Blog Topic: Raging Election

In the Loop: Top Dem Tells Oconee Activists to Focus on Turnout

By Lee Becker | September 19, 2016 11:44am

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) gave a rousing calls to action to a gathering of Oconee County Democrats on Sunday afternoon, telling them to get people of all races registered and to get people of all races out to vote starting next month.

“Georgia is already blue,” Abrams said at the outset.

“There are already enough of us,” according to Abrams. “There are enough Democrats in Georgia to win every election from now on.”

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In the Loop: Georgia Group Launches Ad Aimed at Stopping 'State School Takeover'

By Blake Aued | September 13, 2016 1:51pm

A Georgia group has launched its first TV ad educating voters about a November education referendum’s ballot language, which it calls “deceptive.”

Amendment 1, also known as the Opportunity School District, is an initiative championed by Gov. Nathan Deal that would allow the governor's appointee to take over public schools it deems to be “failing.” Critics say the plan is unworkable and would siphon money and power away from locally run public schools—perhaps to private corporations.

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In the Loop: Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein Probably Won't Be on the Ballot in Georgia

By Blake Aued | August 17, 2016 12:32pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file

Jill Stein speaks at UGA in June.

Sorry, Berners: Looks like it’s Hillary or bust.

Even though a recent court ruling drastically lowered the number of signatures required to get on the ballot in Georgia, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s campaign failed to gather enough by the deadline, Secretary of State Brian Kemp said Tuesday.

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In the Loop: Drive-By Truckers Urge Democratic Party Unity

By Blake Aued | July 27, 2016 12:50pm

Photo Credit: Screenshot via MSNBC

MSNBC’s Kate Snow interviewed Athens-based band the Drive-By Truckers Tuesday afternoon at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Co-frontman Patterson Hood addressed party unity, saying that he’s now backing the party’s nominee, Hillary Clinton, after supporting Bernie Sanders initially.

“It’s what needs to happen. The stakes are too high right now to sit around and cry because our first choice didn’t get to go on the way. I’m definitely totally on board” with Hillary Clinton, Hood said.

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In the Loop: Athens Sen. Bill Cowsert Is Voting for Trump

By Blake Aued | July 18, 2016 2:02pm

State Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens).

Early on in the Republican primary, state Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president.

Kasich—spoiler alert!—didn't win. Now, Cowsert, who is a delegate to the GOP national convention, is falling in line behind presumptive nominee Donald Trump.

Cowsert writes an occasional syndicated column, and in the latest installment, he lets it be know that efforts to deny Trump the nomination are doomed to failure.

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In the Loop: Everything You Need to Know About Mike Pence

By Blake Aued | July 15, 2016 11:51am

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Who is Mike Pence?

Indiana’s Republican governor and former congressman will be Donald Trump’s running mate, the Trump campaign confirmed this morning.

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In the Loop: Doug Collins Can't Stop Throwing Shade at Paul Broun

By Blake Aued | May 25, 2016 11:15am

U.S. Rep. Doug "Mic Drop" Collins (R-Gainesville).

Incumbent 9th District congressman Doug Collins trounced former Rep. Paul Broun in yesterday's Republican primary—a race in which Collins did not hesitate to throw Broun'stroubled ethical past in his face, while Broun labeled Collins an establishment lackey.

Well, Collins was not exactly magnanimous in defeat. Here's the victory statement issued by his campaign last night (emphasis mine):

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In the Loop: Collins, Knox, Meadow Win Athens Elections

By Blake Aued | May 24, 2016 11:19pm

Photo Credit: Joshua Jones

John Knox speaks to supporters at the Morton Theatre, where his former students in the band Dank performed, after winning a Clarke County Board of Education seat.

Paul Broun, the controversial former congressman from Athens, failed in his bid to return to Washington tonight, losing in the Republican primary to incumbent Rep. Doug Collins of Gainesville.

Collins received 61 percent of the vote in the 9th District, which runs from the northern edge of Athens through the Northeast Georgia mountains. Broun won 22 percent in the five-man race.

UGA geography professor John Knox edged out lawyer Kamau Hull in a much-watched nonpartisan Board of Education race. Knox received 431 votes (52 percent) to Hull's 394 in the Eastside district.

Toni Meadow—incumbent Mitch Schrader's hand-picked successor—easily won the tax commissioner's race against Dave Hudgins, 62–38, in the Democratic primary.

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In the Loop: Openness Is an Issue in Oconee Races

By Lee Becker | May 17, 2016 1:17pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

Oconee County Commission Chairman said the idea of building a sewer line for a poultry plant was merely hypothetical, but a poultry company has in fact expressed interest in locating in Oconee.

The two candidates running as outsiders in the Oconee County Board of Commissioners contest have made transparency and openness in government a key issue.

At the last Board of Commissioners meeting on May 3, Commission Chairman Melvin Davis gave them the perfect illustration of the problem they are addressing.

With the other three commissioners sitting by, Davis told what is certainly a fabrication to a citizen who also made a misstatement about a poultry processing plant.

Davis told Barb Carroll that references to a poultry plant were just an “example” and that nothing concrete has come before the county.

That clearly is incorrect, as Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie told the county's Industrial Development Authority in April, with Davis present, that the county was in discussions with a poultry concern.

Haynie said the same thing to the Board of Commissioners on several occasions, starting as early as Jan. 26.

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In the Loop: Athens for Everyone Endorses John Knox for BOE

By Blake Aued | May 16, 2016 3:05pm

Athens for Everyone—the progressive group that grew out of Tim Denson's 2014 mayoral campaign—has endorsed UGA geography professor John Knox for District 8 on the Clarke County Board of Education.

Knox is running against Kamau Hull, a local attorney, for the vacant seat representing the Eastside. Hull apparently impressed A4E as well, but they're siding with Knox nonetheless.

Here's the full text of the endorsement:

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