"Biased" - Michelle Nunn For U.S. Senate

With the Georgia Bulldogs on a bye week and no new news regarding the Todd Gurley situation (who I say will play against Florida next Saturday), the Nunn for Senate Campaign unveiled a new television ad, featuring former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), father of candidate Michelle Nunn. Take a look, it's a good ad. With a series of polls showing Nunn now leading David Perdue, the Nunn campaign has the wind at their backs now heading towards November 5.

Chris Irvin Goes after Gary Black in New Radio Ad

​(D) Chris Irvin who's challenging (R) Gary Black for Agriculture Commissioner is up with a radio spot slamming Black over Georgia's Food Safety and the Skinny Dipping episode that occurred at Lake Blackshear last year. Listen to the ad below:

 Chris Irvin-Agriculture Commissioner-GA 'Safe Food 2'-(2014-10-17)-mix-REV1.mp3

​

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Debate- Chris Irvin (D) v Gary Black (R)General (2014)

Candidate Spotlight: Dylan Patrick (D-Cartersville)

The Democratic Nominee for GA House District 015 is Dylan L. Patrick. Dylan is a Georgia native who grew up his whole life in Bartow County. He is one of the youngest candidates running on the November ballot in North Georgia at 26 years old, but that isn’t stopping him from thinking for himself. Patrick is a self-funded conservative leaning candidate although he is a loyal Democrat, pointing out he has been helping reorganize the county’s local chapter since 2010.

Dylan Patrick

"I feel like one of the most effective things someone can do if they want to be conservative for the interests of the middle class is to run on the Democratic ballot locally and reject all special interests says Patrick".

"The Republican Party is run by the donations of large, monolithic corporations, if not monopolies themselves. They sometimes stay true to their pledge to find savings in government or cut taxes, but that saved money and those tax cuts always go back to their largest contributors instead of the people. The middle class today is shrinking. Georgia has the highest unemployment in the nation. The state continues to lose more private sector jobs. Republican leaders here are having major ethics problems that reflect negatively on possible new business investment. They are unable to adequately fund education, causing local tax hikes here in Bartow and across the state while state tax rates remain level.” Patrick has been working since he was 16 years old, starting at a local family owned restaurant where he worked up from waiter to cook, and eventually helped manage the establishment. Dylan subsequently started his own small business in mobile vending, operating on the streets of Rome and Cartersville where he says he came face to face with the effects of poverty. Dylan went to Woodland High School and attended Georgia Highlands College where he plans to finish obtaining a degree in political science after the campaign season".

He now runs his own business, Paper Industry Communications Inc., based out of White, Ga., as an independent contractor for the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) headquartered in Norcross. Patrick believes his work producing the association’s newsletters relating breaking news in private industry will allow him to better understand how to help Georgia’s forest industry in the legislature, including possibly looking into a plan for harvesting state bio-mass (wood waste) potential for use as an in-state alternative fuel (cellulosic ethanol) for government vehicles, a plan Patrick says could save the state considerable expenses in the long run at the same time it creates in-state jobs and helps sustain rural economies. Patrick advocates for broad-based tax reform as opposed to limited, special interest tax breaks he believes are prone to abuse and corruption by legislators passing our budget. He would like to see a law passed allowing vehicles valued under $8,000 to be exempted from the new up-to 9% up-front value tax by having the option to go back to using the much cheaper yearly system for older cars.

Patrick says it is a regressive tax hurting our state’s poor, those who struggle with transportation, as well as middle class owners who would otherwise be able to sell their automobile on a healthier private market. Dylan would also like to see the state additionally aid municipalities the amount equal to what they get from their local sales taxes on groceries. He points out that the majority of U.S. states have absolutely no state or local taxes on groceries and that this is another tax that hurts specifically middle income families who are not wealthy and who also do not qualify for federal aid programs for tax-free food.

Patrick vows to work towards refunding K-12 education to full QBE standards so as to avoid local counties having to raise tax millage rates to bail out their systems even in non-recession years. He points out the state GOP continued to defund education in the bull market years of 2005-2007 and says their argument about needing austerity is far from being about the national economy which is continuing to slowly improve. Dylan says if we continue to have economic expansion, or even successfully avoid another major contraction in the national markets anytime soon that could affect state revenues, we should work to re-fund HOPE grants for technical colleges and expand the HOPE scholarship closer to what it was when originally passed under Governor Zell Miller. He doesn’t believe the Republican Party in Georgia ever has a vision to do so, no matter how well the economy performs.

