Herman Cain Needs Sam Nunn Right Now

Former Godfather Pizza CEO Herman Cain is on a roll right now despite what some like David Gergen, a highly respected Political Analyst are saying that Cain has hit his ceiling or hit his peak. Yes Cain took some hits during the last debate especially over his 999 Plan, but that comes with the territory when you have the big "MO" going for you.

Cain will be fine with his 999 Plan, as well as his entire economic proposal, but he needs to get a serious crash course in the Foreign Policy Arena & that's his biggest weakness to date.

That's why he should turn to fellow Georgian & former Democratic U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, who who knowledge of foreign policy runs much deeper then those currently in the GOP field as well as those in Congress.

Nunn is highly respected in in this area by many, democrats, republicans, independents, foreign policy experts alike. Cain should reach out to Nunn to be his Consultant on Foreign Policy to show many than he is serious (not to say that he isn't) about a run for the White House in 2012.

Nunn who advises President Obama from time to time on Foreign Policy would give Cain a heavy hitter to beat back charges from critics that he's not the man voters would want in the White House to answer that 3 a.m. Call.

The GOP nomination is wide despite what the polls say & if Cain could get a man of Sam Nunn's wisdom on his campaign team, that would only strengthen the main who manage to beat back stage 4 cancer or he wouldn't be here today making this historic run for the GOP Nomination

Will Austin Scott Go Unopposed in 2012?

That's the question I've heard from readers of this blog lately & my answer is.....He should be!

Scott, the 8th Congressional District Congressman who rode the Tea Party, anti-government, anti-Obama, anti-Pelosi wave to defeat Vietnam Veteran & BlueDog Democrat Jim Marshall will be up for re-election for the 8th , which has been altered to reassure his re-election as 95% of democratic stronghold Bibb County has been moved in the 2nd Congressional District of Sanford Bishop, while absorbing some of Jack Kingston's 1st CD pending approval of the courts & DOJ

As it looks right now, he won't be challenged in the primary like some of his fellow Georgia GOP Congressmen will be in 2012. So.......How about the General Election?

Its hard for me to see a freshman congressman go unopposed in a newly redrawn district, so I say yes, he will be challenged in the General Election.

So the next question would be from who?

Well, you can write off Jim Marshall making a return. With Saxby Chambliss U.S. Senate seat up for re-election in 2014, as well as Gov. Nathan Deal, its a safe bet that he will seriously look at one of those seats, probably governor.

DuBose Porter, forget about it. With Laurens possibly being in the 12th, that's unlikely, besides he already gone on record twice, that he's not interested in running for congress.....governor, I suspect is still in his sights.

Could someone move into the 8th & challenge him like Maria Sheffield could be planning to do against John Barrow? Yes!

If he does get a challenge, it could come from four places: Monroe County, Houston County, Ben Hill County, Wilcox County.

There's one guy down living down in the wiregrass of South Georgia who's laying in the weeds right now. He's a Christian Conservative, his wife is a senior pastor at a south Georgia Church, he's been a mayor, good friends with Jack Kingston, served on numerous state boards, Army Veteran, he has been listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers four times, and was selected as "Teacher of the Month", and was nominated as "Teacher of the Year & a few years ago was selected as one of Georgia Trends 40 under 40, & he's a country boy......I'm talking about...................

12th CD: Don't Look Now, But Here Comes The Carpetbagger From Cobb

Former Insurance Commissioner candidate Maria Sheffield is the latest GOPer to consider running in the newly proposed 12th District against John Barrow (D-?????)...Barrow plans to relocate in the 12th, where, no one knows. I suggest Metter (Candler County) or Statesboro.

But back to Sheffield, she says she “has been approached by business, community, government, tea party and Republican leaders” to enter the contest. Are these the 12th CD business, community, government, tea party, republican leaders? Or are these folks from the Metro Area she currently resides?

Now get a load of this explanation she sent to her spokeswoman, Kathryn Ballou:

”My family – the Sheffield family – has long and deep roots in this special part of Georgia. For many years my father lived in Laurens County. Many of my family members still live in Laurens.

“The interesting fact is that my potential opponent is from Athens and lives in Savannah – neither of which is in the 12th District. The bottom-line is the people of the 12th District — if I run — will have a choice between my opponent, who is from Athens, lives in Savannah, and supports President Obama or myself with deep family roots in Laurens County and opposes the liberal agenda of President Obama.”


