Look out DeKalb County! It appears ex-Dallas police chief Terrell Bolton may be headed to your police department (rather dramatic site, don’t you think?). This guy is heap big recycled trouble. Here’s a morsel from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution……

DeKalb Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones said Thursday he was aware of the Dallas controversies before he interviewed Bolton and three other finalists recently.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Jones said. “I wanted to know everything about everyone before I interviewed them.”

Jones said that the Dallas controversies apparently were politically motivated, but he said more “fact-finding” will be done before he makes a decision.

Well, alrighty then.

I suspect that the Mac Collins’s camp is pleased with the nasty weather here in Macon today, which almost certainly increases his chances of taking out Jim Marshall.

In case you missed them, my predictions for the House and Senate are here (along with my endorsements for the Georgia campaign races).

And now, here are my predictions for the Georgia races: (more…)

I’ll be on Miss Martha’s radio show tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. discussing a poll recently conducted by the Federalist Society here in Georgia. So, tune in if you get a chance.

Quin makes some excellent points.

Like I said below, I had a difficult time with the Collins-Marshall race; but at the end of the day, I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for a man who will almost certainly cast a vote for Speaker Pelosi.

On the national level, my guess is that the dems will win the House, but it won’t be 1994 redux. After the dust settles, I predict the dems will have a single-digit-seat advantage. As for the Senate, the Republicans will retain the majority by a margin of 52-48. FWIW, here are my predictions for the key Senate races:

Steele upsets Cardin in Maryland (due in large part to endorsements from several African-American leaders/groups)

Talent beats McCaskill by less than a percentage point (the GOP firewall saves the day in MO)

Burns defeats Tester (the old man just barely survives)

Menendez edges past Kean (NJ just loves corrupt politicos)

Brown sends DeWine packing (Ohio is a nasty environment for the GOP right now)

Casey beats Santorum (the dullard son beats out one of the GOP’s best and brightest)

Whitehouse defeats Chafee (dem over RINO)

Corker barely defeats Ford (despite a heck of a campaign by Ford)

Webb takes out Allen (a lot of SA fans are going to have to toss their ”Allen in ‘08″ bumperstickers)

In Georgia, the fedster endorses the following candidates: (more…)

If you live in Georgia, you owe it to yourself and your fellow citizens to watch the recent debate between Justice Carol Hunstein and Mike Wiggins, which was sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club.

When you’re done watching the debate, please let me know in the comments section which candidate you believe comes across as having the better judicial temperament.

takes a nasty turn for the worse.

You can read Mike Wiggins’s response here, and read the AJC’s take here.

Update: The left-leaning Daily Report has the latest on the race, along with a link to the Wiggins response ad.

Courtesy of my pal, Tripp Self.*

*My father-in-law, Joe McDaniel, does the voice-over for the first one. 

Macon, Jawja.

While I doubt Sonny will beat Taylor by 19 percentage points, I do think that he’ll win by double digits; and in Georgia that’s a landslide, folks.

Oh, and if you haven’t had a chance to see some of Sonny’s campaign ads, you can do so here. They are very effective, and well suited to Georgia’s more “down home” political environment.

I just spent the last 10 minutes reading GQ’s takedown of Ralph Reed. It is, in a word: devastating. And if I had read this piece before the election, I would not have voted for Reed or supported him in any way.

So, mea culpa. I am ashamed that I believed anything Ralph Reed ever said.

You’re in my prayers, Ralph; but I will never trust you again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go take a really long shower.

(LvMike)

They told me that they were gonna beat Ralph big time and they did it.  Pretty impressive stuff against a very talented fellow.  This just goes to show you how ugly the Abramoff thing has been.  The Reed career appears to have been short-circuited, possibly permanently.

A couple of things come to mind.  First off, the guys running the Cagle campaign were old Ralph operatives.  Ralph’s old guys apparently didn’t like Ralph very much.  I know some were disillusioned by his willingness to work for most favored nation trade status for China, but I think it probably goes deeper than that.  I think there was some serious personal stuff going on, too.

Second, I have to wonder where Reed goes from here.  He was going to walk into the Lt. Gov’s office and then just move down the street to Sonny’s house when he finished his second term.  And from there — who knows — maybe a shot at the presidency.  That’s all in a pile of ashes now.  I don’t suppose the future looks too bright for Reed’s consulting business, either.  Why not hire the guys who beat him instead?

I’m not happy at all to see Reed go down like this.  I preferred Cagle because people I trusted preferred him, but he had a golden age when he topped all the Christian politicos in modern American history because he was super-bright and super-articulate.  I hope there’s a second act of some kind for him, both personally and politically.  If he were a lefty, a place at Harvard would be waiting for him!

Go Hank go!

And while I reluctantly supported Reed, part of me is relieved that he lost.

It’s time to do some deep reflecting, Ralph. You’re a man who has been blessed with great gifts, but somewhere along the line you lost your way. Here’s hoping that you find your way back, brother.

You can watch the results as they come in here.

Shyam Ready: “A strong Democrat!“ 

As opposed to the normal, run-of-the-mill-weak-sister democrat?

O.k., good to know.

As jaded as I’ve become, there’s still something about election day that gets the ol’ juices flowing.

Thankfully, my dear friend, Jami G., has asked me to co-host on WMAC 940 this morning (from 6-9 a.m.), so I have an outlet and a pulpit of sorts from which to preach the conservative message. Say what you will about Mrs. G., but you’ve got to give her credit for asking a hard-core conservative to co-host with her on election day. She’s good people (even if she is deeply misguided on many issues).

Tune in, folks. It’s going to be a fun time for all. 

This sums things up nicely:

Experts say voters like Carolyn Walker of Abbeville are a major reason for the shift. A secretary to the warden of Wilcox State Prison, the 58-year-old Walker grew up in a large, poor and staunchly Democratic family in Middle Georgia.

