in Virginia. A Georgia buy is also just one-third the cost of a statewide broadcast buy in the Lone Star State. As Georgia's political winds shift, Democrats should be able to field strong candidates with the ability to marshal the necessary resources to communicate with voters in a robust way over the next decade and beyond.

So what about next year? Can the daughter of beloved and legendary 4-term Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, Michelle Nunn, win the open Senate seat the crazy teabaggers drove Saxby Chambliss into giving up? This week Kyle Trygstad of Roll Call took a hard look at what's shaping up to be one of only three long-short opportunities for Democratic take-overs in red states, the other two being Kentucky (Miss McConnell) and South Carolina (Lindsey Graham). Trygstad agrees with the Anazalone team that "a surge in the black and Hispanic populations around Atlanta has altered the political outlook in Georgia’s statewide races for decades to come."

“I believe that Georgia is in a great position to go for a Democrat not only in 2014, but 2016 as well,” said Tharon Johnson, a top Democratic consultant in the state and President Barack Obama’s national Southern regional director in 2012.

Next year, the party’s hopes rest on the perfect political storm-- including the quality of likely candidate Michelle Nunn’s campaign, the registration of tens of thousands of potential voters and a GOP primary race to the right that debilitates the eventual nominee.

Operatives from both parties agree Georgia is headed for swing-state status, as suburban Atlanta continues to sprawl. They estimate that, as soon as 2016, the state will get the kind of attention from presidential contenders that Virginia’s new purple-state status invited in 2008.

The Peach State was considered safe Republican territory in 2012, when Obama’s team declined to invest any advertising or field efforts like those seen in swing states. Still, Obama won nearly 46 percent of the vote.

Blacks now make up 31 percent of Georgia’s population and about 30 percent of its active voters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Hispanics now account for 9 percent of the population but remain underrepresented in the voter rolls at just 2 percent. Similar demographic trends are also occurring in states such as Texas and Arizona.

The lingering question is: How soon can Democrats use their demographic advantages to consistently compete in federal elections in these states? Some national Democratic strategists believe that their first, best shot is in Georgia.

Johnson listed five specific necessities for Nunn to win and show her state as competitive:

• Full engagement from the political operation of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, the most popular Democrat in the state.

• A coordinated voter registration operation that targets African-Americans, Hispanics and young, white progressive voters.

• Significant assistance from national Democratic organizations, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

• A coalition of voters based on the 1998 road map drawn by Michael Thurmond, Thurbert Baker and Roy Barnes-- Democrats who all won statewide.

• Avoiding a costly primary.

Democrats’ chances increased in January, when Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced his retirement. As their top chance to pick up a seat, there is a strong probability DSCC officials will spend significant money to win it.

But the timing isn’t perfect. Even though Georgia is headed toward becoming a routine battleground, midterm electorates are generally older and whiter-- which favors Republicans.

“I think a Democrat winning in Georgia right now for this seat is at best slim to none, and leaning toward none,” said Tom Perdue, a longtime consultant to Chambliss. “And not her name-- I mean N-O-N-E.”

Polling, however, shows Nunn decisively beating at least one of the top GOP choices: former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. She ties Rep. Phil Gingrey if he;s the nominee and is within the margin or error if John Birch Society extremist Paul Broun is the GOP nominee. And she hasn't even announced whether or not she'll run yet, although the DSCC has been telling insiders she is definitely running and that she'll announce later this month-- and so is EMILY's List.

Which Georgia Extremist Will Out-Extreme All The Others?

Republican voters seem more and more insane lately-- like in the last decade. No one believes in all the trumped up "scandals" Republican congressional obstructionists are pushing out to a media desperate for fireworks except GOP voters. And in the Old Confederate states, the Republican base is far crazier than the representatives they elect (except for a few like Louie Gohmert, Paul Broun, Phil Gingrey and domestic terrorist suspect Steve Stockman). And speaking of Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey...

Those two crackpots are among a gaggle of crackpots running for the Republican nomination for the open Georgia Senate seat. They're all running to the extreme right-wing fringes, the lunatics who vote in the Republican primaries. And their antics are turning off mainstream voters and independents. The latest polling in Georgia shows the main candidates bunched up together and "undecided" (which can also be interpreted as "none of the above") way ahead.

• Jack Kingston- 17.61%
• Phil Gingrey- 15.98%
• Karen Handel- 15.81%
• Paul Broun- 14.14%
• David Perdue- 5.77%
• Undecided- 30.69%

And the more radical and extreme the candidate the GOP primary comes up with, the more likely Sam Nunn's daughter, Michelle Nunn, will snatch the seat from the Republicans. Nunn is competitive polling wise, and would beat former Secretary of State Karen Handel hands down. But is she going to run? Sunday she was the big buzz-- along with Obama-- at an Atlanta DSCC fundraiser. Michael Bennet (D-CO), chair of the DSCC said "We believe Georgia presents us with the greatest opportunity for a pickup." And, needless to say, all the Republican crackpots have, for example, come out against the bipartisan immigration reform bill. They know well who the Know Nothing primary voters are.

"We absolutely must deal with it but we don't need any new laws," Broun said. "The solution is to secure the borders, both north and south."

"We absolutely are going to be opposed and stand strong against any amnesty," Gingrey said. "My idea about solving this problem is to enforce the laws that are currently on the books."

Gingrey and Handel both said the current proposal was too similar to a 2007 immigration bill that ultimately failed.

