Two numbers jumped out at me this morning as I looked at the results of the Iowa caucus. First, here’s the vote breakdown: Romney 30,015 Santorum 30,007 Paul 26,219 Gingrich 16,251 Perry 12,604 Bachmann 6,073 Huntsman 745 No Preference 135…
Category: Politics
Rick Perry files lawsuit against Virginia Board of Elections and state Republican chair to get on the primary ballot
Things are looking better for Mitt Romney by the day . . . In the latest from the Republican circus primary, Texas Governor Rick Perry has filed a federal lawsuit to get onto the Virginia ballot, even though his campaign…
What does smaller government look like in Georgia?
In my City Talk column today, I talk about cuts to education in Georgia over the last few years. I just want to follow up here with a post about total government employment in Georgia using Georgia Department of Labor…
Georgia’s new political map gets federal approval
From the AP’s Feds approve new Ga. political maps: It is the first time that Georgia Republicans — who now control both chambers of the state Legislature and the governor’s mansion — have controlled the redistricting process from start to…
Intellectual laziness: The payroll tax cut edition
From Charles Krauthammer’s The GOP’s payroll tax debacle in The Washington Post: A two-month extension is nothing more than a long tax weekend. What employer is going to alter his hiring decisions — whose effects last years — in anticipation…
WSJ: What a payroll tax increase would mean for workers
I think it’s clear that the politics of this issue are working in favor of President Obama and Democrats, but I’m a lot more interested in the impact that the 2% cut in payroll taxes had on the economy in…
Gingrich support “collapses” in Iowa; Ron Paul in the lead — for now
I don’t know how often I’ll be posting about the national elections, but I’m fascinated by the waxing and waning fortunes of the candidates in the GOP field. As others’ poll numbers rise and then fall, there’s Romney hovering steadily.…
FiveThirtyEight: Gingrich still leads “wide open” race for Iowa
Georgia’s Newt Gingrich picked up dozens of prominent new supporters in the state yesterday, but Georgia hardly matters at this point. (Really, with Governor Deal leading the Gingrich effort in the state, what prominent Republicans are going to say no?)…
More information on Georgians’ support for next year’s vote on a new transportation sales tax
The first part of my City Talk column today is about the support in Georgia generally, and in south and east Georgia specifically, for the Transportation Investment Act (the so-called TSPLOST that will add 1% to regional sales taxes if…
WSJ on the sharp decline in illegal immigration from Mexico (video embedded)
More on a theme. I wrote last week about the sharp decline in immigration from Mexico; now the Wall Street Journal is covering the trend: From the accompanying article, Far Fewer Enter U.S. Illegally From Mexico: Arrests of people trying…
Newt Gingrich “runs away with the Georgia primary,” according to new poll from SurveyUSA
A new poll from SurveyUSA shows Georgian Newt Gingrich with a huge lead among likely voters in the state’s Republican primary. Of course, the primary isn’t scheduled until March 6th, so lots could obviously happen between now and then. Still,…
George Will, Maureen Dowd, and David Brooks really, really don’t like Newt Gingrich
I’ve praised Newt Gingrich on this blog for his sensible stand on immigration policy, but I’m troubled by many, many things that Gingrich says. I’m not the only one. From David Brooks’ The Gingrich Tragedy in the NYT: I’d make…
Edna Jackson elected Savannah’s new mayor; Tom Bordeaux takes at-large council seat
If you want some more data on how the reporting unfolded over about an hour on Tuesday evening, see my live blog. Tonight went pretty much as I suspected. 21,749 Savannahians voted in the mayor race in November. 19,466 voted…
AJC on political and racial polarization of new U.S. house districts in Georgia
About a week ago, I wrote: Will 2011 redistricting finally kill off the endangered White Georgia Democrat? Today the AJC looks at a number of the changes likely in the wake of the new maps: In a congressional map set…