Back in July, I caught a few moments on video at Manuel’s Tavern with Reverend Joseph Lowery… talking about, at the time, the Obama candidacy. And hope. And promise.
Dec21
Category Archives: Presidential ’08
Nov11
Mapping Our Beloved South. We’re Left-Behinds Now.
Here’s a map of how the NYTimes perceived the South as being out of touch, and presumably left behind, from the rest of the nation… in terms of how we voted (markedly differently) on Nov. 4th. And here is the rather condescending analysis from the Damn Yankees too!
The map I want to see is the one displaying broadband access across the United States… overlayed with the how-we-Crackers-voted map. Then we might get a better picture of just how seriously left-behind we really are, in terms of politics now married with technology… and all the implications there.
From the NYTimes today:
Southern counties that voted more heavily Republican this year than in 2004 tended to be poorer, less educated and whiter, a statistical analysis by The New York Times shows. Mr. Obama won in only 44 counties in the Appalachian belt, a stretch of 410 counties that runs from New York to Mississippi. Many of those counties, rural and isolated, have been less exposed to the diversity, educational achievement and economic progress experienced by more prosperous areas.
Could Merle Black of Emory get together with some computation and journalism geeks at Georgia Tech please!
Nov10
Yankees In Georgia?!! How Did They Ever Get In?!
From Palmetto Scoop:
So perhaps now is as good a time as any to lend our expertise to our neighbors in Georgia, who The Palmetto Scoop has learned will be receiving a massive influx of Buckeyes over the next few weeks. That’s because president-elect Barack Obama has reportedly dispatched all of his Ohio staffers to the Peach State to help Democrat Jim Martin knock off incumbent GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
“We’re setting up our entire field team again,” said one emboldened Obama staffer in Ohio. “I’m coming to Georgia and bringing several hundred of my friends with me.”
More here.
Nov10
The Political South: My How We’re Changing!
Tom Baxter of Southern Political Report post-morts the post-election southern landscape today. Most interesting analysis:
Adding further complexity to the picture is the ribbon of blue counties which begin in Charleston, S.C., and thread through the heart of last week’s red states all the way to Chickasaw County, Miss. These counties, which encompass most of the Black Belt, gave Obama some of his biggest majorities anywhere: He garnered 87 percent, the highest county total I could find for either candidate, in Macon County, Ala., and Jefferson County, Miss. They’ve voted solidly Democratic in the past, but never simultaneously with Democratic majorities the size of those in Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Charlotte and other big cities across the South.
All this suggests a South with some familiar landmarks, but also one primed to change very dramatically over the coming decade. It’s easy to imagine, given the herculean challenges facing him, Obama losing the states he won last week in 2012. Given the age of McCain’s core supporters, it’s not inconceivable either that Obama could win states he lost this year.
But the South has shown that in one of the cricitical elections of our history, it was not all of one mind. And it’s unlikely ever to be again.
Full SPR article here. Heck, give a Cracker a laptop, some free broadband out in the scrub pines, and Lordy knows what might happen! From Bloomberg.com:
Obama has also made broader Internet access a goal and insisted that broadcasters focus more on public service. In a statement to the FCC last year, he called for `new rules promoting greater coverage of local issues and greater responsiveness of broadcasters to the communities they operate in.’
The above article in-full here.
Nov6
All Men Are Liars – Installment #49,653
Everyone’s fave pundit, Thomas Friedman, says that conservative white men are liars. (Ya don’t say?) That they went into the private parts of the voting booth and checked the box for Obama… after telling their cronies all along at the country club Men’s Grill, presumably over a rare steak and a scotch-rocks, that they were, of course dude, for McCain.
That buried deep in their lying, tiny, twisted hearts, the motivation that they “wanted to honor their kids” prompted them to suddenly morph to Spike Lee upon walking in the door of their local voter precinct.
Bit of a stretch, eh? Especially when you know what conservative white men are really like deep down, but Friedman even brands this lying white men phenomenon “the buffet effect.” (As opposed to the Bradley effect, of course.)
