Posted on 07/20/2010 7:39:24 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Ex-Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel has nabbed a spot in the Republican runoff for governor.
With 64 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial returns show Handel had 32 percent of the vote. Her candidacy has been buoyed by the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
There was a furious three-way battle behind her for the second runoff spot.
Former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal had 25 percent of the vote. Former state Sen. Eric Johnson had 19 percent of the vote, while state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine had 18 percent.
They were among seven Republicans vying for their party's nomination. A runoff is needed if no candidate wins 50 percent plus one vote.
The runoff winner will face Democratic winner Roy Barnes in the fall.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Palin is following the EXACT same path that Ronald Reagan did after 1976.
And the parallels are striking.
Handel was at the first tea party we had in Warner Robins. She was talking the right talk then. That was the tax day tea parties, the first one.
Fortunately, Handel will have a tough time with the other 64%. The copy of her dues check to Log Cabin Republicans -- coupled with her earlier denials of its existence -- will receive a lot of attention in the next few weeks. As will her Fulton County Commission votes to fund Planned Parenthood.
Well, McCain still got 76% of the white vote in 2008 even in a down year for the GOP, the same 76% Bush got in 2004 in a good year for the party. So she has a bit of a margin to play with. Getting around 67% shouldn’t be that difficult.
And if you look at the total votes Handel by herself came pretty close to Barnes’ total. If you add up all the GOP votes they more than doubled the dem total. So there’s more GOP interest.
Throw in Issakson running in a statewide race, no Obama on the ballot, 2010 being a bounceback year for the GOP and the party having momentum and she should do ok, I’d think.
Plus, I think if Haley continues to poll well in SC that could help her. GA and SC are neighbors so I’d think if GA sees that SC is going with Haley that could spill over and help her. Not wanting to be left out or anything. You’ll probably see a bunch of stories about these two bastions of the Confederacy both having their first woman Governor, how times are changing, etc... That’ll start to sink in. And you’ll have other races nationwide like Whitman and Fiorina in CA, Brewer in AZ, Martinez in NM, Angle in NV, etc... I think the cumulative effect will end up helping all of them.
But you probably no more about the state politics than I do. It would just seem to me that if the GOP can’t win a Governor’s race in GA in 2010 given the circumstances, the party is in much deeper trouble than I thought.
Last Election Purdue won 58-38. That’s not a runaway? He won Cobb by 30, DeKalb by 37, Gwinnett by 37. Fulton(Atlanta) by 11. Purdue won in a landslide. There’d have to be a mighty big swing in 4 yrs. Is Purdue no longer popular? Is Barnes especially popular? As long as the party all unites behind who ever wins the runoff and there’s no major scandal or anything, they should hold this chair.
Handel gives her side of the story.
You are very selective. Palin has not just selected cronies from the campaign. I expected her to go with McCain. Fiorina upset me but I have to give her Handel she is a great pic and is conservative in all the ways we need. Georgia Republicans haven’t been the best and the last thing we need is a big spending Republican running in GA.
Sarah has been mostly right on her picks which given the track records of her potential opponents she is doing very good. Jim Demint is the only person who has endorsed everyone I would have.
I don’t know about her not having a chance. She was doing fairly well in polls before Palin endorsed her.
I think Palin endorsed her around 7/6 or so.
In an Insider Advantage poll on July 1 she was tied for 1st at 18%
In a Survey USA poll in June she was 2nd at 18%, still in the runoff.
In Inside Advantage polls in both Apr and Feb she was 2nd with 13 and 18.
In a PPP poll from Feb she was 2nd with 19%.
So she was looking good to make the runoff before Palin’s endorsement.
Now, she did a lot better after, but she didn’t exactly have no chance before.
If anything I’d say it was more Palin(or more likely someone close to her)sensing that Handel was trending upwards and that she’d bee a good investment so to speak. She endorses her and when Handel wins Palin ends up looking good even though Handel very well was on her way to winning anyway.
Impressive observations!
Reagan also resigned as Governor and started putting together a travelogue series on California?
He also started hyping this movement of “Grandpa Grizzlies” who were getting ready to take over?
I’m a huge Palin fan but I don’t think you can say she’s following the exact same path. Reagan was a 2 term Governor of the most populous state. He’d already run an intense campaign all the way to the convention, not mention a somewhat secret push for the nomination in 1968. He’d been outspoken and arguably the top natl figure in conservatism for a good 16 yrs by 1980.