This is his first run for political office. Dylan Patrick would be a much needed fresh voice of independent reason in the state legislature representing Cartersville and southeast Bartow County.

35 GA Sheriffs switch support from Sam Olens (R) to Greg Hecht (D)

In the statewide race for Attorney General, 34 sheriffs have switched their endorsement from incumbent Sam Olens  to Democratic challenger Greg Hecht. This bipartisan group includes ten Republicans.

“Sheriffs want an Attorney General who is going to prosecute corruption and enforce the law, and has the experience to back it up.” said Hecht. “I prosecuted cases myself as an assistant District Attorney, and I’m proud to have the support of these sheriffs.”

Sam Olens, Greg Hecht

The full list of sheriffs endorsing Greg Hecht who previously endorsed Sam Olens is below:

 

Sheriff Bobby McLemore, Ben Hill County

Sheriff Harold Lancaster, Bleckley County

Sheriff Mike Dewey, Brooks County

Sheriff Gregory Coursey, Burke County

Sheriff Josh Hilton, Calhoun County

Sheriff Jim Proctor, Camden County

Sheriff Winston Peterson, Clinch County

Sheriff Douglas Hanks, Cook County

Sheriff Wiley Griffin, Decatur County

Sheriff William Price, Early County

Sheriff Tim Burkhalter, Floyd County

Sheriff Steve Thomas, Franklin County

Sheriff Ted Jackson, Fulton County

Sheriff Harry C. Young, Grady County

Sheriff Ross Henry, Heard County

Sheriff Preston Bohannon, Jeff Davis County

Sheriff Rusty Oxford, Johnson County

Sheriff Butch Reece, Jones County

Sheriff Nick Norton, Lanier County

Sheriff Craig Nobles, Long County

Sheriff Derrell Neal, Marion County

Sheriff Logan Marshall, McDuffie County

Sheriff Chuck Smith, Meriwether County

Sheriff Ladson  O’Connor, Montgomery County

Sheriff Billy Cape, Pulaski County

Sheriff Billy Joe Foster, Quitman County

Sheriff Heath Elliott, Seminole County

Sheriff Larry Jones, Stewart County

Sheriff Marc Richards, Taliaferro County

Sheriff Gene Scarbrough, Tift County

Sheriff Alvie Lee Kight, Toombs County

Sheriff Andrew Hester, Turner County

Sheriff Darren Mitchum, Twiggs County

Sheriff Tommy Smith, Washington County

Sheriff Neal Walden, White County

Georgia Dems Need To Get To Work Mobilizing the Youth, Black Vote...During Homecoming Weekend!

As we near election day, candidates for statewide office from Jason Carter to Greg Hecht to Robin Shipp need to push the pedal to the metal.

The major weakness right now among democrats is not with white voters, but with their most loyal base....Black Voters. And without them, democrats cannot and will not be successful at the polls

As we all know, black voters drop off tremendously during the midterm elections and it's something that democrats for years have never able to figure out.

Albany State Homecoming, 2013

So what do they need to do to to mobilize black voters, some are also called "Obamacrats" who only support Pres. Obama and nothing else? There's no dominant issue that is resonating with them, so it will very difficult to move this bloc of voters ahead of early voting and on the first Tuesday in November.

What the candidates need, or ought to do is do a barnstorm of the state and visit all the colleges and universities to rally young, undecided voters and also those who voted for President Obama back in 2012. Assemble a entourage of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Congressman John Lewis, Congressman Sanford Bishop, former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, former candidate for State School Superintendent Alisha Morgan. And as a bonus bring the big guns such as former President Bill Clinton or likely 2016 presidential contender Hillary Clinton.

Valdosta State Homecoming, 2013

Fort Valley State University Homecoming is Oct. 25, Albany State University Homecoming is also Oct 25, Clark-Atlanta is Nov.1, Morehouse Homecoming is Oct. 18, Paine Collge is also Oct. 18, Columbus State University is Oct. 25, Mercer University is Nov.2, Valdosta State is Oct 25.

