"Handing out the Benjamins..."

Four weeks is good.

Four weeks is long enough.

Mary Norwood was already starting to self-destruct in the last couple of days before the Nov. 3 election for Mayor of Atlanta, but only those who closely follow politics -- and that's not very many people -- have seen it yet.

Now, they will.

Her miracle conversion from someone who literally said she could not remember if she'd ever voted for George W. Bush to a self-professed Obama lover who claims to have voted for Democrats in the last four presidential races is certain to stun her white, Republican power base -- unless, of course, they know better (wink wink) and assume she is lying about that in order to get more black votes.

But don't take my word for it. In fact, don't take my word for anything, ever. Like all the other unedited drivel that bloggers spew across the internet, everything I have to say could be a big, fat lie.

Kyle Wingfield, conservative columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reached much the same conclusion in his excellent analysis, which you can read here.

Wingfield says Norwood has no one but herself to blame for alienating her GOP base.

"But going out of your way to disavow the party of many of your supporters, and likening attendance at it's convention to experimentation with hard drugs?" Wingfield writes, incredulously. "That shows considerably bad political judgment."

Finally. Even conservatives are catching on, although Norwood's "considerably bad political judgment" has been evident for some time now.

The best coverage of the race, by far, can be found each week and online in Creative Loafing and the Sunday Paper -- intown "alternative" papers which are quick to criticize the administration of incumbent Mayor Shirley Franklin, yet which both have endorsed Kasim Reed while expressing growing horror as various truths about Norwood make themselves obvious.

Especially recommended is this excellent column by Ramage, "Something About Mary," which details how Norwood was "willing to deprive most of the city of its regular police protection while her own affluent neighborhood paid for a private security force."

The column also provides a fascinating perspective on the power brokering behind a bizarre endorsement of Norwood by former State Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas -- compelling stuff, even though Ramage didn't know when she wrote the piece that Norwood's campaign actually had paid Thomas a "consulting fee" of $1,500.

Now, in a fascinating followup, Ramage reveals Thomas literally attacked her at City Hall in response to the article. With endorsements like "Able" Mable's, who needs enemies?

And CL's Scott Henry says here the money trail doesn't end with Thomas. Apparently, Norwood's campaign also paid $1,000 to Dave Walker -- an infamous City Hall gadfly -- presumably so he wouldn't criticize her openly during the race.

"So, what have we learned?" Henry writes. "Namely, that the rest of us got shafted when Norwood was handing out the Benjamins!"

Folks, it isn't just me saying this stuff.

Even so, I've managed provoke a fair amount of criticism and animosity from at least a couple of ardent Norwood fans.

"We're entitled to cast a vote for someone who represents a new direction," one writes.

The phrase "a new direction" (despite adamant protests to the contrary) means "white."

As far as I know, none of the candidates for mayor said City Hall is functioning perfectly and shouldn't be changed. The one and only thing that makes Norwood's "new direction" different is that all the other major candidates in the race have been African American.

Norwood's entire platform is code-worded race baiting, a condemnation of more than three decades of great African American leadership that built Atlanta into an international city, brought the Olympics here, revitalized downtown and (in the process) made fortunes for many, many white-owned business interests here.

And, besides, it's not as if Norwood is some fresh-faced, reform-minded City Hall outsider. She's part of the problem. In nearly a decade on the city council, she's never done a single thing to distinguish herself as anything other than a waste of flesh and taxpayer money.

"There's no way you can be at the council for eight years and represent change," as Reed's campaign manager noted Wednesday.

One other thing.

It's about self righteousness.

I'm always surprised when smart people say stupid things, but more than once lately, it's been suggested that "non Atlanta residents" -- of which I am one -- really ought to just keep our mouths shut about the whole thing.

Do those guys also think newspapers in France shouldn't be allowed to comment on elections in America? Wait -- don't answer that! I'm afraid to know.

For the first time in decades, I do not actually pay Atlanta taxes or get to vote in the mayor's race.

However, I am downtown almost every day, so my health and welfare certainly are impacted by such things as Atlanta's crime rate... and I do pay taxes -- lots and lots of them.

My taxes help support things like Grady Hospital and MARTA and -- through the state -- God knows what else. Atlanta is the economic hub of not just the metro area, where I reside, but all of Georgia.

And, Atlanta can't make it alone. Like a deranged homeless person pestering innocent passers by on Marietta Street, intown dwellers need our money to survive.

