By Shannon McCaffrey
The Associated Press
ATLANTA – The scramble is on for cash in the three-week sprint to Georgia’s Aug. 10 runoff.
Nathan Deal and Karen Handel were working the phones Thursday, lining up the dollars they’ll need to win the GOP nomination. Both began revving up for the runoff with campaign fuel tanks nearly on empty and must refill them quickly in time to get television ads up on the air.
A review of campaign disclosures by The Associated Press shows Handel has just $66,648 designated for the primary runoff. Deal has $43,590.
To put that in perspective, a weeklong statewide media buy costs roughly $600,000.
Runoff donations are limited to $3,600, less than the $6,100 cap for the primary and general election.
The Deal and Handel campaigns said Thursday that money was flowing more easily now that they’ve made it to the next round.
Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said conservative donors are lining up with contributions, intent on defeating Handel.
“The difference between the primary – when you were scraping and screaming and knocking on doors – and the runoff, is that the phone is ringing instead of you dialing,” Robinson said.
Handel spokesman Dan McLagan said the campaign’s fundraising was taking off just before the primary.
“And now it’s going like a rocket,” he said.
Georgia’s last big statewide runoff was the 2008 slugfest between Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin. That race attracted millions of dollars in ads from outside groups because it helped determine whether Democrats would win a 60-vote super majority in the U.S. Senate
It’s doubtful that kind of outside money will pour into the Georgia gubernatorial contest. But there are already signs that surrogates and other interest groups will have a say.
The anti-abortion group Georgia Right to Life unleashed robocalls just before Tuesday’s primary attacking what they said was Handel’s “extremely liberal record on abortion.”
Handel has said she opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.
The relationship grew even more bitter Thursday as Handel called for the resignation of a pair of Georgia Right to Life leaders after the head of the group’s political action committee made what Handel called a hateful comment aimed at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
“(Palin) has a son with Down syndrome, and under Karen Handel’s laws, Handel would have felt like it was OK to go in and abort that child,” Melanie Crozier said, according to Politico.
Handel said she was deeply offended.
“This is a cruel and revolting lie and shows just how low (the organization’s) leaders are willing to go for a political attack,” Handel said.
Crozier did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.