Politics

The richest Atlanta households earn almost 20 times more than the city’s poorest residents: $288,159 compared to $14,988.

Last Tuesday night, huddled behind the steering wheel in an overcoat, gloves and a hat, Buckhead Coalition president Sam Massell was gridlocked on Atlanta’s main artery, stuck in the slush with the rest of us. As his usual 16-minute Buckhead commute down Peachtree Road slid into an hour, Massell, 86, had time to reflect on half a century of metro Atlanta's mass transit maladies.

Publications as geographically and ideologically diverse as the Guardian, Fox News, Variety, the Hill, and others ran stories or segments about Oprah Winfrey’s campaign appearances with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Yet regardless of the depth of coverage, the two events held in auditoriums in the Atlanta suburbs likely impacted the local crowds in a much deeper way than what could be conveyed to national viewers.

It’s difficult to know quite what to make of Thursday morning’s release by Mayor Kasim Reed of 1.47 million pages of documents relating to the federal bribery investigation involving unnamed city employees. Was it, as Reed declared to a large assemblage of reporters and bloggers, a sincere show of transparency by his administration? Or, as former DeKalb County district attorney J. Tom Morgan opined to WABE, a “publicity stunt?”

Vince Williams says Union City’s slogan, “You’ll like what U.C.,” has been particularly true for companies like Amazon and Keurig, as well as key players in Georgia’s film and TV industry, who’ve recently brought jobs to this South Fulton city of 23,400.

As it reaches the fifth floor of a nondescript Downtown high-rise, the elevator chimes open to a waiting area, modern and clean, with exposed ductwork, tall windows, and sleek, silver vinyl chairs. But that’s where the welcome ends.

Taking the stage around 11 p.m., Warnock thanked God, his congregants, his family, and supporters. “After a hard-fought campaign—or should I say campaigns?—it is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever said in a democracy: The people have spoken."

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms unintentionally launched a media firestorm when she asked more than 25 of her cabinet members to submit their resignations. But regardless of tactics, her message was clear: This won't be a third term of Kasim Reed.

Since 1980, Nathan Deal has run for office sixteen times—six state Senate campaigns, nine congressional campaigns, and one gubernatorial campaign—and never lost. One wonders if he even prepares concession speeches anymore.

Election Day is all about voter groups. The Minority Vote. The Women's Vote.  Someone reportedly has paid to put up misleading signs to suppress the College Vote. But no one ever talks about the...