“I can remember my big mama, my grandmother, talked about the wonder of finally having a light bulb up over the table and then being able to pull that string and how wonderful Franklin Delano Roosevelt was,” Walker said. “He was like a god.”

Her grandmother called the thickened gravy the family used to supplement their meals “Hoover gravy,” a derisive reference to Republican President Herbert Hoover, whom many Americans blamed for the Great Depression.

“In my family, Republican was a dirty word,” she said.

But now Walker and her husband participate in the GOP primary because they think the core principles of the Republican Party more closely parallel their conservative beliefs. Walker said she is upset that some Democrats at the state level opposed a constitutional ban on gay marriage. And she disapproves of the national Democratic Party’s support of abortion rights.

State Rep. Mickey Channell (R-Greensboro) has seen the swelling ranks of voters like Walker. Channell has been in elective office since 1972. He was a Democrat all of his life until this election cycle when he filed to run as a Republican.

“Every year it seemed like there was less and less room for conservatives like myself in the Democratic Party,” he said.

Governor: This is a no-brainer: Sonny Perdue. Anyone who votes for this guy deserves to be disenfranchised.*

Lt. Governor: This is the race I struggled with the most: Ralph Reed v. Casey Cagle. And while there’s a lot I could say about both candidates (pro and con), the bottom line is that I think Reed’s long service on behalf of the Republican Party, on both the state and national level, gives him the edge over Cagle.  This is not to say that I don’t find Reed’s dealings with Jack Abramoff problematic. I do.  And it’s possible that I will regret this vote down the road. But I just couldn’t bring myself to vote against one of my boyhood idols. Reed has done so much for the conservative cause, and as such I think he deserves the chance to govern and redeem himself.

Update: In the interest of equal time, Clint Austin of Peach Pundit makes an eloquent and compelling case against for voting for Reed here.

Secretary of State: Karen Handel (for all of the reasons noted here). 

State School Superintendent: Kathy Cox (incumbent). I think she has Georgia heading in the right direction, and should be reelected for a second term.

Commissioner of Agriculture: Gary Black (for all of the reasons noted here).

House District 137: Stebin Horne. This is perhaps the most interesting race that I am monitoring. It’s a four-way tussle for the GOP nod, and the winner will easily coast to victory over the dem challenger in November. The other candidates–Becky Burgess, Allen Peake, and Dale Washburn–are all fine folks, but for me the bottom line is legislative experience and local party involvement, and Stebin is the only one who fits the bill on both fronts.

As an aside, I think it’s worth mentioning that this ad by Becky Burgess (where she touts her support of the rape and incest exceptions) was a huge tactical mistake, and one that may cost her a chance of getting into the run-off election. You don’t run to the center on abortion during a Republican primary, dear. To put it plainly, this ad calls into question your commitment to the pro-life cause; and in a Republican primary, that will cost you dearly (especially in a close race). I’ll be discussing the ad in greater detail tomorrow on WMAC 940 from 6:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. with my co-host Jami G (I am sitting in for Kenny B).

Macon City Council, Ward 5, Post 2: James Freeman.

*By way of full disclosure, I am the governor’s campaign chairman for Bibb County; so yes, I am extremely biased. 

Well, it’s not. One of the flaggers is actually challenging Gov. Perdue in the upcoming Republican primary on July 18th.

If this joker gets over ten percent of the vote, I’ll hang my head in shame.

You heard it here first.  Casey Cagle is going to soundly defeat Ralph Reed in the upcoming Republican primary for Georgia Lt. Governor.  I’ve spoken to a “person in the know” and I believe him. 

Call Reed another casualty of the deadly musical Abramoff, Abramoff!

He has been diagnosed with colon cancer.

You are in my prayers, dear friend.

Cynthia McKinney’s got a challenger.  How ’bout folks throw him a little love?

What’s more entertaining: Opening Day in Major League Baseball or the Cynthia Mickinney Circus and Freak-Hair Show? Go!

During the conference, held at historically black Howard University in Washington, civil rights attorney James Myart said his client was “assaulted” by a Capitol Police officer, whose name the department refuses to release.

“Because she was assaulted and placed in impending fear of her safety, she responded,” he said. “This case has just begun and we’re going to fight, and we’re going to use the U.S. Constitution.”

Me: I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Danny Glover? Harry Belafonte? Was there presence supposed to be of help in some way to McKinney? All I can say is, thank God I’m not from her district - what an absolute embarrassment!

The Washington Post contains an article looking at Ralph Reed, who is running for lieutenant governor in Georgia, and the impact Jack Abramoff is having on his campaign. I hate to see the quotes from people who say “”[it's] pretty obvious he was putting money before God,” said Phil Dacosta, a Georgia Christian Coalition member who had initially backed Reed. “We are righteously casting him out.”" Well, he was a lobbyist. Money is rather important in that line of business. Moreover, “righteously casting him out.” Yeah, that’s the Christian Coalition.

I like Reed. I think he has accomplished a lot over the years, although some friends disagree with me saying he was merely at the right place at the right time, but I think not. As the Post article says, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published some 48 articles and editorials serving essentially as hit-pieces on the Reed campaign. All is not lost, but the road to the primary is certainly uphill and far more difficult than probably was anticipated.

It will come as no surprise to SA’s readers that I am supporting the incumbent Republican governor here in Georgia, Sonny Perdue, in his bid to be reelected this fall. Sonny is a good man, a long-time friend, and he has been an excellent governor for the past three years or so.

In this respect, I am pleased to announce that Governor Perdue has asked me to play a leadership role in the campaign by serving as his chairman for Bibb County/Macon (one of the key areas of the state he needs to win). I’ve agreed to do so, and look forward to his reelection this fall.