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A new CNN/ORC Poll is the latest in a long line of polls to show Democrat Michelle Nunn leading David Perdue in the Georgia Senate race. More importantly, the CNN poll shows that Nunn would win a runoff between the two candidates. CNN reported, “Democrat Michelle Nunn has a slight 47%-44% edge over Republican David Perdue in the Georgia race for an open Senate seat, according to a new CNN/ORC International survey released Friday…Libertarian candidate Amanda Swafford is pulling 5% of the vote in Georgia, keeping Nunn and Perdue from reaching the 50% threshold….In a hypothetical runoff, Nunn still holds...

President George H.W. Bush is displeased that Georgia Democrat Michelle Nunn is using his picture in ads for her Senate campaign. Nunn, who led Bush’s Points of Light Foundation until 2013, is touting her past Bush ties to counter claims by her Republican opponent, David Perdue, that Nunn is an Obama follower. In a new campaign ad, “Familiar,” Nunn highlights her former relationship with Bush, showing off a 2009 picture with the former President, as proof that she is able to work with Republicans and Democrats. But George H.W. Bush officially endorsed Perdue in September and is upset that Nunn...

Sam Nunn on Thursday condemned as “shameful” that TV spot from Republican U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue that accuses Michelle Nunn and the foundation for which she worked of giving money to terrorist-linked organizations. “It’s shameful. Particularly when you know that everybody in the opposition campaign knows that that’s not true,” her father, the longtime former U.S senator, said in an hour-long interview. “It’s not like they believe it. There’s too much these days of anything that works, regardless of what lines it crosses.” Michelle Nunn’s father also said his daughter, the Democratic nominee for Senate, has little obligation to...

Businessman David Perdue, coming off his Republican runoff win on Tuesday, holds a six-point lead over Democrat Michelle Nunn in Georgia’s closely-watched U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Georgia Voters finds Perdue with 46% support to Nunn’s 40%. Four percent (4%) like another candidate in the race, and 10% are undecided.(

(Newser) – Businessman David Perdue has won the GOP nomination for a Senate race the party cannot afford to lose. Perdue, former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General, narrowly beat 11-term Rep. Jack Kingston in a runoff election in Georgia to become the party's Senate nominee, reports the New York Times. He will face Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, in a race seen as key to control of the Senate for the last years of President Obama's term. Democrats see Georgia as their best chance of picking up another Senate seat this fall, while Republicans need...

First-time political candidate David Perdue won a surprise victory over favored Rep. Jack Kingston in the Republican runoff for the US Senate nomination in Georgia. Kingston, who had the backing of the US Chamber of Commerce as well as conservatives such as my Salem colleague Erick Erickson, had been leading in almost every poll as the runoff approached. In the end, Perdue’s outsider message may have won the day: Businessman David Perdue stunned Georgia’s Republican political establishment Tuesday by capturing the party’s U.S. Senate nomination in his first run for office.The former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General toppled 11-term...

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel said late Tuesday she will endorse Rep. Jack Kingston’s Senate bid. Handel’s endorsement will come at a Kingston event at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The Savannah Republican hopes that the tea party forces that helped Handel finish third in last week’s runoff could shift their allegiances to his camp. Kingston faces businessman David Perdue, the top vote-getter in the GOP primary, in a July 22 runoff that will be the longest - and likely costliest – in state history. Handel’s endorsement should come as little surprise to close watchers of this rollicking race....

ATLANTA — For all the wrangling between the tea party and establishment conservatives in this midterm election year, key players from both sides are closing ranks behind one candidate in Georgia’s Republican Senate primary runoff. Tea party favorite Karen Handel will announce Wednesday that she’s backing U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston over businessman David Perdue in a July 22 runoff, Kingston’s campaign confirmed to The Associated Press. It comes the same day that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an establishment titan that spent almost $1 million supporting Kingston in the initial primary campaign, announced another statewide ad buy for Kingston. The...

Georgia Republicans won’t have a specific nominee for a couple more months, but the final two contenders are running slightly behind Democrat Michelle Nunn in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the U.S. Senate race in Georgia. A new statewide telephone survey of Likely Georgia Voters finds Nunn leading Congressman Jack Kingston 47% to 41%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, while nine percent (9%) are undecided. In a matchup with businessman David Perdue, Nunn earns 45% support to her GOP rival’s 42%. Seven percent (7%) favor another candidate in this contest, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, one of about a half-dozen Republicans running in the Peach State’s open Senate contest, will hit the airwaves Monday with a new ad that prominently features former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The 30-second ad, which is narrated with audio from the April event where Palin endorsed Handel, will air statewide on cable and broadcast, according to Handel’s campaign. “You know her background, you know her record, the conservative who has walked the walk cutting budgets,” Palin says of Handel in the ad. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Among the other top Republicans in the crowded field are three...

