Political Breakfast from WABE

We’ve heard for months Georgia could be in play in the presidential race. A visit from President Trump is the latest evidence of that. So, what are the best battle plans for the campaigns? The state makes slow progress in the Coronavirus battle, but Federal health officials say we could do more. And the Governor mounts a last-minute public push to get all Georgians counted.&nbs...

The allegations were appalling, and denied by those accused. But the accusations that women at a Georgia immigration detention center were subjected to hysterectomies without consent have raised a new election issue for candidates in both parties. Meanwhile, those candidates with enough money have flooded all kinds of media with messages they hope will actually reach voters still struggl...

Presidential politics and public health collided as never before, when journalist Bob Woodward released audio, in which President Trump says he deliberately played down the threat of the Coronavirus. With less than two months before election day, candidates stepped up their get-out-the-vote efforts. And speaking of votes, the Secretary of State said about a thousand people voted twice in...

Georgians found themselves bombarded by lots of numbers in the last week--coming from everyone from public health officials, to economists, to political pollsters. But much of that information might only create a more muddled picture of where we’re headed. It’s very 2020. WABE political contributor Denis O’Hayer sorts it out with Republican strategist Brian Robinson and former Cobb...

Georgia no longer has the nation’s highest rate of new Coronavirus cases--but it's in second place, despite some other more encouraging signs. Uncertainty continues over the best path forward for Georgia's public schools ad universities. Renewed protests around the nation—including Atlanta—were one of the themes of the Republican Convention. And the state’s top elections official, who’s a Rep...

Georgia’s governors like to say this state is the number 1 place to do business. But the current governor pushed back when the White House task force branded Georgia as number one for its rate of new Coronavirus cases. The debate over school and college re-openings intensified as case clusters emerged in those places. And polling shows the state’s two U.S. Senate races are, at least...

It was a week that saw several different kinds of unprecedented things: of course, Kamala Harris became the first African-American woman—and first South Asian woman—to be selected as the vice presidential candidate for a major American party. Here in Georgia, for the first time, a candidate who has endorsed a conspiracy theory called QAnon is likely headed to Congress. And the daily...

Schools are opening in Georgia, but the often-emotional debate about whether—and how—to do it safely is already well underway. And the toll in COVID-19 cases, rates of positive tests, and deaths continues to rise. Governor Kemp signs a controversial police protection bill. And while President Trump trashes mail-in absentee voting—except in Florida—there’s a growing dispute between t...

With coronavirus cases still extremely high, hospitals in many parts of Georgia sounded the call for intensive care for themselves. Schools and colleges struggled to figure out how and when to reopen, with the calendar--and the virus--not on their side. And voters in the late Congressman John Lewis’s district will get to choose his successor—even if that person might only serve for a few...

After it took almost four months to reach to 75,000, Georgia’s number of confirmed Coronavirus cases doubled in less than a month. With hospitals in many parts of the state under stress, and people still facing long delays in getting their test results, the political and legal crossfire continued, too. The only pause came when Georgians paid tribute to two giants of the civil rights move...

A united Georgia response to the Coronavirus might be a fond wish, but it’s not happening—even as case numbers spike and hospitals are stretched. The governor and Atlanta’s mayor traded shots; the governor again banned local governments from requiring masks—even as more cities did just that; and some school districts decided to open with online learning, despite funding cutoff threats from th...

It was a week of mourning in Georgia: over lives lost in a weekend of gun violence--including that of an 8-year-old girl—and the lives lost to a Coronavirus outbreak that has worsened after the state re-opened. Georgia’s governor faced what one might call a masked rebellion in several cities, and called the National Guard into Atlanta. Meanwhile, school students, teachers, staffers...

As Georgia’s COVID-19 case numbers continue to soar, the warnings from public health leaders here continue to darken. But the debate over how best to keep from getting there has intensified—with leaders in some cities publicly confronting Governor Brian Kemp. Meanwhile, the governor and officials at every level in the state try to figure out how to adjust to state budget cuts that will a...

