The Georgia governor runoff careens toward an end Tuesday, and in the closing weeks the bitter fight between Republicans Karen Handel and Nathan Deal has become a proxy war among several leading 2012 presidential candidates.
Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, finished atop the seven-candidate field on July 20, leading Deal, a former congressman, by 11 percentage points, but polls since then have shown that margin shrinking as supporters of two former candidates, state Senate President Eric Johnson and state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, have shifted their allegiances.
Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, finished atop the seven-candidate field on July 20, leading Deal, a former congressman, by 11 percentage points, but polls since then have shown that margin shrinking as supporters of two former candidates, state Senate President Eric Johnson and state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, have shifted their allegiances.
A weekend poll conducted for the Georgia News Partnership by Mason-Dixon showed Handel with a 5-percentage-point lead, while an InsiderAdvantage poll last week showed the race deadlocked at 46 percent.
Both candidates are banking on a late boost from their star surrogates. Handel picked up the coveted endorsement of Sarah Palin just ahead of the first GOP vote, which quite likely helped boost her to the top of the pack. She added the endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney days into the runoff campaign but returned to her more high-profile backer when Palin made an election-eve stop for her Monday in Atlanta.
Deal countered late last week with a nod from Mike Huckabee, the winner of the state’s 2008 presidential primary, whose endorsement came on top of Deal’s support from former House speaker Newt Gingrich. The former Arkansas governor made a last-minute stop in Deal’s hometown of Gainesville in northeast Georgia, headlining the Sunday rally of about 700 supporters, at which Huckabee pointed to work the two had done together on Medicaid reform in 2005.
“It means something when you get an endorsement from someone who actually knows you,” Deal told POLITICO on Sunday night. It was a not-so-subtle jab at Palin’s endorsement of Handel, which Deal and her previous opponents criticized, arguing that Palin hadn’t examined Handel’s positions on gay marriage and abortion closely enough before she made her decision.
At Monday’s rally, Palin jabbed back at Deal and lauded Handel’s conservative bona fides, criticizing “isolationist politicos” who questioned her endorsement as a “double standard.” She compared the hits Handel had taken with the same “good ol’ boys’ network” that had attacked South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley, another Southern female gubernatorial candidate to whom Palin provided a late boost. Haley went on to win her June primary and runoff.
“I don’t know if they question other outsiders endorsing the other guy,” said Palin, who never mentioned Deal’s name. “Karen’s opponent is really throwing fistfuls at her and just seeing if something will stick.”
Deal’s auto salvage business and its business ties with the state have been a central point of Handel’s campaign and its advertising strategy. Shortly after leaving Congress, Deal was slapped with an ethics complaint over work his office allegedly did to benefit his business. More recently, a federal grand jury called a state official to testify on the matter, though the campaign has insisted Deal is not a target of the probe.
In her ads, Handel has targeted Deal as a “corrupt relic of Washington” and has highlighted the investigations in a direct-mail piece that detailed the congressional ethics charges at length.
Deal’s initial runoff ads were positive: In the first, he appeared with his two grandsons and railed against Washington spending; in the second, he condemned Handel’s “political mud.” But his final ad took a more hard-hitting approach, panning a field of wheat while a voice-over said the “last straw” was Handel’s funding of a gay group, called Youth Pride, during her time on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
“Despite requests from many of the party leaders that she refrain from attacking me, she persisted in that on television and with many of the most vicious mailers you’ve ever seen,” Deal said. “I think it’s turning them off, especially when they understand that the facts that she’s trying to rely on are incorrect and pretty inaccurate.”
Handel spokesman Dan McLagan dismissed Deal’s characterization of their campaign as unnecessarily negative, saying they were just offering contrasts for voters.
“Nathan has been doing a lot of whining about our comparison ads, but he hasn’t been able to refute anything about them,” McLagan said. “People whine about it, but campaigns are tough things. You’ll hear no complaining from us.”
But Mark Rountree, a longtime state political consultant who isn’t working for either candidate, said that while there is “a good bit of hyperbole” on both sides, Handel’s strategy could backfire.
“Handel went with a primarily negative approach against Deal. Deal’s was a little more blended. And it didn’t seem to work as well for Karen,” Rountree said.
State Republicans are expecting a very close race — one that could be decided by just thousands of votes. Early voter turnout so far has been high, particularly in Handel’s base of metro Atlanta and Deal’s home turf of northeast Georgia, which features a congressional runoff for his old seat that could also draw voters to the polls.
But the biggest hurdle is likely to come Wednesday, when the party has to come together despite the long, fractious primary. Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart said she’s confident the healing won’t hamper the nominee’s prospects against the Democratic nominee, former Gov. Roy Barnes.
“I don’t doubt that the one that doesn’t make it will endorse the other one,” Everhart said. “We want to be a unified state Wednesday morning. They’re both good folks. Either one of them would make an excellent governor. They’re folks that love this state and have been active in politics for the last two decades.”
Deal, though, wouldn’t explicitly commit to backing Handel should he lose.
