Some more great news courtesy of PPP:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/...
A poll by the left-of-center Public Policy Polling firm of North Carolina gives U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah the edge over businessman David Perdue in next week’s closely-watched GOP Senate runoff.
The automated survey, commissioned by Better Georgia, has Kingston with 47 percent among Republican voters and Perdue trailing with 41 percent. The remainder are undecided.
The poll involved a July 9-12 survey of 516 Republicans who said they would “definitely” cast ballots in the July 22 primary runoff. You can find the crosstabs here, but the poll also found that almost half of the respondents describe themselves as “very conservative.”
PPP also did a separate poll of 664 Georgia voters that found Kingston trailed Democrat Michelle Nunn in the Senate contest 44 percent to 41 percent, and Perdue behind her by a slightly larger margin: 48 percent to 41 percent. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/14/14
The poll has found Jason Carter (D. GA) in statistical tie with Governor Nathan Deal (R. GA), with Deal leading 41-40. This is great news indeed, especially with Perdue and Kingston currently duking it out:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/...
With just over a week to go until the runoff, the two candidates in the Republican Senate primary in Georgia are sharpening their attacks on each other.
Rep. Jack Kingston and businessman David Perdue fired away at each other as Sunday night's one and only televised debate between the two candidates turned into a testy affair. The winner of the July 22 runoff will face off against Democrat Michelle Nunn in November's general election.
Perdue, a former CEO of Dollar General and Reebok, repeatedly blasted the 11-term congressman as being part of the problem in Washington.
"This is a problem when you have an out of touch Congress, led by a career politician whose first priority is to get re-elected. This is a travesty," said Perdue, adding that "right now we are spending a third of what we should be spending as a country on all of our infrastructure. And because of that we're becoming less and less competitive around the world. On this congressman's watch over the last 22 years, we have lost our competitive edge against many parts of the world. And it's time to change that."
Kingston touted his commitment to his constituents in his coastal Georgia district and fired back at Perdue.
"Let me talk to you about being out of touch. I've come home every single weekend. I've had open mike town meetings. I work with people who disagree with me. David, you whole lifestyle is based in a different way. Now you have done well for yourself. But you live in a gated community, inside a gated community and have a gate at your house. How are you going to work with John Q. Public when they come up to you and have questions? I think being part of a public servant is being public and being a servant. Knowing who you're working for and being accessible to them is extremely important," Kingston said. - CNN, 7/14/14
Yep, it's pretty ironic that Kingston is hitting Perdue for being a rich guy. Of course Perdue is trying to make the argument that him being a Washington outsider is a good thing:
http://www.ajc.com/...
Voters in the GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate could be forgiven for wondering where Mr. Outsider appears on their ballots. David Perdue has made “outsider” such a part of his campaign brand it seems like it should be at least his middle name.
“I’ve never been in politics,” was the way the career businessman opened his remarks to about 50 people at the Sun City Peachtree retirement community near Griffin last Thursday. Then, noting how long lawmakers stay in office despite the low approval ratings for Congress, he asked them, “Why do we keep sending ‘em back, y’all?”
That message resonated with his audience Thursday, and it led Perdue to a first-place showing in last month’s primary, though he was well short of avoiding a July 22 runoff with U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston. But while riding to an evening fundraiser in Stockbridge -- in an RV emblazoned with his name and half a dozen uses of the O-word -- I asked why Perdue would be any more successful than those who have come before him promoting such ideas as tax reform, regulatory restraint and term limits.
“I think the difference is that I bring more of a business perspective to a Senate that has only about 10 people who have any free-enterprise experience,” he said. “And, I’m not really trying to get re-elected. I think that’s the difference.
“I have a mission. My life was fine, but I saw a need and I’ve stepped in to try to help because I think I can make a difference. I think that puts me in a unique position vis-à-vis career politicians who really are just trying to get re-elected: They go along to get along, and really kowtow to the powers-that-be. I’m talking about the money people.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/14/14
But his business record may be what's hurting him with GOP voters:
http://www.usnews.com/...
