State House Republican leader Paul Stam complains that the rules would give Democrats overwhelming influence on the state budget, the N&O reports.

WASHINGTON – South Carolina Republican Party chair Katon Dawson predicted Monday that president-elect Barack Obama will “overreach” during his first two years in office, giving the national GOP an opportunity to rebuild.

At a televised debate with five other candidates seeking the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, Dawson also argued that his experience winning elections in South Carolina had prepared him to lead the battered national party.

“With the Obama administration overreaching and overpromising…we’re going to have our opportunities in our states to elect some very responsible, conservative Republicans and we’re going to be able to elect them in places some people don’t think is possible,” he said.

During the 90-minute debate sponsored by the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform, all six candidates said the party needed to refocus after losing the White House and Congress to Democrats over the last two election cycles.

Though Republicans remain dominant in much of the South, Obama became the first Democrat in decades to win North Carolina and Virginia. And Republicans lost significant ground to Democrats in other regions of the country this year.

All six candidates – five challengers and incumbent chair Mike Duncan – blamed the party’s woes on problems connecting with minority voters, poor communication, and an abandonment of core conservative principles of limited government and lower spending over the last eight years.

Former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, former Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele, former Tennessee Republican Party chairman Chip Saltsman, and Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis are also seeking the position.

The 168 members of the Republican National Committee will meet at the end of the month to select a new chair. Some committee members have argued that the party needs a new leader from outside the South, the one region where it remains dominant, in order to return to prominence.

In an interview after the debate, Dawson said he interpreted talk of looking beyond the conservative Southern base “as code for moderating our party.”

“That’s what got us into the trouble we’re in now. Conservative principles are how we’re going to bring our party back,” he said.

In one of the few somewhat tense exchanges in the debate, Blackwell implicitly questioned whether Dawson’s experience winning elections in conservative South Carolina had adequately prepared him to win in old swing states like Ohio and Florida and new ones like Virginia and North Carolina.

“We all know how difficult it is to win elections in that swing state of South Carolina,” Blackwell deadpanned.
Dawson shot back: “Mr. Blackwell thinks winning in our state is easy. It’s hard.”

The debate also included questions on personal gun ownership – from none for Steele to “too many to count” for Dawson – and asked the candidates to name the biggest mistake of the Bush administration.

Several candidates named Bush’s expansion of government spending in defiance of the party’s principles, the Wall Street bailout, and the handling of the war in Iraq.

Dawson identified Bush’s decision to press ahead on an overhaul of the Social Security system and immigration laws.

“Those were two (issues) that tore our party apart at certain times,” he said.

Democratic candidates scored big during the 17 days of early voting, but Republican voters made up for it on Nov. 4, according to an election research group.

Republican leaders are reacting in different ways after a party chairman distributed a CD that features a parody tune called ”Barack the Magic Negro.”

President-elect Barack Obama’s team has pledged to appoint Republicans to his administration, but so far, just one Republican is set to hold a leading Cabinet post.

ATLANTA – Georgia voters had their hands on the balance of power in the next U.S. Senate in a runoff election Tuesday, one of two unresolved races that Democrats need to win to get a 60-seat majority impervious to GOP filibusters.

Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss faced Democrat Jim Martin after a post-general election campaign that drew national political heavyweights from both parties.

In Minnesota, a recount that could take weeks is under way in a tight race between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.

No problems were reported after Georgia polls opened at 7 a.m., Secretary of State spokesman Matt Carrothers said. A few precincts reported short lines. Polls were scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Murray Gottlieb, 54, a caterer in Savannah, said he voted for Chambliss because he doesn’t want complete Democratic control of the Senate.

“I support Barack Obama now. I hope he’s the best president we’ve ever had and we get out of the funk we’re in, but I don’t want to give him that much power,” Gottlieb said after casting his ballot at a church in Savannah.

The ailing economy brought architect Glen McClure, 47, out for Martin.

“My motivation is, I’m unemployed as of yesterday,” he said at a library-turned-polling place in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood.

Chambliss and Martin both fell short of the 50-percent threshold in a three-way general election race with Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley, who drew 3.4 percent of the vote. It’s Georgia’s first Senate runoff since 1992, when Democratic Sen. Wyche Fowler was upset by Republican Paul Coverdell.