You can decide for yourself in the video here, which I must say is pure pundit nirvana: Huffington, Hitchens, Friedman… all together for your punditry pleasurin’ at the BBC on election night.
As the scoffing cynic, I must note with a vague wave of some Blanche Dubois hankie to fairness, that my right-of-Buchanan, Citadel-bred dad did scour all of Cobb County, Georgia (High Newt Country) for hours yesterday, the day after our history-making election on Tuesday, trying to find just one extra newspaper. Not for himself, but for me.
Nov5
Scenes from Election Night in Atlanta, GA 200
I’d have shot more, but I got tired of schlepping gear around so I went home early.
UPDATE: Shelby Highsmith has THE winning moment from Manuel’s Tavern here.
Nov5
Twittering Through Election Night
My Election Night Tweets are as follows. From last to first:
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God blessed America. 🙂
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I am just too damn old for this one-woman band shit. Two stops already kicked my ass. Going home. Need pizza. #current #election
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@Tessa, yeah. We can network with Todd Palin’s buds. Not.
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Nov5
Ethel Mertz Reacts to Palin’s Loss
Nov5
What To Wear?!!!!
Must plan Inaugural Ball gown/wardrobe… starting NOW! The ultimate What To Wear delicious dillema! Now who do I have to blog nicely about to get an Inaugural Ball ticket? What DC power-broker am I in good standing with? Must take severe inventory. Of data base AND closet. If I’m totally off the grid, it’s because I’m in deep wardrobe assessment mode. Just thank Jesus I look smashing in blue!
Nov4
Election Night – Two For The Twitter Road
Two people you will want to add ‘n follow for Election Night on Twitter will be former Atlantans Tony Dornacher and Tim State… now living in Chicago. They have their tickets to the Grant Park Obama Rally in one hand, and their mobiles and cams in the other. Plus, they’re just funny guys with a great way with their 140 characters.
Tim is: @timstate and Tony is @tonydornacher. Their website Morgan Terrace is here. And of course, I’m @SpaceyG on Twitter. See in real-time what’s happening in Atlanta on Election Day by using Twitter search and the hashtags #atlvote and #votereport.
Have a great day out there everyone!!
Nov2
Social Media Poised To Rock The World On Election Night
Current.com (of Hack The Debate fame) has something really cool in the works for election night… with Twitter and Digg and Diplo. And of course – us. Afterall, we’re moreorless the rum in that punch! Video promo here.
And watch this blog to find out which old-school Atlanta politico-writer will be flying-out to Silicon Valley to offer “adult supervision” for this one historic night of good old-fashioned alignment of the political and social media planets!
HINT: It’s not under 30. Hell, it’s not even under 50! UPDATE: “It” was Tom Baxter of InsiderAdvantage’s Southern Political Report!
Nov2
McCain Supporters At Ohio Halloween Day Rally. Scary Stuff.
At a McCain rally on Halloween Day, ANP reporters asked people one question: “If Obama is elected president, what will this say about America?” Their answers are in the video.
Oct31
The Smell of GA Republicans At Panic
In the digital era, putting good journalism behind a firewall is about as useful as a closet full of hoop skirts, so I’m just going to copy and paste Dick Pettys’ of InsiderAdvantage’s piece from yesterday about the Saxby Chambliss campaign, or lack thereof, here in full. It deserves to be set free. Sniff the glove!
What Went Wrong For Chambliss That Race Now Is So Close?
By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia
(10/30/08) What went wrong with Saxby Chambliss’ campaign that his lead in a race he was expected to win handily now is within the margin of error in polling? Some Republicans already are blaming strategist Tom Perdue for an effort they claim lacked luster, organization and vision. Perdue, who acknowledged Wednesday that a runoff is “a possibility,” said the forces at play in this election were beyond anyone’s control.
“It has nothing to do with (Democrat) Jim Martin,” said Perdue. “Anybody who was on the ballot would be where he is right now.”
When the year began, no one took Chambliss’ re-election task very seriously, and, indeed, Democrats had a hard time coming up with a “name” candidate to put forward against him. One of them had such a tough time gaining traction that he hauled himself up a tower in the dead of winter to attract attention.