"We are about to have deja vu all over again," Handel said. "Only in Washington could the same failed policies be put forward as 'reform.' We need to secure the borders now before we do anything else."

Kingston also called for the end of automatic citizenship for those born in the United States. "When you come to America as a visitor and if you have a child, that child should not automatically be an American citizen," Kingston said. "We are one of the few nations left that still have that relic on the books. It was needed at one time but it is not needed anymore."

The Governor asked them not to behave like the Hatfields and the McCoys and destroy each other's chances. Broun, a former drug addict and a current John Bircher, is probably the most extremist of the candidates, though not by much. When he first entered the race, he claimed he was the "only" conservative running and that the others are, essentially, poseurs. "I believe in the original intent of the Constitution," he clucked. "There’s no other candidate that’s going to get into this race that does. I believe in the Constitution as the Founding Fathers meant it. They believe in a Constitution where government finds all the solutions for all the problems. So there are big differences between me and all the other candidates that can get in this race."

Can The Democrats Take A Senate Seat In Georgia? With Barrow Out, It's A Real Possibility

If you thought the Dems got lucky with Akin & Mourdock, wait 'til you meet Paul Broun

Teabaggers decided right-wing senator Saxby Chambliss wasn't pure enough-- after all, with a 1.95 lifetime ProgressivePunch score (and a ZERO for 2013), look how much more conservative he could be voting-- so they threatened him with a primary and he decided to retire. That leaves a Senate seat in a very Republican state up for grabs. Chambliss won in 2008 with 57.5% and in November Romney beat Obama 53-46%. Very Republican-- but not very, very Republican. Chambliss probably wouldn't have had to break a sweat to win reelection. But the teabaggers screwed that up for the RNSC. So now they have two declared candidates, two of the most certifiably insane extremists in Congress-- Paul Straight-From-The-Pit-Of-Hell Broun and Phil Akin-Was-Right Gingrey-- another lunatic (anti-Choice sociopath Karen Handel) threatening to jump in, a more respected right-winger (Tom Price) pulling out and Rove's handpicked Establishment candidate, Steve Kingston, under fore by the extremists for not being conservative enough for the party base. Broun had Kingston in his sites when he said the other Republicans running don't believe in the Constitution, "I believe in the original intent of the Constitution. There’s no other candidate that’s going to get into this race that does. I believe in the Constitution as the Founding Fathers meant it. They believe in a Constitution where government finds all the solutions for all the problems. So there are big differences between me and all the other candidates that can get in this race."

I wish there was more of a difference. But the 4 of them are all crackpots-- and that creates an opening for the Democrats, particularly a Democrat with a respected and beloved name in the state: Nunn. The Republicans, who were dying for weak, pusillanimous Blue Dog shill John Barrow to run, are petrified that Sam Nunn's daughter, Michelle Nunn, will run instead. (The Wall Street Journal announced Barrow's decision to not run as good news for Georgia Democrats.) The DSCC tested candidates against the least extremist of the 4 GOP extremists, Jack Kingston, and they found that Michelle Nunn would have the best chance to win the seat.

The March poll of 800 respondents found Kingston leading Nunn 33 percent to 32 percent, while Kingston led Barrow 33-29.

Barrow announced Tuesday that he would not run for Senate after months of flirting with the idea, and indications are that Nunn's refusal to step aside in a primary was a major reason for his decision. Democrats are now trying to spin Nunn as the superior candidate who can better turn out the base, while Republicans are crowing about how the battle-tested Barrow turned down the DSCC and dampened Democrats' dreams of taking over the seat after the retirement of Republican Saxby Chambliss.

...Nunn, daughter of the former senator Sam Nunn, is the CEO of the volunteer service organization Points of Light. She has not run for office before and is mostly a blank slate to Georgia voters, according to the DSCC poll. She was viewed favorably by 14 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 5 percent. Barrow stood at 18-10 favorable/unfavorable, identical to Kingston and the latest sign of how little-known these members of Congress are outside their districts.

After unspecified "positive and negative messaging" about the candidates was read to the respondents, Nunn pulled ahead of Kingston 37 percent to 34 percent, while Kingston led Barrow 33-32. The AJC was not provided any additional information about the poll, such as how the Democrats performed against the other Republicans in the race.

POLLING UPDATE

On Monday Better Georgia released a poll showing the GOP extremists make the open Senate seat very mich up for grabs. Michelle Nunn would beat Handel substantially and is in position to beat any of the crackpot congressmen the Republicans are looking at.

The survey shows a Republican advantage of 4 percentage points before either party has chosen its candidate. It also shows that in a crowded primary, Republican voters favor the most conservative candidate, Congressman Paul Broun.

Michelle Nunn, the founder and CEO of an international non-profit and the daughter of former United States Senator Sam Nunn, performs best when compared with potential GOP candidate Karen Handel, former Georgia Secretary of State. In a head-to-head match-up of the two women, Nunn draws 47 percent to Handel’s 39 percent. Nunn is tied with Congressman Phil Gingrey at 46 percent for each candidate. The most moderate Republican candidate, Congressman Jack Kingston, performs best against Nunn, 48 percent to 42 percent. None of the Republican candidates top the 50 percent mark when tested against Nunn.

“Georgia voters are growing increasingly tired of status quo conservatives who put ideology before common sense solutions to Georgia’s biggest challenges,” said Better Georgia Executive Director Bryan Long.  “Georgia is simply not a ‘red state’ where the most conservative candidate is assured victory. Anyone who believes otherwise simply has not looked at the data.”