DALTON, Ga. – Candidates for Georgia’s Republican nomination are making last-minute treks across the Peach State today in an effort to win over undecided voters.
In Dalton this morning, former Congressman Nathan Deal and State Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, both scheduled morning press events at the Dalton Municipal Airport. Sen. Johnson and Mr. Deal met briefly in the airport’s small terminal as the Deal campaign departed and the Johnson campaign arrived.
Mr. Deal plans an eight-city tour that began in Atlanta. Sen. Johnson planned a similar seven-city tour. Secretary of State Karen Handel plans a 4:15 p.m. stop today in Dalton.
The last-minute effort comes as a new poll by the Georgia Newspaper Partnership shows Ms. Handel in first place with 29 percent of voters favoring her. That puts Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine in second place with 22 percent, Mr. Deal in third with 20 percent and Sen. Johnson at 13 percent. An earlier poll showed Mr. Oxendine leading.
Mr. Deal said there likely would be a runoff, since no candidate appears to have the 50-percent-plus-one vote needed to win the nomination.
“We would be blessed to be in a runoff,” Mr. Deal said. “We look forward to being in a runoff, and we think we do very well in that contest.”
Both Sen. Johnson and Mr. Deal talked up their conservative credentials. They said they favored eliminating the state’s energy consumption tax for industry, a tax both said would benefit Dalton’s carpet industry.
“That’s a $250 million tax cut that will create jobs quickly,” Sen. Johnson said. “We’re one of 10 states in the country to do that and the only state in the Southeast with that tax.”
Voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide the Republican nominee for Georgia governor. Former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes is the frontrunner for his party’s nomination.