Chamblee54

Georgia will vote on a new Governor Tuesday. The candidates are, in alphabetical first name order, Republican Brian Kemp, Democrat Stacey Abrams, and Libertarian Ted Metz. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Metz are white men, while Miss Abrams is a black woman. The winner will be either Mr. Kemp or Miss Abrams. Mr. Metz represents are the possibility of a runoff.
Miss Abrams won the Democratic primary. Her tactics included having admirers shout down her opponent. Miss Abrams was criticized for this, and the incident was mostly forgotten. There have no similar incidents during the general election campaign.
Mr. Kemp is the Secretary of State. This office will be counting the votes. It is not know exactly how involved the SOS is in day to day operations. The optics are bad for the SOS to be both running for Governor, and counting the votes.
Voter suppression is a big issue for the Democrats. There are numerous charges of voter registrations being thrown out, absentee ballots not being counted, and voters purged from the rolls. Some say that voter suppression is a code word for racism. The corporate media loves to denouce racism in Georgia, and has gone crazy over this story. It is tough to tell what is real, and what is campaign noise. If Mr. Kemp wins, there is a possibility of the election being challenged in court.
Miss Abrams has an assortment of promises about health care and education. She probably will not get much help from the Republican dominated legislature. Her other two issues are (1) Stacey Abrams is a black woman, and (2) Brian Kemp is suppressing the vote.
Mr. Kemp is not performing well. A recent TV debate was cancelled after Donald Trump announced a visit to Georgia, at the same time as the debate. When taken to task about this, the Kemp campaign issued a bizarre statement. “After repeated efforts to schedule a debate on the issues that matter most to Georgia voters, radical Stacey Abrams decided she would rather hide behind television ads paid for by San Francisco socialists than face the voters and defend her extreme agenda that will raise taxes by $13,000 a person, give welfare and voting rights to illegal immigrants, and usher in the government takeover of healthcare. While Abrams has decided to duck the electorate, Brian Kemp will continue to travel the state on his Putting Georgians First Bus Tour. He’s proud of his record and confident that his plans for our state will keep Georgia working!”
Lets take a look at the 66 word sentence. “radical Stacey Abrams … television ads paid for by San Francisco socialists” Good grief. Focus group conservatives have been flogging that donkey for years. Maybe it will work one more time. “extreme agenda that will raise taxes by $13,000 a person” As one observer notes, “They don’t believe in science and can’t do math. $13,000 a person x ten million is $130 billion. The state’s current budget (excluding federal contribution) is what, $25 billion? It’s why even listening is a waste of time” “give welfare and voting rights to illegal immigrants, and usher in the government takeover of healthcare.” The Governor does not control these issues. This statement forgot to mention this: Stacey Abrams: Send GBI to Seize and Destroy Weapons, Magazines, Bullets
The good news is the election is tuesday. Unless there is a runoff, or a court challenge, we will know who the next Governor is on wednesday. PG will vote a secret ballot, and do his best to deal with the winner. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.