Also, based on my research he didn’t really get all that involved in the 1978 midterms, certainly not to the extent Palin has this year. Interestingly, one of the primaries he did get involved in was a GOP congressional primary in a town in West Texas called Midland. He came in and endorsed and campaigned for a guy who was running against the son of the fmr head of the CIA, some guy named George W something or other. Apparently George Sr was quite upset at Reagan’s support for his son’s opponent. Funny how things turned out there.
So I don’t think you can say the parallels are striking. I mean, she’s not exactly doing anything out of the box. Helping raise money and supporting various candidates through the PAC, going around the country for various speeches/events, that’s pretty much the standard playbook.
Her involvement with the Tea Party, the facebook presence, and this mama grizzly thing is a bit out of the box.
Having said all that, if the parallels are still striking come Nov 6, 2012, I won’t be complaining.
I still have yet to hear Karen Handel explain why she long denied writing a dues check to Log Cabin Republicans -- until a copy of the check appeared. That is a real problem.
Not very.I am disappointed in her pick.Social lib wont win in Georgia on the R side.I hope Deal can overcome this.
I would like to hear what they are please.
I do give her credit. The endorsement looks like it clearly made a difference. All I was saying was that I wouldn’t be surprised if she saw that Handel was on the upswing and could see that she was moving up.
It was a very good move for her to make. Handel was already improving and with her endorsement she’d likely improve more. Now, Palin gets a bunch of credit even if not all of it is deserved. Even the Post story mentions her in the 2nd sentence I think. They didn’t mention for example that Gov Brewer in AZ also endorsed Handel, a week or so before Palin did. If TV covers this tomorrow they’ll likely mention “endorsed by Sarah Palin” very prominently.
Based on what you ask? Based on this:
On May 17 Oxendine led Handel 23-15. On June 17 Oxendine led Handel 34-18. On July 1 they were tied at 18. All this was before Palin endorsed her. So Handel was steadily advancing already. -8 in May, -16 in June, tied in early July.
I’m just saying that it’s possible that movement figured into the endorsement. If Handel was way behind in 4th or 5th place and at 5% or 10% things may have been different.
Palin endorsed Handel in a post on Facebook, calling her an underdog and a “pro-life, pro-Constitutionalist with a can-do attitude and a record for fighting for ethics in government.”
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2010/07/18/1198170/georgia-gubernatorial-race-poll.html#ixzz0uHzWrfSu
The math looks good for Nathan Deal. In addition to his own 23%, Deal will likely gain most of Eric Johnson's 20% and John Oxendine's 17%. And I would think the 5% who voted for Chapman or McBerry are far too conservative for Handel.
As Karen Handel comes under more scrutiny, she will be desperate to get Sarah Palin down to campaign for her. I just hope that most Georgia Republicans will think for themselves -- and not trust Sarah to do their thinking for them.
Perhaps you should google the Briggs Initiative, Here’s Wikipedia:
California Proposition 6 was an initiative on the California State ballot on November 7, 1978,[1] and was more commonly known as The Briggs Initiative.[2] Sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, the failed initiative would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California’s public schools. The Briggs Initiative was the first failure in a movement that started with the successful campaign headed by Anita Bryant and her organization Save Our Children in Dade County, Florida to repeal a local gay rights ordinance.
Proposition 6 is a central plot point in the 2008 film Milk.
Some gay Republicans also became organized against the initiative on a grassroots level. The most prominent of these, the Log Cabin Republicans, was founded in 1977 in California, as a rallying point for Republicans opposed to the Briggs Initiative. The Log Cabin Club then lobbied Republican officials to oppose the measure.
The former state Governor (and later US President) Ronald Reagan moved to publicly oppose the measure. Reagan issued an informal letter of opposition to the initiative, answered reporters’ questions about the initiative by saying he was against, and, a week before the election, wrote an editorial in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner opposing it.[7]
The timing of Reagan’s opposition is significant because he was then preparing to run for president, a race in which he would need the support of conservatives and moderates who were very uncomfortable with homosexual teachers. As Lou Cannon (Reagan biographer) puts it, Reagan was “well aware that there were those who wanted him to duck the issue” but nevertheless “chose to state his convictions.” Extensive excerpts from his informal statement were reprinted in the San Francisco Chronicle of September 24, 1978.[citation needed] Reagan’s November 1 editorial stated, in part, “Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual’s sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child’s teachers do not really influence this.”[7]
The sponsors of the bill would later say that Reagan’s opposition to it was the nail in the coffin and that he more than anyone was responsible for its failure.
Looks like Handel may be in pretty good company.
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