Sunday, May 11, 2008
Damage
So far, local government couldn't have responded better. Really an excellent job.
I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to try to post a couple of photographs of the damage and the efforts to help.
Sphere: Related ContentJoin Jane Kidd In Macon On Thursday!
Join Jane Kidd in Macon on Thursday, May 15th!
315 College Street, Suite 150Macon, GA, 31201
315 College Street, Suite 150Macon, GA, 31201
5:30pm -7:00pm
Please Join
Chair Jane Kidd, Congressman Jim Marshall, Senator Robert Brown, Rep. Nikki Randall, Sheriff Jerry and Mary Modena, Councilwoman Lauren Benedict, Bibb County Chair Steve Allen, Amy and Daryl Morton, Duke Groover, Thomas W. Herman, Marc Treadwell, Dwan Packnett, and Nancy Terrill
At a Reception to Support
The Democratic Party of Georgia
Thursday, May 15, 20085:30 pm – 7:00 pm
At the offices of Amy and Daryl Morton
315 College Street, Suite 150
Macon, Georgia 31201
Host Committee & VIP dinner - $1,000 Host Committee - $500 State Party Sponsor - $250State Party Supporter - $100 -Young Professional - $75
Please RSVP by May 8, 2008 to: tim@georgiademocrat.org or by telephone: (678) 278-2102
Contributions may also be mailed to: Democratic Party of Georgia
Contributions may also be mailed to: Democratic Party of Georgia
P.O. Box 77856Atlanta, GA 30357
Sphere: Related Content
Duck, and Cover
It looks like Macon and Middle Georgia got hit hard last night. You should see the video on 13WMAZ. They haven't classified the storms yet, but it looks like tornado's ripped through north and south Bibb. One person, in Dublin,is dead, and there is extensive property damage. Trees snapped in half, roofs blown off, churches steeples gone, gas leaks, houses on fire, structural damage to brick buildings and a gas leak on Heath Road in Macon. We do not have water at our house in north Bibb, apparently because a pumping station got hit. One of the houses that's on fire is in a neighborhood that also does not have water. The Bibb County Sheriff and Macon Police have a simple directive: STAY HOME. Power lines are down. Water is standing. Trees are blocking roads. It's not safe to drive around. Ben Jones, the 13WMAZ meteorologist, is speculating that, based on the damage, the tornado could have been at least an F2. Mayor Reichert has declared a state of emergency.
First, I heard the rain, and the wind and then realized that a tornado siren was blaring. That was at about 5 a.m. this morning. Daryl got up and turned on the television. I picked up my blackberry and saw the tornado warning. I ran up the steps and woke up my son, and then we turned up the television and huddled in the only room in the house that doesn't have an outside wall. Then, 13WMAZ went quiet. It was really, really scary. And, surreal. It's really easy to feel like you're over-reacting when you're huddled in that little bathroom. We're lucky at our house. There's no damage I can see, but clearly, this morning, no one was over-reacting.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Two More Pieces of Bad News for Clinton
Obama continues to close the "Super" delegate gap. CNN now has him just two delegates behind Clinton, while ABC News declared yesterday that he had surpassed her. Now, Rasmussen Reports says that they will stop polling Clinton "in the near future" in order to focus on McCain-Obama. While that last piece of news may not seem like a big deal, I remember how deflating it was to me, as an Edwards supporter, when Gallup dropped Edwards from it's national tracking. As a supporter, it was definitely a gut-check moment.
Clinton will win West Virgina handily on Tuesday, and she will also win Kentucky. It does not matter. Every available mertic, objective and subjective, points to Obama. Unless a really big rock falls on him, this race is over. I respect her right to stay in as long as she wishes, but this is like watching a terminal patient slowly die. The systems that support the life her her campaign-donors, delegates, press, polling, etc.-all seem to be slowly shutting down. It's sad to watch, and I wonder, when it's over, will this indebted campaign look to Democrats (read: Obama) to pay the bill for the prolonged life support?
Mediation
Sorry for the absence, folks. I have been in mediation training all week, and, while it was fun, it left little time for anything else. I don't suppose the concept of me engaging in an activity that requires me to be neutral-as in have no opinion-seems like an odd fit to any of you. Anyway. I have lots to post, so look for me to catch up this weekend.
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, May 07, 2008
GMA Praises Porter
Again, Georgia Democrats may have no better friend than Glenn Richardson.