“It’s going to be difficult for a lot of people and for a lot of voters to accept someone who’s done a lot of damage, in my opinion, to the Republican Party of Georgia,” Deal said. “We’ll just have to wait and see. She has shown no tendency to back off negative campaigning and false accusations. That’s not the kind of campaign that generates a lot of enthusiasm.”
McLagan said Handel would “absolutely” support Deal should he win and called the former congressman’s comments “disturbing.”
“It shows, I think, a lack of commitment to our party,” said McLagan. “I think he owes the party some allegiance.”
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/0810/40852.html
Both candidates are banking on a late boost from their star surrogates. Handel picked up the coveted endorsement of Sarah Palin just ahead of the first GOP vote, which quite likely helped boost her to the top of the pack. She added the endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney days into the runoff campaign but returned to her more high-profile backer when Palin made an election-eve stop for her Monday in Atlanta.
Deal countered late last week with a nod from Mike Huckabee, the winner of the state’s 2008 presidential primary, whose endorsement came on top of Deal’s support from former House speaker Newt Gingrich. The former Arkansas governor made a last-minute stop in Deal’s hometown of Gainesville in northeast Georgia, headlining the Sunday rally of about 700 supporters, at which Huckabee pointed to work the two had done together on Medicaid reform in 2005.
“It means something when you get an endorsement from someone who actually knows you,” Deal told POLITICO on Sunday night. It was a not-so-subtle jab at Palin’s endorsement of Handel, which Deal and her previous opponents criticized, arguing that Palin hadn’t examined Handel’s positions on gay marriage and abortion closely enough before she made her decision.
At Monday’s rally, Palin jabbed back at Deal and lauded Handel’s conservative bona fides, criticizing “isolationist politicos” who questioned her endorsement as a “double standard.” She compared the hits Handel had taken with the same “good ol’ boys’ network” that had attacked South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley, another Southern female gubernatorial candidate to whom Palin provided a late boost. Haley went on to win her June primary and runoff.
“I don’t know if they question other outsiders endorsing the other guy,” said Palin, who never mentioned Deal’s name. “Karen’s opponent is really throwing fistfuls at her and just seeing if something will stick.”
Deal’s auto salvage business and its business ties with the state have been a central point of Handel’s campaign and its advertising strategy. Shortly after leaving Congress, Deal was slapped with an ethics complaint over work his office allegedly did to benefit his business. More recently, a federal grand jury called a state official to testify on the matter, though the campaign has insisted Deal is not a target of the probe.
In her ads, Handel has targeted Deal as a “corrupt relic of Washington” and has highlighted the investigations in a direct-mail piece that detailed the congressional ethics charges at length.
Deal’s initial runoff ads were positive: In the first, he appeared with his two grandsons and railed against Washington spending; in the second, he condemned Handel’s “political mud.” But his final ad took a more hard-hitting approach, panning a field of wheat while a voice-over said the “last straw” was Handel’s funding of a gay group, called Youth Pride, during her time on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.
“Despite requests from many of the party leaders that she refrain from attacking me, she persisted in that on television and with many of the most vicious mailers you’ve ever seen,” Deal said. “I think it’s turning them off, especially when they understand that the facts that she’s trying to rely on are incorrect and pretty inaccurate.”
Handel spokesman Dan McLagan dismissed Deal’s characterization of their campaign as unnecessarily negative, saying they were just offering contrasts for voters.
“Nathan has been doing a lot of whining about our comparison ads, but he hasn’t been able to refute anything about them,” McLagan said. “People whine about it, but campaigns are tough things. You’ll hear no complaining from us.”
But Mark Rountree, a longtime state political consultant who isn’t working for either candidate, said that while there is “a good bit of hyperbole” on both sides, Handel’s strategy could backfire.
“Handel went with a primarily negative approach against Deal. Deal’s was a little more blended. And it didn’t seem to work as well for Karen,” Rountree said.
State Republicans are expecting a very close race — one that could be decided by just thousands of votes. Early voter turnout so far has been high, particularly in Handel’s base of metro Atlanta and Deal’s home turf of northeast Georgia, which features a congressional runoff for his old seat that could also draw voters to the polls.
But the biggest hurdle is likely to come Wednesday, when the party has to come together despite the long, fractious primary. Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart said she’s confident the healing won’t hamper the nominee’s prospects against the Democratic nominee, former Gov. Roy Barnes.
“I don’t doubt that the one that doesn’t make it will endorse the other one,” Everhart said. “We want to be a unified state Wednesday morning. They’re both good folks. Either one of them would make an excellent governor. They’re folks that love this state and have been active in politics for the last two decades.”
Deal, though, wouldn’t explicitly commit to backing Handel should he lose.
“It’s going to be difficult for a lot of people and for a lot of voters to accept someone who’s done a lot of damage, in my opinion, to the Republican Party of Georgia,” Deal said. “We’ll just have to wait and see. She has shown no tendency to back off negative campaigning and false accusations. That’s not the kind of campaign that generates a lot of enthusiasm.”
McLagan said Handel would “absolutely” support Deal should he win and called the former congressman’s comments “disturbing.”
“It shows, I think, a lack of commitment to our party,” said McLagan. “I think he owes the party some allegiance.”
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/0810/40852.html