Common Sense Prevails (redux)

At its February voting session, the Athens-Clarke County Commission is slated to adopt an amendment to the Unified Government’s prohibition on the possession of otherwise legal firearms in the county’s parks. The section of the ordinance, which is 1-10-4(a), reading “possession of firearms” (subparagraph 3) will be deleted and reserved, while one prohibiting the “discharge of firearms” (subparagraph 17) will be added.

My thanks to them for opting not to defend the local ordinance in the courts, which would have been a futile gesture to be sure. Those interested can see the background material on the agenda item here.

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Clarke County GOP Campaign HQ Now Open

The campaign headquarters for the Clarke County Republican Party, located at 445 North Mileage Avenue, is now open. The office will be staffed from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays through the Georgia presidential preference primary to be held on 05 February. The office will temporarily close and then reopen closer to the general primary to be held on 15 July. The phone number is (706) 546-4280.

Drop by to sign up as a volunteer, to pick up campaign materials for your GOP candidate of choice, or just to say “Hi.”

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Huckabee/Colbert ‘08

I don’t really have anything to say about Governor Huckabee’s appearance on Colbert Report last night, though I read that it was mostly a comedic affair (unsurprisingly).

I had intended to watch the show but did not even make it through Mythbusters. From what I can gather, this image is from late last year.

For those who do not know, the proposed Huckabee/Colbert ticket is a running gag spanning the Governor’s various appearances on the show.

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Granite State GOP Results

Just a brief comment on the New Hampshire Republican primary. As expected, the fight for first place was between John McCain and Mitt Romney, with the former emerging victorious by a five point margin. Mike Huckabee, who spent not nearly as much time or money in the state as did either McCain or Romney, placed a respectable third. According to FOX News, Huckabee leads in terms of pledged delegates (as does Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side). The elephants head on to Michigan next week, with a brief stop in Myrtle Beach for a debate on Thursday evening.

Of note is Huckabee’s support for ending birthright citizenship and the accompanying problem of “anchor babies.” The practice may have made sense earlier in the country's history, but in the era of the welfare state and the war on terror, it most certainly does not.

I think that the illegal immigration issue can be a good one for the GOP. Although many try to demagogue the issue by portraying Republicans as opposing immigration generally, the charge falls flat. Taking the liberty of speaking for most of my fellow party members, we are not opposed to legal immigration (hardly), but are strongly opposed to illegal immigration and even more so to the rewarding thereof. Huckabee is not entirely off of the reservation here; in fairness, Ron Paul has wanted to do away with birthright citizenship for years.

Yes, I know that Huckabee’s support of merit-based scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants in Arkansas has left him open to charges of being soft on immigration issues. Consider a couple of things, though. According to the doctrine of birthright citizenship at the federal level, about which a governor can do nothing, many of those children may have been United States citizens anyway. Also, Huckabee plays against the evil GOP stereotype by saying that we should not punish children for the sins of their parents.

And yes, I saw the Governor on Letterman. The appearance struck me as being more serious in tone that the one on Leno. I thought that Letterman actually conducted a reasonably substantive interview.

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Impertinent Observations

I haven’t done an IO post for a while, so here are a couple of nuggets for your consideration.

Congratulations to Mitt Romney for winning the Republican caucuses/county conventions in Wyoming and picking up 8 of 12 available delegates . Fred Thompson scored 3 delegates and Duncan Hunter got the remaining one. While it is true that Wyoming is a small state in terms of delegates, every one that you rack up is one that your opponents do not.

Also, Ben Evans of the Associated Press reports that Georgia was the fifth fastest growing state in terms of population from July 2006 to July 2007. The speculation is that the Peach State will add a 14th representative to its congressional delegation after the 2010 census, as political power continues to shift toward the South and West and away from the Northeast and Great Lakes areas (possibly, but not necessarily, benefiting the GOP).

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Huckabee Wins Surprisingly Big

I'm listening to Mike Huckabee talk about his victory on FOX News even as I write this. The Governor won the Iowa Republican caucuses by a surprisingly large margin and, in doing so, he overcame the substantial organizational and financial advantages held by Mitt Romney.

While I am happy that Huckabee did so well, I think that the importance of the Iowa caucuses is overrated; the state’s record in picking the eventual Democratic and Republican nominees, much less the eventual general election winner, is not so good. But, a win is a win and I am sure that Huckabee will take any win that he can get (as will Barack Obama, for that matter).

Even so, I think that the Republican vote is more representative. This is because the GOP caucuses operate more like a traditional American election, specifically in that they employ secret ballots and every vote counts, regardless of a candidate’s percentage of the total vote. On the Democratic side, the ballots are not secret and the voting procedures employ two rounds, with the candidates having to meet a percentage threshold in order for their voters to count.