Atlanta comes begging every year, hat in hand, to lawmakers -- and 2010 will be no exception. Obviously, for the good of everyone, we need to continue to support the city.

I doubt even my harshest critic would advocate succeeding from the rest of Georgia financially.

And that means we get to have an opinion on how Atlanta is run, and who is going to run it.

Morning Norwood...

You'll be seeing a lot more of her between now and Dec. 1.


Mary Norwood finished the night with 43% of the vote, which put her in first place -- but that number is certainly a disappointment for someone who'd hoped to win without a runoff.

And there's another number that has to be bothering her.

Kasim Reed finished a very strong second with 38%.

Here's why Norwood's isn't celebrating:

She carried the white vote, to be sure. But the votes that are now up for grabs are virtually all black.

Lisa Borders, surprising some, was a distant third with just 14%.

And the obscure Jesse Spikes lurched across the finish line fourth, with 3%.

That's 17% -- and it's actually unlikely much of that will swing Norwood's way.

And, in fact, if she continues to court black voters in the same manner as she has in recent days -- condemning the Republican party, which happens to be her core power base, while painting herself as an Obama Democrat -- she may actually lose many of the voters who went to the polls for her yesterday.

What this analysis doesn't take into account, of course, is voter turnout.

Will the same people who voted yesterday return to the polls in a few weeks, or will they stay at home?

That's the unknown variable that could throw all the percentages off.

Both of Atlanta's intown weekly newspapers, Creative Loafing and The Sunday Paper, have already endorsed Reed. The Atlanta Daily World, the city's leading African American paper, endorsed Spikes but will soon urge its readers to vote for Reed.

Look also for massive efforts to "get out the vote" in the black community between now and the end of the month.

Boxing match...

Q: How does Mary Norwood measure up to the other candidates for Mayor of Atlanta?

A: By standing on a box.

Meanwhile, pollster Matt Towery says Norwood's latest commercial is one of the most damaging he has ever seen -- to the candidate herself.

Norwood, whose support from white, conservative Atlanta voters is so great Towery once thought she might win without a runoff, now says she has unnecessarily alienated her strong Republican base.

In this column, Towery says Norwood's attempt to "renounce Satan" -- i.e., the GOP -- and her abundant praise of President Obama goes too far in the eyes of many whose votes she already had locked up.

And if all of that is true -- if Norwood hasn't voted for a Republican in the last five presidential elections, dislikes the GOP and loves President Obama -- then how in the world does she explain her earlier uncertainty on the subject of whether she'd ever voted for George W. Bush?

For details, click here.

A liar, an idiot, or both...?

"Did you ever vote for George W. Bush?"

It's a simple question.

So simple, in fact, that I can think of only three honest answers, assuming you are an adult who is not retarded.

A. "Yes."
B. "No."
C. "None of your business."

And, yet, Mary Norwood -- the front runner to become Atlanta's next mayor -- came up with a different response:

D. "I don't remember."

That's how Norwood actually answered the question after a debate last weekend, as reported by Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in this fascinating article.

Do you believe her?

Be honest.

There are really only two conclusions that can be reached here, folks:

A. Mary Norwood is a liar.
B. Mary Norwood doesn't remember if she ever voted for Bush and, therefore, is even more incompetent than her worst detractors have intimated.

As you'd expect, the damage control machine was in full swing the following day, with Norwood's campaign spokeswoman, Zee Bradford, explaining that the question was too foggy.

That is somewhat distressing, since it is a much easier question than, say, "How are you going to solve Atlanta's crime problem?" or "What are you going to do about the fact that city residents are getting $700 water bills?"

I know a lot of people who voted for Bush once or even twice, and (oddly) I don't hold it against them -- but I also know I was not among them.

I voted for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

And now that Norwood has had time to plumb the depths of her memory, those are exactly the two candidates for whom she claims to have cast her ballots.

It is, frankly, inconceivable that anyone who voted for Gore and Kerry would not know the answer to the question, "Did you ever vote for George W. Bush?"

I have no idea if Norwood voted for Gore and Kerry or if she voted for Bush, and I don't care -- but I have absolutely no doubt that she herself knew the correct answer when she was first asked.

She was put on the spot and she could not think fast enough on her feet to decide how she should answer. She froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

She lied.

And she lied because she really, truly isn't very bright.

Even if you're planning to vote for her -- and apparently quite a few of you are -- this episode is worth remembering so that we can look back up on it in the not-too-distant future.