Today, the Georgia Municipal Association held a listening session in Macon, and according to those present, Executive Director Jim Higdon had glowing praise for Rep. Dubose Porter and the Democratic leadership in the House. Higdon said that Porter sought him out early in the session and pledged to hold the caucus together to oppose Richardson's now-infamous tax plan. And, Porter delivered. Higdon also praised Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Rep. Richard Royal for their support. Had it passed, the GREAT Tax would have seriously undermined the control and authority of local governments. Higdon noted that the Speaker-for whom he showed no love-pushed the plan forward despite the absence of research to discover whether the plan was (a) needed and (b) effective.
This is the kind of critical, behind the scenes work Porter does frequently. He doesn’t showboat, but instead works quietly and effectively to build relationships with key individuals and organizations, like GMA. Politically, those are relationships that can pay big dividends for Democrats this fall. Though much has been written here and elsewhere about Richardson’s “GREAT” Tax Plan, it is worth remembering and truly remarkable that Democrats were able to cobble together a coalition and defeat the plan. Richardson ran the equivalent of well-financed, statewide campaign in support of the plan. We had virtually no money to spend opposing the plan, but we beat him anyway. That's one for the books.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
North Carolina Delivers for Obama
Tonight was a game-changer for Democrats, but not the one Clinton hoped for. The My birth state delivered for Obama tonight, in a big way, though my home county, Rutherford, voted for Clinton by 61%, and as I sit here, Indiana is "too close to call."
Who knew.
Most thought the Democratic Primary contest would drag on into the summer. Now, no matter who wins Indiana, Obama's nomination appears inevitable, and the steep hill Clinton had to climb just became Mt. Everest. Now, it becomes increasingly difficult for Clinton to make the case to delegates that she should be the nominee. It will become increasingly difficult for her to raise money. I'm betting that the super delegates trickle to Obama will become a flood over the next few weeks. And, as he did in his speech tonight, Obama will increasingly begin to reach out to Clinton, heal the party, and run against John McCain.
And, by the way, once he's President, will blogger's spell check stop thinking "Obama" is a misspelled word?
Party or person?
How often have we heard someone say "I vote for the person, not the party." This may be okay in local-level city or county elections, but in national general elections the philosophical difference in national and foreign policy agenda is so profound that it would be naive to vote "person" rather than "party." As our party approaches a final decision between the candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, it is understandable that supporters of one or the other candidate are feeling emotional and partisan (within the Democratic party).
We are still at the point in the political process where voting for "person" is appropriate. All of us by now have a favorite.
But once a Democratic candidate is chosen, then we must change our focus back to voting "party."
I have actually heard people say that if their preferred candidate (Obama or Clinton) is not chosen for the nomination, they will stay home from the polls or, even worse, vote for the other party. I have received emails from people saying the same thing.
As my wise old grandmother used to opine, if they opt out of voting Democratic in the general election they will be cutting off their nose to spite their face. By their absence from the polls they will be giving a vote to an agenda that will be "more of the same." By voting for the other party, again they will be giving a stamp of approval to an agenda which is anathema to their best interests.
In short, primaries --- NOT general elections ---are the time to vote "person."
When the general election arrives in November, we will be voting, not for a person, but for an agenda that will affect us, our children, our grandchildren, world peace, and the environment.
To quote Jean Paul Sartre: "Not to choose IS a choice."
Monday, May 05, 2008
Elizabeth Edwards and Truth Telling
Whoever becomes President should appoint 
Elizabeth Edwards Secretary of Truth Telling. She has a knack for honesty. Sometimes that gets her in a bit of hot water, but, thankfully, she is undeterred. It's one of the things I most admire about her. Today, in the New York Times, she has an op-ed, Bowling 1, Health Care 0, that even she could not have published while John was still in the race. In it, she takes the media to task for the focus on nonsensical but sensational aspects of the campaign for President and challenges all of us to continually speak into the ear of the mainstream press, demanding information about what they choose to ignore. The editorial is on point and timely. Unless we're picking a bowling team, a deacon or a hairdresser, the issues the press has chosen to focus on don't really help us much. But, if we want that to change, we have to demand it. Here's a portion:
The problem today unfortunately is that voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates are finding it harder and harder to do so, particularly if they do not have access to the Internet. Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties.
Shocked, I Tell You, Shocked and Astounded
Some folks have been waiting for years for this shoe to drop. U.S. Attorney Max Wood sent a love letter to the City of Macon inviting indicating that the Ellis administration misused money and made false statements to the feds in connection to grant money-money they allege the City spent in ways other than intended. It may take months before we all recover from our astonishment at the allegation that Ellis would've done such a thing. But, the feds just might want their money back, and my question is-is the City of Macon really going to be the only entity punished here?