Chambliss is seeking a second term after winning in 2002 against Democratic Sen. Max Cleland in a campaign that infuriated Democrats with a TV ad that questioned Cleland’s commitment to national security and flashed a photo of Osama bin Laden. Martin has aligned himself with President-elect Barack Obama’s message of change, and has vowed to provide economic relief for the middle class. Chambliss has promised to be a firewall against a Democratic-dominated Washington getting a “blank check.”

Early voting statistics were encouraging for the Chambliss camp.

Of the nearly 500,000 early voters, turnout was down among black voters and higher among white males compared to advance voting before the general election.

White males normally are a solid Republican constituency in Georgia, while exit polls showed that Martin won the votes of nine of ten Georgia blacks who registered a preference.

Still, analysts say it’s hard to tell how that may impact Tuesday’s contest.

“It doesn’t mean the overall turnout will be skewed,” said Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz. “It could just mean that there’s much less incentive to early vote this time, because no one’s expecting there to be long lines now.”

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel did not predict turnout for the contest, but the 1992 runoff attracted about 1.2 million voters – roughly half the turnout in that year’s general election.

Roughly 4 million people cast ballots in this year’s general election, and both sides have since tried to keep voters’ attention with a barrage of ads and visits by political heavy-hitters.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore both stumped for Martin. President-elect Barack Obama recorded a radio ad for Martin and sent 100 field operatives, but he didn’t campaign in the state despite a request from Martin to do so.

Several ex-Republican presidential candidates made appearances for Chambliss, including GOP nominee John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s vice presidential pick, held four rallies for Chambliss that drew thousands of party faithful Monday.

Saxby Chambliss: www.saxby.org

Jim Martin: www.martinforsenate.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Republican U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode has made it official: He wants a recount in his narrow loss to Democrat Tom Perriello.

Attorneys for the six-term incumbent filed a petition Tuesday in Albermarle County Circuit Court requesting the recount.

The filling came a day after the State Board of Elections certified Democrat Tom Perriello as the winner by 745 votes out of more than 316,000 cast in the 5th District race. The margin of 0.24 percentage points entitles Goode to a recount at taxpayer expense. Perriello has said he doesn’t believe there’s any serious chance of the result changing.

A one-seat partisan advantage in Virginia’s congressional delegation is at stake.

WASHINGTON – Wanted: Democratic congressional aide seeking new career. Must have strong powers of persuasion, excellent connections and good marksmanship. Contact the National Rifle Association’s government affairs office for details.

It’s clear times have changed in Washington when the nation’s biggest gun-rights lobby – long considered Republican-leaning – points out the Democrats on its team and only half-jokingly talks about hiring more.

“We’re always looking for good ones,” NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said when asked if he’s seeing Democratic staffers leaving Capitol Hill to fill a growing demand for Democratic lobbyists. “If they do, give us a call.”

The Democrats’ election sweep – they gained the White House and increased their majorities in the House and Senate – is shaking up the capital’s $3 billion-a-year lobbying industry. After eight years of a Republican administration and shifting power in Congress, Washington’s 16,000 registered lobbyists must now work to capitalize on, or cope with, one-party control.

“We look at any new administration as a time of opportunity in the lobbying community, and certainly here,” said Gregg Hartley, vice chairman and CEO of the bipartisan lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates. He said he would love to see an influx of applications from Democratic aides. “We have shopped to add very high quality, strong individuals, but they are enjoying being in the new majority.”

Jim Albertine, a longtime Washington lobbyist and former president of the American League of Lobbyists, said there’s no question that lobbying firms will load up with Democrats, if they haven’t already.

“Having said that, however, with the new lobby rules, no matter if you come from D or R, you’re still going to be restricted in what you’re doing in the first year,” Albertine said. That could give established lobbyists an edge over newcomers from Capitol Hill: As the new administration moves on its agenda, “if you have a new hire, you’re not going to be able to use that person in the way you want to,” he said.

Many lobbyists began positioning themselves before the election. President-elect Barack Obama’s stated antipathy toward lobbyists may keep many of them from winning high-profile posts in his administration, but it hasn’t kept them from promoting their policy positions to Obama’s team.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, like most major trade groups, tries to keep a bipartisan balance. It has staff members who worked and volunteered in the campaigns of Obama and his

Republican rival, Sen. John McCain. The federation and its state farm bureaus already are talking to Obama’s transition team about its priorities, including energy production, trade and how government carries out the new farm bill, chief lobbyist Mark Maslyn said.