I fully expect to get inundated with even more of those anti-Huckabee email messages now, particularly from Ron Paul supporters (but that is okay). And yes, I saw Huckabee’s appearance on Leno.

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Common Sense Prevails

This just in from the fine folks over at Georgia Carry: Superior Court Judge Steve Jones temporarily enjoined the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County from enforcing its ban on the otherwise legal possession of firearms in local parks. His consent order notes that the ban is preempted by O.C.G.A., citing the recent Coweta County case. You can read the Superior Court consent order for yourselves here.

The Commission will consider repealing the ordinance at its February voting session. Frankly, I am somewhat surprised, and gratified, that the Unified Government saw the handwriting on the wall and choose not to fight the issue out in court to the bitter end.

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Presidential Primary & Caucus Calendar

The Iowa caucuses are this evening. So, what happens next you ask? The answer continues the calendric theme from yesterday. After consulting many sources that often conflicted, I settled on these dates for the various states’ presidential preference primaries and caucuses. They were compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures from “state election officials, state parties, selected press coverage, and The Green Papers."

Note that the process varies by state and that the two parties do not necessarily hold their events on the same dates:

03 January
Iowa (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)

05 January
Wyoming (Republican county conventions)

08 January
New Hampshire (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

15 January
Michigan (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

19 January
Nevada (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)
South Carolina (Republican primary)

25 January – 07 February
Hawaii (Republican caucuses)

29 January
Florida (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
South Carolina (Democratic primary)

01 February – 03 February
Maine (Republican caucuses)

05 February
Alabama (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Alaska (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)
Arizona (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Arkansas (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
California (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Colorado (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)
Connecticut (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Delaware (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Georgia (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Idaho (Democratic caucuses)
Illinois (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Kansas (Democratic caucuses)
Minnesota (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)
Missouri (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Montana (Republican caucuses)
New Jersey (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
New Mexico (Democratic primary)
New York (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
North Dakota (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)
Oklahoma (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Tennessee (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Utah (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
West Virginia (Republican state convention)

09 February
Kansas (Republican caucuses)
Louisiana (Democratic primary, Republican caucuses)
Nebraska (Democratic caucuses)
Washington (Democratic caucuses, Republican caucuses)

10 February
Maine (Democratic caucuses)

12 February
District of Columbia (Democratic caucuses, Republican primary)
Maryland (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Virginia (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

19 February
Hawaii (Democratic caucuses)
Wisconsin (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

04 March
Massachusetts (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Rhode Island (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Ohio (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Texas (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Vermont (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

08 March
Wyoming (Democratic caucuses)

11 March
Mississippi (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

22 April
Pennsylvania (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

06 May
Indiana (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
North Carolina (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

13 May
Nebraska (Republican primary [advisory only])
West Virginia (Democratic primary)

20 May
Kentucky (Democratic primary, Republican primary)
Oregon (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

27 May
Idaho (Democratic primary [non-binding], Republican primary)

03 June
Montana (Democratic primary)
New Mexico (Republican primary)
South Dakota (Democratic primary, Republican primary)

28 June
Nebraska (Republican state convention)

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Just What Happens At The Iowa Caucuses?

If you are like me, you may be wondering how the Iowa caucuses work, along with their various purposes, history, etc. For that information and a primer on the procedures employed for both the Republican (straw poll) and the Democratic (preference group) approaches, scroll down to the Caucus Q & A section from the online Cedar Rapids Gazette.

If that whets your appetite for more, see the respective web pages of the State of Iowa, the Republican Party of Iowa, and the Iowa Democratic Party. Enjoy!

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2008 Georgia GOP Calendar

It is finally 2008, so let's jump in to the political fray with both feet. The following information as to dates and deadlines was taken from the web sites of the Georgia Republican Party and the Georgia Secretary of State:

07 January
Registration deadline to vote in presidential preference primary

28 January-01 February
Advance voting for presidential preference primary

05 February
Presidential preference primary

16 February
Republican precinct mass meetings (counties over 80,000)

15 March
Republican precinct mass meetings (counties 80,000 and under)
Republican county conventions

19 April
Republican district conventions

16-17 May
Republican state convention (Columbus)

16 June
Registration deadline to vote in general primary

07-11 July
Advance voting for general primary

15 July
General primary

28 July-01 August
Advance voting for general primary runoff

05 August
General primary runoff

01-04 September
Republican national convention (Minneapolis-Saint Paul)

06 October
Registration deadline to vote in general election

27-31 October
Advance voting for general election

04 November
General election

24-28 November
Advance voting for general election runoff

02 December
General election runoff

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