Johnny Isakson COS leaving team.

AJC is reporting    the Senator's  "got to" guy is   bailing.

Ths reinforces the commonly held belief that the senator is not running for reelection.   No doubts that  3 of the losing 2014 Senate candidates and probably  Tom Price will  bring the crazy in 2016.   

To be blunt  one of the the  rumored candidates for  governor  in 2018   ought to  think seriously about that  opportunity  particularly with Hillary  Clinton   atop the ticket.

Just saying.

News Item of the Day

News item of the day

Voter suppression made felony in N.H.

Voter suppression -- purposefully preventing a specific group of people from voting -- is now a class B felony in New Hampshire, after a bill proposed by state Rep. David Pierce, D-Grafton, became law this spring. The issue of voter suppression has been closely tied to residents' efforts to prevent out-of-state college students from voting in New Hampshire.

Pierce, speaking at the College Democrats' first meeting this term, said that he proposed the legislation in response to reports that conservative groups hoped to dampen youth voter turnout and therefore damage Democrats' prospects.

22% Turnout leads to sucessful recall of Democratic Senate President!

Some times  there are no adequate words:

"Colorado voters ousted two Democratic lawmakers, including the state senate president, in a historic recall vote on Tuesday over their support for tougher gun control laws, handing a major victory to gun rights supporters."

Anyone who things the Tea Party and   NRA Crowd have waning influence  need to look over their shoulder. 

The capacity of Democrats to not step up  to these  Bullies by getting  off their butts and  getting to the polls  to stop them  just amazes  me. Turnout  was  21.5%.  and most of the $3.1M spent was  by the  Democrat.

Update:  It would appear that  there was some  level of  voter supression as well.   and yes  it was probably enough to make a difference simce the  incumbent  lost by less than  2% of the total vote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/colorado-recall-voting_n_3897481.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Candidates Needed... Now.

Apart from Connie Stokes and  and maybe   Alisha Morgan   there is very little buzz these days   about  people  throwing their hats in the Ring  for  Statewide constitutional office.   No one for Attorney General and no one for   Secretary of State.  The clock is ticking.  It is  ticking  very fast.   This strikes me  as  at once depressing and  foolish.

Depressing that  Democrats  do not have much of an immediate bench and  foolish because  you just know that  the GOP is going to  be  falling all over itself  to  push  more onerous   requirements for  getting to cast a ballot,. 
There is palpable anger and energy in the  African American Community over  the eviscerating of  Section 5  of the VRA and what has happened in  Texas and North Carolina in recent  weeks.  Nothing gets out the vote  like laws which  threaten all the hard work that's been done  over the last 50 years, let alone the last 150 years.

Due respect to   Steen Miles  and Dr. Rad,   Michelle Nunn is  our probable nominee for Senate.   It's a winnable seat given  the GOP field.  But lacking  a solid  field operation  and  a lack of a substantial  and diverse  slate it is  going to be far more difficult to get ot our vote..
I get the rationale  for waiting  until 2018.  Mayor Reed, Leader Abrams, Senator Carter, Representative Holcomb.  Columbus Mayor Tomlinson,  DeKalb DA Robert James all are content to wait  four years. Some are passing things up now  because  they   are not interested,  but the big thing is ( and I have talked to most everyone I mention) there is a real sentiment that we lack the capacity to Get out the Vote  and the prospect  of having to build their own statewide field organization since none  exists is the biggest problem they see and  without  putting  to much of  a point on it  they look at the DPG  and they shake their head. 

Other than the  Senate race   and maybe  School Superintendant,  we need to be realistic 2014.   But  if we want to be a player in 2016  in the race for the White House  we have to get our act together as a state party to look  credible to  statewide candidates, High Dollar Donors,  The Clinton  Campaign and the  DNC.

The sad part about this is that  we are going to repeat this process in 2016  since  there is a strong chance that  Senator Isakson will not be running.. 

We can talk about Unity and the need for  money until  we are blue in the face.  what we need is organizational  and operational  credibility  as soon as humanly possible. Sometimes I thing  we do more to suppress our own vote than the GOP  could  ever hope to achieve.

I get the rationale  for waiting  until 2018.  Mayor Reed, Leader Abrams, Senator Carter, Representative Holcomb.  Columbus Mayor Tomlinson,  DeKalb DA Robert James all are content to wait  four years. Some are passing things up now  because  they   are not interested,  but the big thing is ( and I have talked to most everyone I mention) there is a real sentiment that we lack the capacity to Get out the Vote  and the prospect  of having to build their own statewide field organization since none  exists is the biggest problem they see and  without  putting  to much of  a point on it  they look at the DPG  and they shake their head. 

Other than the  Senate race   and maybe  School Superintendant,  we need to be realistic 2014.   But  if we want to be a player in 2016  in the race for the White House  we have to get our act together as a state party to look  credible to  statewide candidates, High Dollar Donors,  The Clinton  Campaign and the  DNC.

The sad part about this is that  we are going to repeat this process in 2016 since  there is a strong chance that  Senator Isakson will not be running. 

We can talk about Unity and the need for  money until  we are blue in the face.  what we need is organizational  and operational  credibility  as soon as humanly possible. Sometimes I thing  we do more to suppress our own vote than the GOP  could  ever hope to achieve.

State Representative  Scott Holcomb on CNN today discussing Syria.

Welcome to the Bleeding Blue Blog

Welcome to my Blog.

I have been contemplating this for over a year.  I have been posting on Facebook for a number of years and believe it has in some respects become a bit of an Online Ghetto.

 My agenda is simple:  I support a Democratic Renaissance in Georgia.  Period/

I am highly partisan, but not ideological.  That is to say I am not likely to choose sides in our regular skirmishes between progressives and “less" progressives.  I am too pragmatic to let that overshadow our ability to win wherever we can.  

I will be commenting regularly about four issues very dear to me.

• Party Reform
• Party Unity
• Winning elections
• Voter Suppression 

Our ability to win election rises and falls on these issues.

I will never shrink for challenging authority when I think they are making mistakes, but I am also keenly aware that existing solely to “curmudge” has limited viability.  

I have an institutional bearing I want my Party to be successful and will speak my mind when I think we get off track.  Our party has suffered because of rivalries and jealousies and internecine warfare which had at its goal personal destruction.   I have a low threshold for tolerating folks who lack the courage to post with their name on what they write or choose to traffic in innuendo and hackery while hiding behind pseudonyms.  I will not suffer cowards.

Everything I say will have my name on it. And I will always be respectful of others. If I am critical of a party leader or an elected official  I am going to make sure I have  my facts  straight and  my opinions  well reasoned and fair.

I have a predisposition to those have the ability to think in three dimensions rather than just one. So I will be adding a Blog Roll and inviting guest bloggers and giving a select few the ability to offer original material.  At the same time, this space is  going to be  a place  where all Georgia Democrats will feel  welcome and not despised for having a contrary view  to my own  or those  who blog along side.

If I fall away from these principles I want to be called on it.