Does Jack walk away? With him being the only City Official named, and with the language "making false statements to a government official" floating around, I'm guessing Jack better be hiring a lawyer, booking a trip or both.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
What's With the Georgia GOP?
In a tough recruiting year, Georgia Republicans blamed the salaries for legislators, while Georgia Democrats, predictably, just blamed each other. When candidate qualifying ended in Georgia on Friday, there was a lot of grumbling on the blogs about the recruiting efforts of one political party. Sure, one party failed to field candidates in all thirteen congressional races, while the other will compete in every single one. One party had fielded fewer state House and Senate candidates than the other. One party challenged far fewer incumbents than the other. Trouble is, the party with the poorest recruiting record is the Georgia GOP, yet, the complaining has been about the DPG, with Democrats providing the grist for the mill.
Consider this:
- Democrats qualified great candidates in every congressional race while Republicans will only compete in eleven of thirteen.
- 145 Democrats will compete in House races, while only 136 Republicans are running. Despite their majority status, Republicans are competing in only 17 more House districts than Democrats.
- 50 Democrats will compete in state Senate races, while only 48 Republicans will run. Again, despite their majority status, Republicans will compete in only three more Senate districts than Democrats.
- When it comes to challenging incumbents, Democrats clean the GOP's clock. We will challenge 23 incumbent House members while Republicans will challenge only 11 incumbent Democrats. Republicans will challenge 5 incumbent Democratic senators while Democrats drew targets on the backs of 14 incumbent Republican senators.
- Republicans have failed to challenge incumbent Democrats in a number of marginal districts, including seats held by Amy Carter, Ellis Black and Mike Cheokas.
Georgia Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate along with the majority of the constitutional offices. Their efforts are really embarrassing considering that the Georgia GOP enjoys a substantial cash advantage over the DPG. You'd think that with the money in the bank, a Governor with a 60+% approval rating and virtually unlimited access to lobbyist dollars, the Georgia GOP would've done a better job. You'd think that they would've recruited folks to run in marginal districts (Amy Carter, Ellis Black and Mike Cheokas are all unopposed). If the Democrats had all those things in our favor and had this kind of showing, Kidd and Company would've been run out of town on a rail. Well, if we had rail, which we don't because the GOP led General Assembly couldn't manage to address transportation. I digress.
I understand Republicans wanting to draw the media focus away from their dismal efforts; I just don't understand why Democrats were helping them do it. I'm the first to acknowledge that Democrats need to do a better job of recruiting, but there is a myth floating around that candidate recruitment was a one week marathon for Democrats, capped with an ill-advised robo-call. Whoever's floating that story doesn't know what they don't know. The truth is that many of us have been actively involved in candidate recruitment for the last two years. The truth is that many hours were invested by the Party, the Caucus and various Democratic organizations like Red Clay and Georgia's WIN List. We called, we surveyed, we trained, and, yes, sometimes we begged, pleaded and cajoled to get quality candidates in races. I know this because I have been involved in the process. And, yes, just like the Republicans, during the last month, those efforts were kicked into high gear to get people who we had reached out to over the course of time in place to qualify. And, yes, there are races where we wanted to field candidates and did not, but in many of those races, we were able to identify really quality candidates whose names you will see on the ballot in 2010. We have lots of great Democrats running this year. Now, admittedly, we need to get some real estate agents for some of these folks so that we can compete in more districts, but not only are we running more folks, this is an absolutely fantastic crop of candidates.
Could we have done better? Sure, and next cycle, with your help maybe we will. Now is the time to look around you, or look in the mirror, and help find great candidates to run in 2010.
Sphere: Related ContentThanks, Insider Advantage
Insider Advantage Georgia has posted extremely helpful downloadable spread sheets that detail the qualifying results in the Georgia House and Senate. For all the talk about our recruiting (more on that in the morning), there's some good news for Democrats.
If I can count this time of night:
In the Georgia Senate, Democrats fielded 14 challengers to incumbent Republicans, while the R's qualified just 5 challengers to incumbent Democrats.
In the Georgia House, Democrats fielded 23 challengers to incumbent Republicans, while Republicans qualified 11 challengers to take on incumbent Democrats.
Of course, we have ground to make up in both chambers-ground that was lost long before Jane Kidd took office, by the way-but it looks as though we are actually contesting the most seats.
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