One of our Republican sources around the state
Capitol tells us that the Donald Trump presidential campaign has begun calling members of Georgia’s political consulting class, the first step in the very necessary process of turning front-runner polling numbers into March 1 votes.
Which would fit well with these paragraphs from an Iowa report in today's Washington Post:
Trump also announced five additional staffers in several early-voting states, including Charles Munoz as his Nevada state director. In South Carolina, Nancy Mace, the first female graduate of the Citadel, is now Trump's state coalitions director, while James Epley is his upstate regional director. He announced hires in New Hampshire as well.
Signing on with Trump may be no small matter, especially in Georgia. One would have to accept that his GOP bid for the White House could eventually morph into a third-party venture. And for working political consultants here, that could have long-term occupational implications.
Short-term, at least you know the checks won’t bounce.
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Here's the video everyone's talking about this morning: Donald Trump sparring with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos on immigration at an Iowa news conference.
Trump tossed Ramos out, then brought him back for a testy back-and-forth.
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Donald Trump isn't the only one getting hard immigration questions. Last night, Fox News' Megyn Kelly repeatedly posed this hypothetical to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas: If two illegal immigrant parents have a U.S. citizen child, do you deport the citizen-child with the parents? From the Washington Post:
"Is it unfair?" Kelly asked.
"It's a distraction from how we actually solve the problem. You know it's also the question Barack Obama wants to focus on," Cruz said.
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Something to keep your eye on: Last week, the GOP presidential campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich received an endorsement from Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. Now he's got one from former Senate majority leader Trent Lott. From the Columbus Dispatch:
Lott represented Mississippi in Congress for 35 years, including 16 years in the House and 19 years in the Senate. His seal of approval likely will be used by the Kasich team to fend off accusations from hard-right conservatives that he is a RINO — Republican In Name Only — because he deviates from GOP orthodoxy on such issues as immigration, Medicaid expansion and Common Core education standards.
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There is a new Jimmy Carter biography in the works. Book publisher Simon & Schuster has announced that journalist Jonathan Alter is at work on a book to be released in 2018 and has the full cooperation of the former president and his family.
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Stuart E. Eizenstat, who was the chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter, has an op-ed in the New York Times that includes this paragraph:
The fruit of some of Mr. Carter's greatest achievements came only after he left office. The most painful example was his reining in the ruinous inflation that had bedeviled his predecessors even before the first oil shock of 1973. Over the objection of almost all his advisers, Mr. Carter appointed Paul A. Volcker chairman of the Federal Reserve, knowing he would raise interest rates to squeeze inflation out of the system. He told us that he had tried two anti-inflation czars, jawboning, voluntary wage and price guidelines, and an austere budget policy; that nothing had worked, and that he would rather lose the 1980 election than leave ingrained inflation to the next generation.
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It is no secret that news organizations, including this one, compile obituaries of notable personalities well in advance, to have them ready when necessary. But it is not something we like to talk about.
Nor is it a happy topic for those who represent the people being researched.
On Tuesday, the Carter Center sent a note to journalists with a link to a transcript of last week’s press conference in which former President Jimmy Carter, 90, discussed his cancer. The note included this delicate acknowledgement: “Please do not hesitate to be in touch as you prepare biographical pieces.”
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Political strategist Kellie Austin is running for something somewhere. From her ambiguous Facebook announcement:
Come join Kellie on Wednesday, August 26th at 5:30 near the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse as she makes her highly anticipated campaign announcement and then join her at one of her two kick-off receptions following the announcement.
A press release from her campaign manager says she "has made the decision to challenge the incumbent for statewide office in 2016." Since she named her campaign account "Committee to Elect Kellie Austin PSC," we can presume she means Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols. (Hat tip, Todd Rehm.)
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in Atlanta have sparked some finger-pointing towards Mayor Kasim Reed. Witness the signs spotted in some Westside neighborhoods.
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It may be hard to believe as you idle on the Downtown Connector, but Atlanta has only the 12th worst traffic congestion in the country according to a new study out today from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and INRIX.
The metro area rankings show why gridlock is such a natural state in your nation's capital:
- Washington -- 82 hours of delay per year per auto commuter
- Los Angeles -- 80 hours
- San Francisco -- 78 hours
- New York City -- 74 hours
- San Jose, Calif. -- 67 hours
- Boston -- 64 hours
- Seattle -- 63 hours
- Chicago -- 61 hours
- Houston -- 61 hours
- Riverside, Calif. -- 59 hours
- Dallas -- 53 hours
- Atlanta -- 52 hours
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Your lede of the day comes from Joshua Sharpe and the Gwinnett Post:
"You look good," Porter said, his hands in his pockets.
Lasseter smiled. Then she jokingly suggested Porter try some time in prison himself.
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