What may have convinced the Biden campaign to pencil in a couple of stops in Georgia may be the extraordinary bang for the buck which it offers this year. Not only is the presidential race here too close for either party to ignore, but Georgia has two U.S. Senate races and the chance for Democrats to gain another U.S. House seat.
Tag: politics
Posted inColumns
This year, all roads lead back to the 6th and 7th Districts
n one way or another, you can connect just about everything else that’s happening in Georgia politics this year to the two big congressional battles in the north Atlanta suburbs.
Start with this year’s most intriguing “what if?” What if Marjorie Taylor Greene hadn’t bought a condo in the mountains and jumped into another congressional race?
Posted inTom Baxter
CARES, like COVID-19, has widened the gap between rich and poor, old and young
hen Congress inserted a provision which allowed retirees to postpone taking the required minimum withdrawals from their 401(k)s this year, it seemed at first half-wink like a thoughtful gesture to older Americans. In retrospect, it looks like a microcosm of everything Washington has done wrong in its response to the economic challenges posed by the pandemic.
Posted inTom Baxter
Divided by plexiglass, the parties struggle for control of the Senate
The image which most powerfully captures the dynamics of this year’s battle for control of the U.S. Senate came from the televised debate Saturday night in Columbia, S.C., between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison.
Posted inColumns
Lots of voting choices, and a little sliver of doubt
Last week, I cast an early vote in the special election to determine who fills the empty 5th Congressional District seat for the last few weeks of this year. Meaning no disrespect to the seven candidates who have spent considerable resources vying for this brief tenure in office, I did this mostly for practice.
Posted inColumns
Two Black, Democratic women are the face of change in Cobb, Gwinnett counties
Two Black women, both Democrats, have changed the political dynamics in Cobb and Gwinnett counties in the 2020 election cycle. One is an incumbent county commissioner campaigning for the position of county chair; one promotes candidates and the GOTV effort as head of the county’s Democratic Party.
Posted inColumns
Impact of Ginsburg’s death is felt quickly in Georgia Senate race
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins’ studied transgression of the norms of political discourse after the announcement of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Friday night was a sign of how quickly Ginsburg’s passing has shaken politics on the ground in Georgia.
Posted inColumns
What those annoying campaign ads tell us about where we’re at
There’s a general sense, talking to viewers in different parts of the state, that this year’s crop of political ads is more hard-edged and extreme than ever. Those 2018 Brian Kemp ads with his guns and his pickup truck raised some eyebrows, but they seem almost quaint in this season.
Posted inColumns
Keeping chins up as public health complicates the economy
Georgia government — not just this governor but all his predecessors, and the departments they oversee — operates on an ethos of chin-up prosperity that may seem a little dissonant in a time when the economy of the world has been shaken. Even in times of belt tightening, prosperity is never farther than just around the corner.
Posted inLatest News
Fulton County formally honored for ban on single-use plastics in county buildings
The Georgia Water Coalition has worked around COVID-19 to formally recognize Fulton County for its first-in-the state restriction on single-use plastics at county-owned facilities.
Posted inColumns
The particulars of absentee voting, because this year the picky things matter
You may have received a copy of this form in the mail, already filled out for you, from the Center for Voter Information or the Voter Participation Center, related non-profits which are seeking to increase voter turnout across the country. There should be noting wrong with using one of these completed forms to apply for a ballot … although there is one picky little thing.
Posted inLatest News
Census undercount: Atlanta, state poised to risk federal money, influence
Atlanta residents appear intent to walk away from federal funding and congressional representation for the upcoming decade, based on response rates to the Census. The deadline is Sept. 30.
Posted inColumns
Republicans struggle to recreate a sense of being “there” in a time of pandemic
Republican planners said last week that their convention would be nothing like the celeb-studded, zoomed-in production of the Democrats. They made good on that first thing Monday morning, with a nomination vote which could not have been farther from the Democrats’ rainbow-nation, virtual roll-call vote for Joe Biden last week.
Posted inLatest News
Patient access to MRIs, CT scans to be eased by new state law, nurses say
Patients may find wait times are shorter to get orders for an MRI and similar procedures following Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to back nurses over doctors and allow nurses with certain credentials to order radiologic tests.
Posted inColumns
Georgia, especially Atlanta, is prominent in Democratic Zoomland convention
Georgia, and particularly Atlanta, will be featured prominently in this week’s Democratic National Convention in Zoomland. Stacey Abrams and state Rep. Sam Park will be among a group of young Democratic keynoters Tuesday night, and former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates also has an opening night slot. On Thursday night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will give one of the speeches leading up to Joe Biden’s nomination acceptance speech.
Posted inLatest News
Gwinnett County voters to face two sales tax proposals Nov. 3: Transit, education
Gwinnett County voters are to face two sales tax proposals on the Nov. 3 ballot. One would extend the 1 percent sales tax for education to 2027. One would establish a 1 percent sales tax to expand transit to extend for 30 years – and possibly extend heavy rail from MARTA’s Doraville Station to Gwinnett Place Mall.
Posted inColumns
As pandemic spreads, education issues have sharper teeth
Every few years, some well-meaning group does a big poll and comes back with the finding that the voting public considers education one of the biggest, next to the economy maybe the biggest, of political issues. With the coming of the pandemic, that sentiment has taken on a new sharpness.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia now has state funding for transit, though Legislature to revisit the measure
Georgia now has its first statewide funding for transit. The money – as much as $50 million a year – is to be distributed among the state’s transit agencies under provisions that are to be developed.
Posted inColumns
If only for a few weeks, a congressional seat has its allure
In a year filled with election mishaps, snafus and controversies, is there anything to compare with the Rube Goldberg process by which voters are being asked to choose John Lewis’ successor in the Georgia 5th District?
Posted inLatest News
CARES Act funding spent slowly by Atlanta, Georgia as Congress debates more aid
The City of Atlanta has spent 15 cents of every dollar it’s received from the federal CARES Act. Georgia has spent 25 cents of every dollar received, according to information self-reported to the federal government by a deadline of July 17.