But this has been anything but a conventional year in national politics, and the battle for Chambliss’ seat has been exactly the same.
Unexpectedly, Martin emerged as the Democratic nominee, overpowering in a runoff the black CEO of DeKalb County, Vernon Jones, who had expected that an electorate energized over the candidacy of Barack Obama would help propel him into the berth against Chambliss.
And then, after a rather uneventful summer, the course of the campaign changed this fall with the nation’s economic meltdown and Chambliss’ vote, along with Senate colleague Johnny Isakson, in support of the “bailout” or “rescue” bill. The state’s seven Republican congressman steadfastly voted against the measure twice.
“Up until the recovery bill, I think Martin’s name ID was at 24 percent, and he had done literally nothing in the campaign,” Perdue contends. “To say the recovery bill was controversial is an understatement. I have never seen the numbers and forcefulness of the calls, even to the campaign office.
“Nobody knew that within 36 hours banks were going to start failing around the world, and that’s what happened. And for roughly 10 days, not only our country, but most of the countries in the world, were in free fall. And our campaign momentum came to almost a stop. And that’s when the national Democrats capitalized on it, and that’s when they took control of the Martin campaign,” the strategist said.
But other Republicans look at the picture quite differently.
“He (Perdue) has just run a really bad campaign,” said one GOP insider. “Chambliss gets told all the time, ‘Where are your ads” and, ‘Your ads suck.’”
That source said the National Republican Senatorial Committee offered to send a full crew of workers to help the campaign but was told by Perdue the help wasn’t needed. Read the rest of this entry
Oct30
Early Voting In Georgia
I did it. Cast my early voter ballot. And I’m a white soccer mom! Took exactly 2 hours and 21 minutes of line-standing, which turned-out to be a hoot. This goofy bag lady was on one side of me and a local filmmaker on the other. Before we all got to know one another, and before they made us power-off all “Blackberries, Blueberries and cell phones,” and when I was utterly bored, I Twittered the experience. That stream of little consciousness is here:
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Personal best waiting in line to vote: 2 hrs 21 min. #ATLvote
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21 voting machines provided for the how many voters of Fulton County? #ATLvote
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Starting to have to jettison stuff. After last coffee spill mug got abandoned in bathroom. Would leave jacket but forgot bra today. #ATLvote
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Look! Bureaucrats read! Who’d have thought! #ATLvote – Photo: http://bkite.com/025xc
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@factorfiction. Oh that last one has got to be fact. I’ll likely go another 30 yrs. with some of mine!
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So Twitter Farm, help me out. I’m bored. Should I play Decemberists or Jonas Brothers next?
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One little ray of sunshine in this line thing… no one is farting. Yet. #ATLvote
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Every little thing that goes wrong today I get to blame Karen wantstobeKatherineHarris Handel for! Oh Happy Day! #ATLvote
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Just dumped coffee into purse and now have to pee. #ATLvote
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So they say cells in some areas interfere w/machines. Yet staff all over the place talking on ’em. Clownage I suspect. #ATLvote
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Gotta power down. WTF?
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Karen Handel should be here in a maid costume handing out coffee and danish. #ATLvote
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@jbrotherlove. Got the tuneage fired up. Some vintage Pete Townsend. #ATLvote
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iPhone must have been created for 2008 early voting lines. Jesus loves you Steve Jobs. #ATLvote
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The line. #ATLvote – Photo: http://bkite.com/025uZ
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The line. See it Mz. Handel. – Photo: http://bkite.com/025uQ
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@dopegirlfresh. I’m pretending she and her scrunch-y ass shopping bags don’t exist. Aghhhh!
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Hey Karen Handel. I want to come back on the WEEKEND! I need to. #ATLvote
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Person behind me is a blabberer. And invading my space. Gonna be a long haul. #ATLvote
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In line to vote in Fulton Cty. Line is crazy long! #ATLvote
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Just got in line to early vote in Fulton Cty. GA. – Photo: http://bkite.com/025tK
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Oct29
More Evidence Karen Handel Is Channeling Her Inner Katherine Harris
From today’s AJC:
Monday’s wait times (to vote) of six to eight hours led state Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kidd to call on Secretary of State Karen Handel to extend advance voting to this weekend and Monday. Kidd said it appeared Handel’s office was “unprepared” for the large turnout.