Well........John Barrow’s family has lived, worked, farmed, taught, practiced law, and preached in east Georgia for over 7 generations, so he like Sheffield has deep, deep family roots in the 12th District


So let me get this right, its wrong for Barrow to relocate within his district to continue representing his constituents, but its ok for you to move from Suburban Cobb County into Rural Laurens County to run for a congressional seat?

Many of you may remember the old 12th that was created included Athens, which was Barrow's home at the time. After he defeated Max Burns for the seat in 2004, the GOP orchestrated a mid-decade redistricting plan that took out Barrow's home of Athens & placing it in the 10th CD, which led Barrow to relocate within HIS district to continue serving the people of the 12th. With that came the "Carpetbagger" charge against him.

Its understandable to see why many GOPers see Barrow's seat as a easy one to steal away, but like I said before, do not underestimate John Barrow abilty as a campaigner because he's one of the hardest campaigners I've ever seen, plus new counties like Laurens, Telfair, Wheeler, Coffee are not like Columbia & Appling Counties, which are ruby red high performing republican areas.

So for many who think Barrow's goose is cooked, in the words of ESPN College GameDay Commentator Lee Corso....NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS!!!!

Thoughts on Last Night's Montezuma Debate

I attended last night's debate over in Montezuma held by the Macon County NAACP for the Mayoral & City Council seats & I came away impressed by the individuals on stage last night.

It was a smooth debate among the candidates for 3 seats currently held by Incumbents Charles Ivey, Norman Carter & a open seat left vacant by Jim Trask who decided against re-election on the Montezuma City Council & the two up for the mayoral seat currently held by Willie Larry

Newcomers Judy Gilmore, who moved back to Montezuma in 1999 after a long stint in Savannah (30 yrs), Judy Hasselkus, who moved here from Clearwater Florida in 2002 & is currently a member of the Macon County Chamber of Commerce, Beau Palmer, a opera singer who also moved back to Montezuma a coupe of years ago did fairly well in last night's debate

Incumbents Charles Ivey & Norman Carter didn't miss a beat as they both showed a great knack of the issues facing the city of Montezuma. Both gave very impressive performances & didn't hurt themselves among those in the audience & listening on Radio WMNZ 1050 AM which carried the debate live.

Tarshea Fudge-Riley showed why she is considered the favorite for one of the council seats at one time going head to head with Incumbent Mayor Willie Larry. She was sharp, crisp & quick on the answers & it would surprise me if she didn't win it this time around.

Although she didn't say much during the debate, but Judy Hasselkus was solid in her performance. Her problem could be that she is low key, but she has signs signs all around montezuma.

Incumbent Mayor Willie Larry & challenger LeVonda Journey- Bush are both fighting for the chance to be Montezuma's next Mayor in next month's municipal elections. I must say I was surprised how effective Journey-Bush was in the debate, especially for a first time candidate. She felt very comfortable in her own skin, she was precise & direct with her answers & clearly was the better debater over Mayor Larry who didn't perform all than well, at times reading his answers from a sheet of paper he had at his disposal.

The winners: LeVonda-Journey Bush, Tarshea Riley, Charles Ivey, Norman Carter, Dee Gilmore

The Losers were: Mayor Willie Larry, Frank Lester III

My prediction on who might win:

City Council:

Tarshea Fudge-Riley, Charles Ivey, Norman Carter.....BUT (It wouldn't surprise me if Dee Gilmore or Judy Hasselkus wins one of those three council seats)

Mayor:

If the disdain of City Hall is legit, LeVonda Journey Bush will defeat Willie J. Larry on 11/8/2011. Larry is the favorite because of name recognition, but based on what I saw in last night's debate, it wouldn't surprise me if Journey-Bush unseat the long-time mayor of Montezuma. From my view, Mayor Larry is running on the status quo & for a city that has lost so much over the last 6 years, that may not be enough this time....but I could be wrong!

Looking ahead to 2012, if Mayor Larry wins re-election one have to believe that Councilman Charles Ivey will get a serious push to run for Mayor. He has all the tools to become a great mayor, question is would he make that jump?

Crucial Debate Tonight for Races for Montezuma City Council & Mayoral Seats

Tonight there will be a debate at the Preston Williams Center in Montezuma for seats on the Montezuma City Council, as well as the office for Mayor.

Incumbent Willie J. Larry is facing a tough challenge from LaVonda Bush-Journey.