As you can see, multiple colleges will be having their homecoming on Oct 25, which is on a saturday. That's the perfect opportunity for democrats like Michelle Nunn, Valerie Wilson, Jason Carter, Chris Irvin, Robin Shipp to appeal to college students, Obamacrats, alums and people from surrounding areas who will make the trip to the homecoming festivities.

Despite the barrage of attack ads from outside groups toward Jason Carter and Michelle Nunn, both have pretty much withstood the storm of negative attack ads and are now well positioned to do well on election day. Every vote counts!

Jason Carter: Dinner Table

2014: Georgia Democrats and How Can They Can Rile Up the Black Vote

As I sit here, I'm utterly amazed by democrats inability to excite Black Voters ahead of the midterm elections. The Traditional way of going after the black vote is still kinda effective, but democrats need to go outside the box to motivate a group of people that are difficult to read when it comes to voting. You would think issues from the minimum wage to equal pay to education would move black voters to the polls, but I'm here to tell you, unfortunately those issues don't motivate some, if not most black voters to go vote.

Instead issues from the Ferguson shooting to the Stand Your Ground Law to Trayvon Martin to the perceived unfair treatment by the justice system towards blacks in general, those are the type of issues that really get black voters riled up....or angry and motivate them to go to the polls. I was at a church over in Greenville, Georgia yesterday and the pastor during his sermon started to talk about the elections and how black

s need to get up and vote to prevent more laws being created like the Stand Your Ground Law and to fight back against "attempted" voter suppression (as the pastor say) by the GOP here in Georgia, he had to be talking about SOS Brian Kemp battle with a voting registration organization)

All the rage leading up to November among Democrats and Politicos is how Democrats are going to boost Black Voter turnout in time fir not only early voting, but on election day. Well, if it were me, I'd send mailers or run radio ads on predominantly black radio station with spots like this:

"It’s Fall 2014 but let me tell you about last Spring.  When they thought no one was listening, Republican leaders plotted impeaching President Obama or at least humiliating him for his last two years in office because the president and Democrats put working families and jobs before corporations and fat cats.  We can’t let them control Congress.  

The despicable Republicans were even discussing forcing kids who receive free lunch to clean the schools for their meals.  These are the people who created the “Stand Your Ground” laws and fight increasing the minimum wage.  We stop them by voting and making sure that everyone we know votes early—that’s the best protest. Vote for (candidate) in November"

And since this is football season, Friday Night Football in small town Georgia is a religion....one radio spot or television ad geared towards rural white moderates/blacks would go something like this:

"Speaker One: “Oh yea, smell the popcorn in the crisp air….it’s Friday night high school football in Georgia.”

 

Speaker Two; “Yes sir, the countless hours we have spent in this stadium…as students and now our kids are the ball players, cheerleaders and band members.  Where did the years go?”

Speaker One: “If you think about it, people can freeze in the stands for hours at a game but the same people won’t take 20 minutes to go early vote.  It’s a shame.”  

Narrator: “We all have priorities but isn’t voting as important as football, reality T.V., and cell phone games.  Why not use your mobile device to promote voting among your friends.  Let’s fight those who want to impeach President Obama for trying to provide healthcare for everyone.  The same people who went after President Clinton for silly reasons but said nothing about impeachment when we went to war for false reasons under another president. 

Congress, the state legislature and the governor’s mansions should be focused on education, training and get jobs back from overseas.  But, they aren’t thinking about regular folks when they make laws like Stand Your Ground and allow guns in schools, churches and nightclubs.   We should vote out of office people who basically declare open season on people who don’t look like you….because you “felt” threaten.  The best form of protest is voting what change what was wrong in the first place.

Voting is also our way of monitoring those who decide when, where and how long our sons, daughters, brothers, cousins and friends go to war.  We appreciate the political side eager to dialog with the other side and ready to have public policy decisions reflect the views of every Americans—not just their fancy friends.  As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  Voting ensures our seat at the table and provides the opportunity to squeak.   

High school football games are exciting but voting often takes less time than halftime.  We should support the kids on Friday nights but more importantly we should support their safe development into productive citizens.  Productive citizens vote and encourage those around them to do the same. On November 4 make your voices heard and vote for candidate or candidates in November".