Georgia lawmakers ended their 40 day session, but not before passing a tight budget, allowing liquor delivery and making history with a hate crimes bill. Host Lisa Rayam talks with Emma Hurt and Emil Moffatt about the end of the 2020 Georgia legislative session. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After resisting the idea for years, Georgia lawmakers suddenly moved fast to pass a hate crimes bill. Meanwhile, some grim Coronavirus numbers raised the question of whether the state re-opened too fast. And the Secretary of State promised some fixes that will speed up the long voting lines in some counties—but there’s a battle over reaching absentee voters who don’t want to stand in lin...

A much anticipated hate crimes bill now includes police as a protected class in Georgia. It's a hurdle lawmakers have to tackle while also cutting 11 percent from the state budget. In this Coronavirus remote edition, host Lisa Rayam talks with Emma Hurt and Emil Moffatt about these and other issues that are getting attention at the state legislature. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

After the Fulton County District Attorney announced charges against two Atlanta police officers involved in the killing of Rayshard Brooks, the debate over new rules for law enforcement continued, while the Atlanta department saw an outbreak of blue flu. Meanwhile, the Coronavirus served notice to Georgia that it hasn’t gone anywhere, and there’s a new chapter in the fight for one of Georgia’s U.S...

State lawmakers return to the Georgia State Capitol for 11 days to finish the 2020 legislative session amidst protests, voting problems and renewed calls for a hate crimes law. Covid-19 had put the session on hold. WABE's Susanna Capelouto guest hosts this episode and talks with politics reporters Emma Hurt and Emil Moffatt about what to expect this week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

Primary election day turned into primary election week, as vote counting continued. But with runoffs and November looming, the scramble to fix this week’s mess is on. The surviving campaigns check the numbers and plan for more battle, while the battle against the Coronavirus isn’t over—and those numbers could change everything again, even as the Legislature returns tries to figure out how muc...

Primary day in Georgia was unlike any other. But even those trading blame for all the problems agree on one thing: they don't want anything like this to happen again. This bonus edition of the Political Breakfast looks into the delays, glitches, and frustration that confronted so many voters. It originally aired live on 90.1 WABE on June 10, 2020. WABE political contributor Denis O'Hayer welcomed...

After an extraordinary and wrenching week in Atlanta and the rest of Georgia, the question now is: Where do all of us go from here on, in addressing the disease of racism? Meanwhile, a much more recent disease, COVID-19, is still with us, and the recent events have made confronting it a potentially much more complicated thing. WABE political contributor Denis O'Hayer explores some o...

Governor Brian Kemp again lifts some Coronavirus restrictions, while keeping some others. But he’s making a pitch for the Republican National Convention later this summer, and the numbers for the pandemic in Georgia still don’t give a clear picture of where it’s heading. Meanwhile, Georgia’s law enforcement and political leaders are again examining the relationship between police and African-Ameri...

When it comes to your health, there’s a saying you might have heard: "Know your numbers." Georgia’s COVID-19 numbers have been the subject of a lot of scrutiny lately. Meanwhile, some new polling numbers, if they’re right, forecast a real fight up and down the state ballot in November, while the people who run elections here worry about how to safely handle the numbers of voters who show up in per...

Just days after Georgia’s attorney general announced a state investigation of how local authorities responded to the February killing of an unarmed young black man near Brunswick, two suspects are in custody; the U.S. Justice Department is called in; and some top state leaders are getting behind a hate crimes bill. Meanwhile, Governor Kemp extends some pandemic response measures, and partially lif...

As Georgia slowly re-opens, the Coronavirus continues to spread. And so does the debate about the right things to do, and the possible cost in more lives lost. At the Georgia Capitol, lawmakers start to figure out what the cost will be in services the state can provide. Meanwhile, Georgia again gets the nation’s attention--this time for the killing of an unarmed young black man near Brunswick. WAB...