If you and me were running from a bear, I would stop and change my shoes Asked why, I say I don’t have to run faster than the bear, only faster than you. This is the issue for Handel: can she beat the triumvirate and make it to the runoff against Perdue? The three sitting Congressmen have very similar voting records: National Taxpayers Union ratings grouped between 80% and 85%, and Heritage Alliance scores of 93% to 94%, they are grouped better than an expert marksman’s bullseye. They also have war chests, and a sitting Congressman’s built-in advantage in access...

A new poll of registered Georgia Republican primary voters shows businessman David Perdue leading his fellow GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate, with congressman Jack Kingston in second. Perdue gets 29 percent support, according to the Survey USA poll, while Kingston gets 19 percent. Three other candidates are effectively tied for third: congressman Phil Gingrey (12 percent), congressman Paul Broun (11 percent), and former secretary of state Karen Handel (10 percent).

Michelle Nunn’s got a gun problem. The Democratic Senate hopeful in Georgia, one half of the That 70’s Show ticket looking to bring the party back to prominence in the state, seems to have a problem telling voters where she’s at on the Second Amendment. In a weekend interview, she voiced opposition to recently passed Georgia legislation loosening restrictions on carrying firearms in the state, which passed by an overwhelming margin. That in and of itself is unlikely to win any of the rural conservative votes needed to pull off an upset. Then things got dodgy. When asked if she...

If 2014 is a trial run for Georgia Democrats eager to regain statewide relevance, it should also serve as one for Peach State GOPers in the seemingly quixotic quest to win the youth vote. With most assuming he’d pass at least until 2018, state Senator Jason Carter’s defying the conventional wisdom and entering an erstwhile sleepy gubernatorial contest has provided Senate hopeful Michelle Nunn a top-ticket slate and completed awakening for what would’ve been a ho-hum cycle of Peach State politics. Though the odds of one or both first-time statewide candidates succeeding remain long, the time for complacency on the...

Citizens United is endorsing Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) in the crowded Georgia Senate primary. The nod from the conservative group will give the Tea Party favorite a boost — and establishment Republicans new reason to be concerned about the race. Establishment Republicans have publicly fretted about Broun winning the primary, fearing he might not be the party's best candidate in a general election. The congressman regularly refers to President Obama as a socialist and communist, and has said evolution and the big bang theories are lies "from the pit of hell."

Democrats are in danger of getting disappointed in Kentucky, where early poll numbers belie McConnell's big advantages. If people are really buying Wendy Davis and a "blue Texas," Democrats might be doubly disappointed. Where Democrats could end up pleasantly surprised is Georgia. The conditions for an upset might be brewing in the Peach State, where Saxby Chambliss is retiring and Democrats have stealthily become close to competing on a more regular basis. It might even be a better bet for Democrats in 2014 than Kentucky. I was initially skeptical of whether Democrats could compete in Georgia in 2014. So skeptical...

Georgia Republicans are becoming increasingly worried that a divisive primary coupled with a strong Democratic candidate might lead to a loss of the Senate seat of retiring Saxbe Chambliss. The Hill: Recent polling shows the two candidates Republicans are most anxious about - Reps. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and Paul Broun (R-Ga.) - leading the pack. Whoever emerges from the clown-car primary, with seven candidates and counting, will face a candidate Democrats are high on in a state where shifting demographics benefit their party. "Gingrey has a history of making some gaffes, and Broun it seems like it's a gaffe every...

Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, an outspoken conservative who lost his seat more than a decade ago, thinks the time is right for a new run at political office. He announced a campaign for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Phil Gingrey, who’s running for Senate. Roll Call reports that Mr. Barr has already established a campaign team and has reached out to Capitol Hill politicians — including House leadership — for support.

When Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced Friday that he wouldn’t seek a third term in 2014, a race that already was likely to feature a contested Republican primary exploded into a free-for-all. Several Republicans, including several congressmen, are eyeing the seat. The more crowded the field, the more likely the GOP race will pit mainstream conservatives against the hardliners who had grown disenchanted with Chambliss for working with Democrats to find common ground on budget and tax issues. Democrats, meanwhile, hope for exactly that kind of Republican fracas. They view the 69-year-old Chambliss’ decision as an opportunity to reverse the...

Saxby Chambliss, the Republican senator from Georgia, will not seek re-election in 2014, a GOP source said Friday. A conservative voice in the upper chamber since 2002, Chambliss recently drew the ire of some activists to his right who took issue with his support for bipartisan compromise. He was a member of the "Gang of Six," which tried in 2011 to strike a bipartisan deal on reducing the federal debt.