It isn't that often you know with certainty that your future mayor is both a liar and an idiot.

Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow...

Ok, we admit it.

This video did makes us chuckle out loud a few times.

However, nobody at "Certain Speculation" had anything whatsoever to do with making it -- and, frankly, we wonder who did.


This actually would be funny were it not for the fact that Mary Norwood, the ditzy lady in the "commercial" you just saw, is leading in the polls and, conceivably, has a shot at becoming Atlanta's next mayor.

How is such a thing possible?

Well, she's white. That's how.

It's an ugly truth that few of Norwood's supporters will admit, even to themselves -- but what we are seeing here in Atlanta is a sort of reverse version of the "Yes, We Can!" euphoria that put Barack Obama into office.

Turnabout, they are saying (although not out loud), is fair play.

Even if it tears the city apart.

When the good white folk who support Norwood say they want "change" and that her opponents are "more of the same," what they are really saying is that Kasim Reed, Lisa Borders and Jessie Spikes are black.

Atlanta has had black mayors for three decades. That's what "more of the same" means.

And, by the way, Atlanta has done pretty darn well in those three decades -- including the last eight years, in which Shirley Franklin has been an exeplary mayor, despite various efforts to paint her otherwise.

But, don't take our word for it.

Here's a good article on the mayor's race -- with an emphasis on race -- from our friends at Creative Loafing.

And both of Atlanta's major intown newspapers have denounced Norwood in the process of endorsing Kasim Reed as mayor.

CL had this to say, calling Norwood "strikingly ineffective" during her two terms on the City Council.

"She’s never chaired a Council committee; she endlessly laments her inability to gain access to city documents; she concedes that Mayor Shirley Franklin has spoken to her only a couple of times in eight years; and she complains that her legislation is often ignored by city department heads," CL says.

"Norwood’s cultivated image is that of a powerful rabble-rouser who’s been thwarted in her efforts to challenge the status quo," the paper continues. "But the reality is that Norwood is considered a lightweight inside City Hall because she has a tendency to flit from one issue to the next, often taking reactionary positions based on superficial information, seemingly unable to maintain the focus needed to craft thoughtful civic policy."

And, CL calls Norwood’s campaign platform is "financially irresponsible."

"She calls for a large increase in public-safety spending, but dismisses the city budget as incomprehensible, readily admitting she’ll have no clue how to fund her initiatives until after she’s sworn in," the weekly surmises.

Finally, the article concludes:

"However well-intentioned, Norwood lacks the temperament, analytical thinking, leadership skills, and, frankly, the vision needed to succeed as mayor."

And, believe it or not, the Sunday Paper is even more brutal in it's assessment of Norwood.

Watching her at city council meetings, the paper says, is "disconcerting" -- because although Norwood is a "very talkative woman," she rarely speaks out on the record.

"I can only assume that slmost eight years of saying nothing in city council meetings has left her with a lot of pent-up verbosity," writes SP's Stephanie Ramage, who has been covering politics in Atlanta for quite some time.

Ramage is almost apologetic to Norwood, who she genuinely likes but is not willing in the slightest to endorse.

"Norwood is a very nice person," Ramage says. "She’s the kind of woman I hope my son has as a mother-in-law one day. That’s a huge compliment. She’s really that nice."

Then, she adds:

"But I do not have any confidence in her ability to lead."

So, no... the video above is not doctored.

It's the real Mary Norwood.

The candidate a lot of white people are willing to put in City Hall -- enthusiastically.

Spotlight on... Alison Young!

A few months back, when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution canned about a third of its news staff underwent a much-ballyhooed makeover, one of the most heavily promoted features in the "new" paper was Alison Young's "Spotlight."

Oops... never mind.

Although this story about amusement parks rides by Young appeared over the weekend, her own website contains news you won't find in the AJC.

Young's updated bio, which you can find here, indicates she's moved on:

"She recently joined the staff of USA TODAY to write about health issues. From October 2008 through October 2009, Young wrote a weekly watchdog column called Spotlight in each Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Before that she covered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the AJC."

Young, you'll recall, relentlessly reported the same story about "bad morale" at the CDC over and over until the highly qualified Dr. Julie Gerberding was finally run out of town. But that's old news now, and karma takes its own sweet time.

This, on the heels of last week's very sad resignation of Richard Eldredge, the top-notch writer behind "Peach Buzz."

Add to that a dozen layoffs in the press room.

Just what is going on over there now?