Oconee County, GA Politics

If you are a gay or gay-frinedly voter in Georgia who happened to pull the G.O.P. ballot in the primary, then you should vote for Karen Handel in the run-off Tuesday.  If you think any support of gay people is somehow immoral, then you should vote for Nathan Deal. So goes the common political wisdom in the Georgia Gubernatorial run off Tuesday. Or should it? I voted for Deal, but not because I think he is the better candidate. I think he is incredibly corrupt and intolerant, and I think he will be much easier for former Governor Roy Barnes to beat in Novermber because of this baggage. I think Republican women and many politically active women of all stripes will rally around Handel if she secures the nomination, and she would probably beat Barnes in the general election. I attended the Handel rally at the Oconee County Courthouse and was genuinely surprised at the amount of seemingly moderate white folks who attended this event. I did not attend the Deal event the following day...

illegal campaign signs within 150 feet of polling place Former Georgia Secretary of State and Fulton County Chair Karen Handel brought her Republican run off campaign for Governor to a crowd of about 60 people in the upstairs courtroom of the Oconee County Courthouse in Watkinsville Thursday evening. Handel was introduced by Oconee County chair G. Melvin Davis. Davis detailed his working with Handel while she was chair of Fulton County Board of Commissioners in 2003. Handel thanked Davis and recognized various members of the audience as well. The Oconee Reigonal Republican Women hosted the event and local party chair Jay Hanley made some announcements prior to the main event. Among the more surprising attendees at this event were Oconee County Tourism Director Peggy Holcomb, who (formerly?) was a Democratic party devotee, and Western Circuit Judge David Sweat.  Some of the more predictable attendees included the Republican nominee for the 113th House seat in Hank Huckabee,...

Peach Pundit

Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine has been linked to an extra marital affair back in Jasper through a reliable source of mine and using the influence of his office for a variety of sleazy activity. Will any of these charges stick and sink his ship before the primary next week? At this point I do not think so, but it could certainly torch his chances in November. This report from the I Team's Dale Russell is nothing shocking or new, except in how fast it came down once the publicity glare got a little too shiny for the particulars involved. The truth is donations do grant access to campaigns and politicians.

The Ray "States Rights" McBerry saga gets stranger by the second, but hey, it is the Georgia GOP, so anything is possible. The Republican candidate for Governor of Georgia just needs to go ahead and secede from the United States since he does not recognize the vast majority of states. GOP Gov Candidate Admits Refusing To Salute Flag -- Denies Hitting On Campaign Manager, Sex With Underage Girls | TPMMuckraker Posted using ShareThis

Might be worth a drive to Athens to hear Georgia Gubernatorial candidate and current Attorney General Thurbert Baker this evening. Woven brightly,  Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. From: youngdemsofuga@GMAIL.COM Subject: Attorney General Thurbert Baker Tonight To: YDEM-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker will be speaking at tonight's meeting of UGA Young Democrats, in room 250 of the Miller Learning center at 6:15 pm. He'll be discussing issues facing Georgia and his campaign for governor. Come and enjoy free pizza and bring questions for the Attorney General. Afterwards, join us for trivia night at Willy's Mexican Grill on Alps Road at 8 pm. We hope to see you tonight! --- Young Democrats University of Georgia & Athens-Clarke County www.uga.edu/youngdemocrats Follow us on Twitter! Join our Facebook group!

The Georgia Governor's race appears to be more and more a Roy Barnes versus John Oxendine match if the money and tainted poll results are any indication. Georgians have been known to revolt from the conventional wisdom.  I would rather have a Team Porter ticket vs. a Handel-Cagle on the G.O.P. side. In governor's race, Barnes formidable to Democratic opponents  | ajc.com Posted using ShareThis

The winner of the debate was the people of Georgia for turning in and learning about Thurbert Baker's daughter, the erroneous comparison of Carl Camon's Ray City to that of Wasilla, Alaska by panelist Tim Bryant, and watching DuBose Porter, Roy Barnes and General David Poythress careful not to step on one and others feet except in uniting in attacks on the status quo of Georgia Republican party. Leading in the polls seems to agree wtih Roy Barnes as he kind of played the jovial grandfather of the event. He glad handed everyone and appeared to have the fewest handlers at maybe two besides his wife. DuBose told of legislation he passed vetoed by Barnes back when he was our Governor before Sonny Perdue. The current lame duck Republican leaders was the target of many barbs for the many pet projects and property possessed at sweetheart deals. Needless to say, the Republicans have not done a very good job of taking care of the considerable needs of the State of Georgia recently,...

Here is an event in Oconee County I knew nothing about for Democratic Georgia governor candidate General David Poythress Saturday night at our new hotel. --- On Thu, 8/20/09, karen solheim <ksolheim@hotmail.com> wrote: From: karen solheim <ksolheim@hotmail.com> Subject: CCDC FW: David Poythress reception August 22nd To: ccdc@clarkedemocrats.com, ccdc-nm@clarkedemocrats.com Date: Thursday, August 20, 2009, 7:08 AM Dear CCDC members and friends,   Please read the email below concerning a reception for Democratic Gubernatorial candidate David Poythress this Saturday, August 22.   The above email is for informational purposes only, and the CCDC's forwarding of it does not indicate endorsement at this time of this or any other Democratic candidate.   Sincerely, Karen Solheim CCDC Corresponding Secretary -----------------------------   This event will be held at the Springhill Suites by Marriott at 3500 Daniells Bridge Road in Watkinsville. ...

Secretary of State candidate and north Athens resident Brian Kemp came out with an amazingly long list of endorsements in his 2012 race for the nomination and at this point looks like a shoe-in to be Karen Handel's Republican replacement. Among many of the local endorsers were Watkinsville Mayor Jim Luken and city council member Brian Brodrick. Brian was the lone city council member amongst a long list of other elected officials which makes me wonder if he had something to do with its gathering, and if he did (or if he didn't and to whomever did) job well done. I am sure he will let me know in a comment mere minutes after I post this. For being some damn young, Brian has a long history as a partisan political activist of the utmost ethical and well scrutinized behavior and knows PR inside out and backward. He is even friends with multiple Democrats and has been known to sweat with them too.I think he is fixing to father child number three as I sometimes see his wife Susan Well...

I have always thought fondly of Lt. Governor Casey Cagle since he rescued the state of Georgia with the specter of Ralph Reed as second in command. I thought he was the odds-on favorite for Governor post-Sonny Perdue. Now the race is truly wide open. Roy Barnes has yet to announce, and technically I do not think General Poythress has announced either (but I could be wrong on that). It will be interesting to see how this shift shakes the Georgia Gubernatorial race 2010 and this weekend when Poythress and perhaps Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Representative DuBose Porter make an appearance in Oconee County at the Veterans Memorial Park's Tennis Pavilion to the back left in the massive new complex at 3500 Hog Mountain Road from 3-5 pm. Somebody should have extended an invitation to Roy Barnes to come to Oconee County as well.