It’s been dueling potential 2012 presidential candidates who went down to Georgia over the past two days.
With just hours before voters head to the polls in the contentious runoff for governor between Karen Handel and Nathan Deal, both Republicans were pulling out the star power to energize their supporters and sway key undecided voters.
With just hours before voters head to the polls in the contentious runoff for governor between Karen Handel and Nathan Deal, both Republicans were pulling out the star power to energize their supporters and sway key undecided voters.
And as Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee swooped in, their shots were targeted at the party’s conservative wing, each arguing their chosen candidate would best represent the party’s anti-abortion position.
Palin lent her celebrity to Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, on Monday in a noon appearance in Atlanta that reportedly drew about 3,000 people.
The former Alaska governor took issue with those who had criticized her endorsement of Handel. Deal and John Oxendine, the state insurance commissioner who didn’t advance to the runoff, had both criticized Handel’s support for abortion rights in cases of rape or incest.
“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.”
“They’ll find some buddies in the media who will hook up with them, and then you never know, they may just make things up about you,” Palin added.
Palin also alluded to pro-life groups in the state that had criticized her endorsement of Handel — most notably Georgia Right to Life. The anti-abortion group launched robocalls against Handel just before the July 20 primary and continued to question her position on in-vitro fertilization.
Much of Palin’s fire toward the group was based on a statement that GRTL Executive Director Melanie Crozier made to POLITICO that suggested Handel would support aborting a fetus with a developmental disorder like that of Palin’s son, Trig.
“[Palin] has a son with Down syndrome, and under Karen Handel’s laws, Handel would have felt like it was OK to go in and abort that child,” Crozier told POLITICO. “But when you look at Sarah Palin’s pattern — going out, finding mainly women candidates that were in the lead and endorsing them, that’s not really a surprise. She saw Handel had a decent lead, so I think she sort of jumped on the bandwagon.”
“Unfortunately, a few – maybe one of these organizations, kind of crossed a line, using my baby Trig in a pretty disgusting, certainly unnecessary attack on your candidate,” Palin said. “Despite what they’re throwing at her, Karen is proudly pro-life.”
Just the day before Palin’s drop-in, however, Huckabee appeared in Georgia on behalf of Deal, a stopover during which he repeatedly championed GRTL’s endorsement and, without mentioning Handel, suggested she was not fully anti-abortion.
“I have found them to be people who are principled, not political,” Huckabee said of Georgia Right to Life. “It’s not so much about which way the wind happens to be blowing — what they want to know is, do you truly stand for the sanctity of every human life?”
“In part of my great respect for the Georgia Right to Life, I know this — they wouldn’t be behind Congressman Deal for governor if they didn’t know what I know — to be true. That he did not simply find his political voice on life simply to run for this office because his voice comes from within.”
Huckabee also reminded voters of his 2008 win during the party’s presidential primary, and joked, “I sure wish the rest of the country had been as smart as Georgia had been back then.”
“I cannot help but believe that the same Georgia that was smart enough to give me their confidence wouldn’t be smart enough to make sure their next governor is named Nathan Deal,” said Huckabee.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40843.html
Palin lent her celebrity to Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, on Monday in a noon appearance in Atlanta that reportedly drew about 3,000 people.
The former Alaska governor took issue with those who had criticized her endorsement of Handel. Deal and John Oxendine, the state insurance commissioner who didn’t advance to the runoff, had both criticized Handel’s support for abortion rights in cases of rape or incest.
“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.”
“They’ll find some buddies in the media who will hook up with them, and then you never know, they may just make things up about you,” Palin added.
Palin also alluded to pro-life groups in the state that had criticized her endorsement of Handel — most notably Georgia Right to Life. The anti-abortion group launched robocalls against Handel just before the July 20 primary and continued to question her position on in-vitro fertilization.
Much of Palin’s fire toward the group was based on a statement that GRTL Executive Director Melanie Crozier made to POLITICO that suggested Handel would support aborting a fetus with a developmental disorder like that of Palin’s son, Trig.
“[Palin] has a son with Down syndrome, and under Karen Handel’s laws, Handel would have felt like it was OK to go in and abort that child,” Crozier told POLITICO. “But when you look at Sarah Palin’s pattern — going out, finding mainly women candidates that were in the lead and endorsing them, that’s not really a surprise. She saw Handel had a decent lead, so I think she sort of jumped on the bandwagon.”
“Unfortunately, a few – maybe one of these organizations, kind of crossed a line, using my baby Trig in a pretty disgusting, certainly unnecessary attack on your candidate,” Palin said. “Despite what they’re throwing at her, Karen is proudly pro-life.”
Just the day before Palin’s drop-in, however, Huckabee appeared in Georgia on behalf of Deal, a stopover during which he repeatedly championed GRTL’s endorsement and, without mentioning Handel, suggested she was not fully anti-abortion.
“I have found them to be people who are principled, not political,” Huckabee said of Georgia Right to Life. “It’s not so much about which way the wind happens to be blowing — what they want to know is, do you truly stand for the sanctity of every human life?”
“In part of my great respect for the Georgia Right to Life, I know this — they wouldn’t be behind Congressman Deal for governor if they didn’t know what I know — to be true. That he did not simply find his political voice on life simply to run for this office because his voice comes from within.”
Huckabee also reminded voters of his 2008 win during the party’s presidential primary, and joked, “I sure wish the rest of the country had been as smart as Georgia had been back then.”
“I cannot help but believe that the same Georgia that was smart enough to give me their confidence wouldn’t be smart enough to make sure their next governor is named Nathan Deal,” said Huckabee.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40843.html