On May 18 and 19, 2012, over two thousand Georgia Republicans gathered in Columbus, Georgia for its state convention. Republicans actually gather three out of every four years in caucuses and conventions.
In odd-numbered years, Georgia Republicans elect their officers and governing committees, including the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. In Presidential election years, Georgia Republicans meet to elect delegates to the Republican National Convention. … Read more...
Now that the dust has settled on the 2012 Georgia General Assembly, Georgians can look back and see what their legislators and Governor did for 40 legislative days. Unlike years past, under both Democratic and Republican governors, the 2012 General Assembly Session appeared calm. There were no eruptions of wild rhetoric, political playground fights, or staged political theater with shackles or props. Instead, there was just … Read more...
GOP insiders have turned their attention to who might be a good Vice Presidential candidate. The movie “Game Change” (about the selection of Governor Sarah Palin by Senator John McCain) has highlighted the kinds of things that Presidential nominees and their campaign teams consider when making one of the most important decisions in their political career. Selecting a running mate involves a personal and political calculus … Read more...
For three days, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments from lawyers about the healthcare law (the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”) passed by the Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. The courtroom was packed with dignitaries including the Attorney General, state attorneys general, Senators, Members of Congress and others. Outside the courtroom, protesters of every sort gathered to make their opinions … Read more...
In 2011, the best team in baseball on paper was the Philadelphia Phillies. Indeed, virtually every sports commentator expected the Phillies to win their division, pennant, and the World Series. On the other hand, no one gave the St. Louis Cardinals much of a chance. In fact, with 31 games to go, the Cardinals were ten and a half games behind the Atlanta Braves in their … Read more...
ONE BILLION DOLLARS. That is how much the State of Georgia spends every year on corrections. According to the Report of the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians, “[d]uring the past two decades, the prison population in Georgia has more than doubled to nearly 56,000. …If current policies remain in place, analysis indicates that Georgia’s prison population will rise by another 8 percent to … Read more...
One of the most difficult challenges in the world of politics is separating fact from opinion. Candidates throw around facts like they were candy. Campaigns twist and turn facts to make the most innocent remark into a horrible thing. How is a voter to differentiate between fact and fiction?
Well, newspapers thought about this and came up with a clever marketing ploy. They created something called … Read more...
In 1984, Vice President Walter Mondale was 40 delegates short of the number of delegates necessary to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. It was the last time that a national party convention opened without its Presidential nominee having been decided by its state primaries and caucuses. Mondale easily won the nomination at the Democratic National Convention, only to lose decisively to President Ronald Reagan in the … Read more...
With just 11 months remaining in his current term, President Obama announced drastic cuts in the U.S. military, including proposed significant reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The announcement comes as Iran proclaims, publicly and defiantly, that it is much closer to its own production of nuclear fuel; and as Russia continues its steady march to return as an equal military superpower after President Ronald Reagan … Read more...
The average person does not know who Jim Wooten is. Yet, every insider, pundit, politician, and elected official knows exactly who he is. He was a conservative columnist with the Atlanta Journal Constitution (“AJC”). With little fanfare last year, Jim Wooten retired. He was one of the last credible columnists of Georgia’s most liberal newspaper.
Somehow, it just does not seem right that the Georgia … Read more...
In Georgia, Republican lawyers have always been a small and inconsequential lot. One hundred and fifty years of Democratic rule meant that as a practical matter their opinions were not worth much.
The fate of Republican lawyers started to change some as Republican Presidents came along with Presidential appointments to the federal bench and U.S. Attorneys’ offices. Even then, their influence was pretty weak because the … Read more...
Democrats (and the mainstream media) have taken some glee from the ongoing contentious contest for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination. Indeed, they sound like Republicans last time celebrating the extended 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination battle between then Senator Hillary Clinton (the presumptive nominee who wasn’t) and Senator Barack Obama (the eventual nominee and now President). Democratic insiders and institutional party operatives remained convinced that Senator Clinton … Read more...
