GOP candidates for Georgia's top offices, including gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal, encouraged supporters on Sunday to help make Election Day a sweep for Republicans.
They made their points during a bus campaign stop in Dalton, in which several candidates reiterated the GOP campaign themes that many of the nation's Republicans are latching onto -- anti-Democrat sentiment, smaller government and job creation.
Deal, who in nine days will square off at the polls against Democratic candidate Roy Barnes, said if voters back Republicans across the board on Nov. 2, officials will "deliver conservative government throughout every department at every level."
"Are we going to have a team that can work together cooperatively, or are we going to approach four years of gridlock?" asked Deal, a 68-year-old former U.S. congressman.
This team, Deal said, will work toward creating incentives for businesses to set up shop in Georgia and thus create jobs.
But a spokeswoman for Barnes, 62, who served as the state's governor before being defeated by outgoing Gov. Sonny Perdue, said he would be the better choice for job creation, citing his past experience.
"As governor, Roy created 235,000 jobs and Georgia was fourth in the nation in job creation," spokeswoman Anna Ruth Williams said Sunday in an e-mail. "Georgians, especially North Georgians, need a governor who doesn't need on-the-job training to begin the important task of putting Georgians back to work."
Barnes is scheduled to make a campaign loop through Dalton today at the Dalton Freight Depot Visitor Center at 5 p.m.
Other campaigners who spoke at Sunday's stop included Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
"Right now, unfortunately, in Washington we have public policies that are coming down that are really impeding the progress of business getting done," Cagle said. "Government in itself does not create jobs, [but the] private sector [does]."
Kemp mentioned a "cut red tape" website he helped create that allows Georgians to submit ideas on how to eliminate "ridiculous, redundant, outdated rules, regulations or laws" while protecting consumers and the environment.
"There's ways to get government out of your way," he said, "and we want you to be a part of that."