Incumbent City Councilmen Charles Ivey & Norman Carter seats are up as well as Jim Trask, who decided not to seek re-election.

Challenging for the three seats are:

Tarshea Fudge-Riley who narrowly lost by a razor-thin margin in her first bid for council back a few years ago.

Frank Lester, who lost his seat last time around & is looking to get back on the city council this time around

And you have first time candidates Beau Palmer, Judy Hasselkus & Judy "Dee" Gilmore

All Council seats are elected citywide...

Issues likely to dominate the forum are: 1) The future of manufacturing plant Allens, Inc. 2) The contined rising cost of water/sewage rates that are plaging the citizens of Montezuma, with no answer as to why were the water/sewage rates were increased in the first place. 3) Economic Develpoment. 4) Transparency in City Government, etc, etc, etc


Macon County Branch 2011 Political Forum
When: Tuesday Oct 18th 2011
Where: Preston Williams Community Center-Montezuma, GATime:
TBA (5pm or 6pm)
For: Cities of Ideal and Montezuma All candiates, incumbents and citizens invited to attend

Conservative Democrat Jammie Williams (D-Sharpsburg) to run in Special Election for SD 28

Conservative Democrat Jammie Williams (D-Sharpsburg) is one of 7,8,9, (who's counting) candidates to throw his hat in the ring to succeed Outgoing State Senator Mitchell Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) for Senate District 28.

Williams came to Georgia three years ago from Michigan. He works at Tie Down Engineering in Atlanta, which is involved in the metal fabrication of parts supplying the Marine aftermark.

The Christian Conservative says Tax breaks for small businesses hiring locally and restoring the original funding goals for HOPE Scholarship are two of the main issues. Williams will be running on in the special election.

Says Williams in the Newnan Times-Herald: "I want to see us having the right policies going forward so we don't harm ourselves. Those policies include better tax breaks for small businesses, getting control of the state's water, and refunding cuts to HOPE". "We need to give tax breaks to small businesses that hire locally," he said. And I'm a strong supporter of HOPE," Williams added. "If we are going to support businesses in the area, we have to give them quality employees. We need to restore HOPE to its original funding."

Its good to see a democrat from Coweta County run for this seat, a conservative one at that! Williams mix of Conservatism, Christian Values & Military Service is a great for for the conservative district

The Special Election set for early November is non-partisan

The Georgia Democratic Leadership Council: Would it be the answer to the party's woes?

Could a organization like this be beneficial to the party & state like it was for the National Democrats at one point in time? I think so!

Like the National Democratic Party of the 1980s, the Georgia Democratic Party are out of power and along with it the lack of new ideas coming from the party.

Like the National Democratic Party, the Georgia Democratic Party have gotten too cozy with the left wing of the party, mimicking everything the National Party Stands for nowadays. Regardless how far to the right the Republicans have gone in two years, that doesn't mean that the party should march to their left corner as well. There's a big gap that's not being filled in the political arena right now & that's the middle.


There still should be some soul searching going on in the party of Sam Nunn, Zell Miller, Herman Talmadge.

In the wake of the Georgia Democratic Party's landslide defeat in 2010, losing every single constitutional statewide office, legislative seats along with party switching, there should be members of the legislature, even on down to the local level who are middle of the road conservatives who should come together & form a organization that would focused on re-orienting the Democratic Party toward swing voters, independents & even deserters of the party to craft a policy agenda that spoke to their concerns.

So how about creating Georgia's version of the now defunct Democratic Leadership Council, the Georgia Democratic Leadership Coalition.

The creation of such a potential transformative organization for the political landscape of the state would be healthy not only for the party, but for the people of Georgia. It could still adhere to the first principles of the Democratic Party, but furthered them with fresh ideas and modern means coined in centrist/conservative terms, the citizens of Georgia would once again turn to them for statewide leadership.

But for this to happen, the party needs New Blood in its ranks to make it a reality. There are a few current democratic legislators would be perfect for such a organization like this, but it'll take some newbies to make it happen.

The Party need a new generation of leaders whose political philosophies are in line with the state as a whole, which is center/right who can transcend party, race & gender lines. Those types would be ideal for such a organization. But you have to find these kind of leaders & once you find them, you them have to persuade him or her to run & that's where it gets tricky.

So to my new left democrats don't scoff at the idea. All you have to do is look at the numbers, 63, 20 & 0.....that is 63 State Reps, 20 State Senators, 0 Statewide officials & tell me why wouldn't this work?