After a stint with apparel company, Haggar Inc., Perdue moved to Reebok International in 1998 as a senior vice president. Within three years he had worked his way up to CEO of Reebok Brand. Financial analysts credited Perdue with helping revive the footwear company and improve its finances.
By July 2002, Perdue's success made him an attractive candidate to lead Pillowtex Corp, a North Carolina-based textile company that had just come out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But instead of turning around, the company lost $27 million in seven months after emerging from bankruptcy protection. Pillowtex would end up closing four months after Perdue left. Some 7,650 people lost their jobs across the country, and the closing marked North Carolina's largest single job loss at the time.
"While Mr. Perdue spent four successful years at Reebok before Pillowtex and has an extensive background in consumer products and consulting, his eight months at Pillowtex were marked by a further deterioration in (financial) fundamentals and a plummeting stock," financial analyst Patrick McKeever told The Tennessean in April 2003.
Perdue has called what happened at Pillowtex tragic.
"My parents raised me to be the kind of leader that runs toward the burning building to try to help instead of running away from it and sitting on the curb and criticizing those that are trying to make a difference," Perdue said.
Michael R. Harmon, who served as Pillowtex's chief financial officer with Perdue, said a pension liability of at least $50 million didn't surface until after Perdue came to the company. Once Perdue and Harmon told the banks who owned Pillowtex about the pension fund problems, the banks decided to sell, Harmon said.
"That was definitely not what David signed up for," said Harmon. "He was brought in to grow the company, to turn it around, and he had a pretty good track record of that at Reebok. And the circumstances were just totally different from what he was told by the board and the bank."
Joining Dollar General as its CEO in April 2003 allowed Purdue to put Pillowtex behind him, and his time leading the company has served as the cornerstone of his bid for Georgia's open U.S. Senate seat. Within a year of Perdue's arrival, the company's stock price doubled. Sales rose, new stores opened and concerns over an SEC investigation eased. The board of directors extended his contract.
But in late 2006, challenges surfaced. Rising gas prices cut into customers' spending. Profits declined and stock prices dropped. Rumors of a buyout swirled, and the company announced plans to close 400 stores. A private equity firm purchased Dollar General in 2007 and assumed its debts in a $7.65 billion deal.
Perdue stepped down. While the company had grown under his leadership to about 8,200 stores with $8.5 billion in sales, some financial analysts and stockholders had complained of an aggressive growth strategy that ignored inventory problems and hurt the bottom line.
Perdue left Dollar General as a multimillionaire. Federal tax returns show he received nearly $42 million in income between 2007 and 2008.
But his wealth has also become a campaign issue. He's poured $3.1 million of his own money into the race, which has helped him keep pace with Kingston, but he's also been portrayed as an "out-of-touch elitist."
"My friend is telling everyone 'I can fix the problems in Washington,' yet as CEO of Pillowtex, he bankrupted the company and received a million dollars on the way out," said Kingston, 59, referring to Perdue during a debate before the primary. - U.S. News, 7/12/14
While the GOP dukes it out, lets help Nunn and Carter get ready for November. Click here to donate and get involved with their campaigns:
http://www.michellenunn.com/
https://carterforgovernor.com/
UPDATE: Here's some messed up news regarding Deal:
http://www.ajc.com/...
The head of the state ethics commission said she was threatened and pressured by Gov. Nathan Deal’s office in 2012 to “make the complaints” against the governor “go away,” according to a memo obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
While on vacation in July 2012, state ethics commission director Holly LaBerge says she received a call from Ryan Teague, Deal chief counsel, and texts from chief of staff Chris Riley.
LaBerge claims Teague said, “It was not in the agency’s best interest for these cases to go to a hearing … nor was it in their best political interest either.”
Days later, the commission voted during a public hearing to dismiss the major complaints against Deal, who agreed to pay $3,350 in fees for technical defects to his campaign disclosures. The complaints included claims Deal improperly paid for use of a private aircraft for campaign travel and questioned his use of campaign funds to pay legal fees during his 2010 campaign.
LaBerge’s allegations, made in a memo obtained through an open records request, represent the first time she has claimed top aides to Deal personally pressured her to quietly settle the cases against the governor and to avoid a public hearing. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/14/14