Handel said Georgia law includes no such mechanism that would allow her, or Gov. Sonny Perdue, to do it.
Handel also said she doesn’t think it’s necessary, and called Kidd’s letter emblematic of an “orchestrated effort of that political party across the country.”
Handel said more than 1.3 million Georgians have already cast ballots since early voting began last month. With the exception of Monday’s problems, “things have gone extremely well in Georgia. We have had no complaints with voter ID, no complaints with voting equipment,” Handel said.
Still, there were some problem polls on Tuesday.
Full cluster-fuck here.
Oct29
Obama (Not) In Georgia = FAIL
Towery thinks Obama could have reached down in the gutter that is Atlanta local TV and easily fished-up the red-dirt crown of Georgia and placed it in his electoral basket of goodies.
Like great great-aunt Betty Wesley’s rather ugly pieces of tarnished bauble that somehow end-up in your possession, I’d not want to actually place the thing on my head, but I diverge…
From Southern Political Report, IA, etc.:
October 28, 2008 — New numbers today from InsiderAdvantage / Poll Position in the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Georgia. The polls were conducted last night among 637 registered, likely voters and have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percent.
President
McCain, 48%
Obama, 47%
Barr, 1%
Other, 1%
Undecidced, 3&\%
U.S. Senate
Chambliss, 46%
Martin, 44%
Other, 2%
Undecided, 8%
InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery: “This tells me in all likelihood that if the trend in the Senate race stays as it is, Chambliss barely misses and will be in a general election runoff with Martin.
“Obama’s failure to be on TV in the Atlanta market is causing him to lose some of the white vote and it is softening the support for Martin. Martin is up a point and Chambliss is up a point (in the latest poll) but Martin had had more momentum. It’s not going to get him over the top.”
“Ironically, Obama had a better shot of winning Georgia than North Carolina or Florida but he’s letting it slip away.”
Latest Georgia presidential and Senate race poll results here.
Oct25
Georgia’s In Play
Very latest IA/PP poll says Georgia is a “toss-up” state. For the presidential and Senate races. Whatever happened to being a “swing” state? Or “battleground” state? Guess that was soooo last week.
10/24/08 – A new InsiderAdvantage / Poll Position survey shows Georgia is a toss-up state in both the U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns.
In the presidential race, Barack Obama has a slight edge over John McCain, although it is within the margin of error. In the U.S. Senate race, Saxby Chambliss has a 2-point edge over Jim Martin, although it, too, is within the margin of error.
The two polls were conducted last night, each with 615 registered, likely voters. The margin of errors for both is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Full story/poll results here. Still, anyone holding their breath for the South to rise again on Nov. 4 had better look to the situation in South Carolina. There’s whisperin’ goin’ on though that’s fer sure. SC wants their Obama appearance bad.
Oct21
Early Voting In Georgia
From Amani Channel for HDNews:
Oct20
McCain Supporters Say No To Intolerance
This is the most hopeful thing I’ve seen in months – conservatives refusing to drink the Rovian-esque Kool-Aid! Amazing video of McCain supporters as they (some Muslim some Christian) shut down anti-Obama protesters at a recent Virginia McCain rally. It’s all here from the equally amazing ANP, American News Project. ANP has been doing the best street-level political reporting. And they’re on a reality roll now.
UPDATE: CNN’s Rick Sanchez led with the above video today on the 3pm show. They had ANP’s Davin Hutchins, live by phone, explaining what had gone down, and the Muslim VA Maryland McCain staffer standing-by to go on-air too, but the McCain campaign put the kabash on their VA Maryland Muslim staffer (seen in the video here) going on CNN live. The McCain campaign hates Rick Sanchez after this little number last week.
Gee, I wonder how all this happens…
Oct17
YouTube and PBS Team Up For… Video Your Vote
Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “YouTube and PBS Team Up For Video You…“, posted with vodpod
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