By Tom Baxter The war in Ukraine has faded from the headlines as this year has worn on and domestic developments have crowded to the front. But one of the war’s byproducts, clips from Russian state television, have become a staple of my Twitter feed. One very good reason to pay attention to what various […]
Author Archives: Tom Baxter
Tom Baxter has written about politics and the South for more than four decades. He was national editor and chief political correspondent at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and later edited The Southern Political Report, an online publication, for four years. Tom was the consultant for the 2008 election night coverage sponsored jointly by Current TV, Digg and Twitter, and a 2011 fellow at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. He has written about the impact of Georgia’s and Alabama's immigration laws in reports for the Center for American Progress. Tom and his wife, Lili, have three adult children and seven grandchildren.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter, Uncategorized
Wheels of justice slow the pace of the case called Trump’s biggest worry
By Tom Baxter With the conclusion for the summer of the Jan. 6 Committee hearings in Washington and a flurry of activity in Fulton County, national attention turned last week to Georgia as Donald Trump’s biggest headache. Legal scholar Lawrence Tribe predicted on CBS that Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis would indict the former president […]
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
Walker’s fundraising is far behind Warnock’s, but he’s the GOP’s star
Among the Republican Senate candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Herschel Walker has a dubious distinction. Walker had the best second-quarter fundraising total of any candidate in this group, raising $6.2 million.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
Are gas prices the leading indicators they used to be?
here used to be a pretty reliable political rule of thumb that said the popularity of the party in the White House tracked contrarily with the up-and-down movement of the price of a gallon of gas. As prices go up, poll numbers go down, and vice versa. This year will test whether that old maxim still holds true.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
The Supreme Court confounds government’s efforts to deal with the ‘crisis of the day’
On July 7, 1977, White House science advisor Frank Press sent President Jimmy Carter a one-page memo titled “Release of Fossil CO2 and the Possibility of a Catastrophic Climate Change.”
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
Three Supreme Court decisions which will shape a generation’s politics
You might think it irrelevant to begin by talking about how hot it has been in this late spring and early summer, after Roe v. Wade has been overturned. But then, you might be a boomer.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
Abortion moves to center stage in Illinois; In Georgia, not so much
he big difference you see this year in political ads in Georgia and Illinois is the way they engage the issue of abortion.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
In surprisingly good shape politically, Raffensperger makes his grand jury appearance
Last week Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spent more than five hours testifying before a special Fulton County grand jury. We have a pretty good idea of what he said — he’s written a book about it already — but it would be interesting to know how he said it.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
Abortion and guns reflect culture war’s hardened edge
As we await the U.S. Supreme Court’s verdict on Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks, it’s interesting to reflect on where things stood back in 1973, when the decision decriminalized abortion nationwide was handed down.
Posted inColumns, Latest News, Tom Baxter
Guess who’s not the lead story of this primary?
rian Kemp has now pulled off three of the most remarkable victories in the modern history of Georgia politics, so he should probably lead this post-primary column.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
A few more questions before the polls close
A few more questions to ponder before the voters supply the answers Tuesday. We’ll be back for more later in the week.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
As partisan divides sharpen, early voting takes root
Georgia’s primary election day is next week, but one result is already clear. Whatever reservations they may have about other voting innovations, voters have gotten hooked on early, in-person voting, and they aren’t going back.
Posted inTom Baxter
The end of Roe won’t bring quiet in the culture war
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey might seem an unlikely target in the conservative culture war. The 77-year-old Republican, referred to by some as Gov. MeeMaw, recently signed what has been described as the most stringent anti-abortion legislation in the country.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
The Republicans, all of them, gather for final primary debate
The last of the three big Republican gubernatorial primary debates, the Atlanta Press Club debate Sunday night, was the first in which Gov. Brian Kemp and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue had to share the stage with any of their less noticed competitors. This was a good thing.
Posted inColumns, Tom Baxter
Like neighbors who’ve had a falling out, Kemp and Perdue chew over old grievances
Never has a politician made the next election so much about the last election. Straight off the bat in the first of three debates with Gov. Brian Kemp Sunday night, former U.S. Sen. David Perdue declared that the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen” and that all the nation’s current woes, from inflation to illegal immigration to the threat of being drawn in to the war in Ukraine, “all the madness” of the Biden administration, can be traced back to Kemp’s decision to cave in to the “radical Democrats” who stole the election in Georgia.
Posted inColumns
Like a virus we can’t shake, mass violence is mutating
The gunfight at a Columbia, S.C., mall over Easter weekend was typical of a lot of the mass shooting events which have been happening around the country lately.
Posted inColumns
Abramowitz: It’s not the new election laws, but who’ll enforce them, that’s troubling
What impact are all the election laws passed by state legislatures this year going to have? Alan Abramowitz, who has an stellar record as a political prognosticator, has been studying that question.
Posted inColumns
Ominously, we may look back on this session with fondness
The frantic last day of every General Assembly session brings with it an overlay of nostalgia, as retiring members make their farewell speeches and the denizens of the Golden Dome enjoy the flimflamorous pageantry of Sine Die. This year that sentiment was especially appropriate.
Posted inColumns
Can Perdue hold up well enough to do the Democrats any good?
What should be Stacey Abrams’ biggest worry was on vivid display in Commerce Saturday night, and it wasn’t Donald Trump.
Posted inTom Baxter
He’ll draw a crowd, but will Trump help his chosen candidates?
We can expect an enthusiastic crowd of supporters will be at the Banks County Dragway in Commerce Saturday to greet former President Donald Trump at a rally in support of his chosen Georgia candidates in this year’s elections. The question is how much that’s going to help the candidates.
