E-mail in response to this post:
Rich,
I saw you ran the below post on our election, which I presume reflects Bolger’s thinking rather than your own. [ME: Actually, I didn’t talk to Bolger] Either way, whoever spun out the theory that our win resulted from decisions made by people and groups in Washington is, frankly, delusional. Consider:
– Cagle outraised Reed financially by a wide margin in Georgia
– Outside groups accounted for less than 5% of total spending in the race, and the ONLY group that spent more than 50k were the GA Realtors, who supported Cagle for reasons that had nothing to do with Ralph
– Almost 400 elected officials in the state endorsed Cagle, about a dozen endorsed Reed
– Virtually every business association in the state was behind Cagle from day one
– Cagle won numerous counties that are hundreds of miles away from the AJC’s circulation area and any market where anyone was on TV
I could go on, but the basic point is that it’s just silly — but unfortunately typical — to think events that occured mostly in Washington determined the outcome of a Lt. Governor’s race in Georgia. If nothing else, though, at least the theory will give the junior RNC staffers and wanna-be political hacks at Tortilla Coast something to talk about, right?
ME: I have no personal knowledge of this race, so I just pass along for what it’s worth (although I will say a major point of that prior Cagle-Reed post was that the Abramoff thing was a huge, huge deal, which this e-mail doesn’t address).
UPDATE:
E-mail:
Rich – you wrote:
“…(although I will say a major point of that prior Cagle-Reed post was that the Abramoff thing was a huge, huge deal, which this e-mail doesn’t address).”
As a GA Republican primary voter, I would say the Abramoff thing WAS an issue, but only at the margins for those (relatively) few people who didn’t know who to support. An issue both your Reed and Cagle sources fail to mention is the general “ick” factor associated with Reed by many in GA (see Noonan’s WSJ article today). Those who supported Reed felt (to use Noonan’s characterization) he was a solid Christian who was getting into politics; I believe that those who didn’t support Reed made that decision, in large part, because they thought he was interested in power who used the religious lobby to get that power.
Another e-mail:
Rich,
I am a political junkie on all levels, national, state, and local. I am also a big Spruiell fan, (he even quoted an email of mine on his blog the other day) and media watcher. The Cagle/Reed race made national headlines due to the apparent ramifications of the Abramoff connection. I can state unequivocally that this is purely wishful thinking on the part of the MSM. The reason the emailer in your Corner post didn’t address it is because its impact in the race is basically a fabrication by Democratic hopefuls and it fits the media’s template surrounding Abramoff. Personally, I believe we will see the same non-effect in November. Representative races are local candidates with local issues, fundraising, advertising, etc. Your emailer’s correspondence is accurate and complete, even leaving out discussion of Abramoff’s impact.
Frankly, Rich, no one in Georgia gave a damn.