DALTON, Ga. – The Georgia governor’s mansion is the final destination, but on Monday it seemed like that path must run through Georgia’s Carpet Capital.
Three candidates vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination flew into Dalton on Monday, making last-minute pleas for votes in advance of today’s primary.
The tiny Dalton Municipal Airport terminal was such a hot spot for candidates, campaign events for former U.S. congressman Nathan Deal, of Gainesville, and former state Senate leader Eric Johnson, of Savannah, overlapped for just a few seconds. The two men shared an awkward handshake in the airport’s terminal.
Later in the day, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel made an appearance.
Candidates were making pre-election stops Monday in multiple cities across the state. Small crowds greeted the candidates, who only stopped in cities such as Augusta, Savannah, Macon and Dalton that have daily newspapers and easy access to major TV stations.
The trio of candidates are in a crowded seven-person contest that all three agree is likely going to end in an Aug. 10 runoff. Georgia law requires candidates to receive 50 percent plus one vote to be declared the nominee. No one in the contest is poling higher than 29 percent.
“I think we’re in a great position for that runoff spot,” Ms. Handel said to a group of about a dozen supporters at the Dalton airport. “We’ve always felt like this was a contest for the runoff.”
The latest poll shows Ms. Handel with a lead in the contest. The poll, which was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Georgia Newspaper Partnership, showed her with 29 percent of the vote, up 6 percentage points from an earlier poll.
State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who had been the front-runner, now comes in second with 22 percent, while Mr. Deal is at 20 percent, according to the poll. Mr. Johnson has about 13 percent support, the poll showed.
Ms. Handel’s climb in the polls could be because of an endorsement last week from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Ms. Handel said that has contributed to an 11th-hour energy boost for her campaign.
While in Dalton, all three candidates talked up similar proposals to remove Georgia’s industrial energy consumption tax. While it generates $250 million in revenue for the state, Mr. Johnson said repealing the tax would make Georgia competitive with neighboring states.
“That’s a $250 million tax cut that will create jobs quickly,” he said. “We’re one of 10 states in the country to do that and the only state in the Southeast with that tax.”
Ms. Handel and Mr. Deal favor repealing the tax, too. Ms. Handel said the state could go further to lower income tax and increase sales tax as a means to make Georgia more competitive.
“When you can go right across the border into Tennessee, where there is no income tax, having a high income tax really hurts growth,” she said.
Mr. Deal said he is the strongest candidate to face off against former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, the Democratic front-runner for that party’s nomination.
“I’m the candidate that can best beat Roy Barnes in November and maintain Republican control of the governor’s mansion,” Mr. Deal said.
On the Democratic side, Mr. Barnes also hopscotched the state Monday but did not stop in Dalton. In the last poll of Democratic voters, Mr. Barnes claimed about 54 percent to state Attorney General Thurbert Baker’s 20 percent. No other Democrat polled higher than single digits.