“It starts long before this moment. And many of the people we have known for years and years,” Maslyn said. “Because we regularly work with both sides of the aisle, we work with lawmakers who want to see those positions advance as well: members of the Democratic caucus as well as the Republican caucus. As I tell a lot of people, this is a relational business.”

Likewise, the Edison Electric Institute, a lobbying group for electric utilities, talked with both campaigns and already has been in touch with Obama’s transition team. Issues it is trying to get on the Obama team’s radar include the need for more power lines.

Offering a glimpse of how the institute may promote that, spokesman Jim Owen said the group sees renewable energy as a way to create the kind of “green jobs” Obama championed during the campaign. To use the renewable energy that utilities generate, transmission lines are needed to connect it to the power grid, he said.

The Financial Services Roundtable is engaging in a postelection full-court press.

“We’re talking with lawmakers, Treasury and the transition team,” said Scott E. Talbott, vice president of government affairs. Its concerns include the $700 billion bailout administered by the Treasury Department and “overtightening” existing restrictions or creating new ones. Congress has talked about restrictions on paying dividends and bonuses, and on lobbying.

Though seldom willing to name names, lobbyists are weighing in on potential Obama appointees, in some cases describing the kinds of people they would like to see in key jobs or going so far as offering to help recruit and vet candidates.

Key posts for the Farm Bureau include the agriculture and energy secretaries, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, U.S. trade representative and second- and third-tier appointments, the “sub-Cabinet” positions such as deputy secretaries and deputy administrators, assistant administrators and undersecretaries that tend to be the point people and experts on specific industry issues.

Top lobbying goals for the American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, include asking the Obama administration to undo any rules the outgoing Bush administration adopts to try to limit lawsuits. It wants Congress and Obama to outlaw mandatory binding arbitration in consumer contracts and reverse a Supreme Court decision making it harder for consumers to sue the makers of FDA-regulated medical devices.

The American Medical Association’s Washington office communicated with both presidential campaigns and now is talking to Obama’s transition team about key issues such as Medicare reimbursement, preventive health care and the uninsured, said its incoming president, Dr. Jim Rohack, a physician in Temple, Texas.

Though Democrats control Congress, AMA lobbyists won’t ignore Republicans, Rohack said, noting that Senate Democrats lack a filibuster-proof 60 votes. The Financial Services Roundtable plans to do the same.

Some lobbyists are now seeing people they worked with in government years ago back in positions of power. Dan Glickman, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, was agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton, whose administration is being tapped by Obama for expertise as he prepares to take office.

Others are not so well-positioned with Obama’s team, and are making their views known through other channels.

The NRA, which endorsed McCain, is lobbying sympathetic congressional Democrats to try to head off any move toward new gun controls. When it comes to lobbying Obama’s transition team, “we’re talking to whoever we know who talks to them,” LaPierre said.

The current climate will make it difficult for new Republican lobbyists, but could prove lucrative for those who represent business.

Wright Andrews, a former Democratic congressional aide who lobbies on banking issues, said the power shift will require Republican lobbyists to hunker down, working at the margins of legislation to make modest changes and forming coalitions between GOP lawmakers and conservative Democrats to play a more defensive game.

“We are looking at more government regulation,” Andrews said.

“I would certainly expect that after many people see the new administration’s agendas and proposals, they will come clamoring to K Street, saying, ‘Save us.’ You will see business interests socked like they haven’t been in a long time.”

WASHINGTON – The national Republican Party wants to make it easier to raise and spend political money and plans to sue the Federal Election Commission to alter a six-year-old law written by John McCain, the defeated Republican presidential candidate.

Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan said Wednesday that he wants the courts to eliminate restrictions on coordinated spending by national parties and federal candidates and to permit the national organizations to raise money for state parties.

Duncan said he planned to file suits Thursday in federal courts in Washington D.C. and in Louisiana. His goal, he said was to “strengthen the Republican Party and bring a more level playing field to campaign finance.”

The lawsuits represent the most direct party challenge to post-Watergate restrictions on the ability of parties and candidates to work hand-in-hand on political campaigns and on the anti-soft money law that McCain championed in 2002.

Since the 1970s, parties have been limited in the amount of money they can spend in coordination with a House, Senate or presidential candidate. For instance, this year, the RNC and its counterpart, the Democratic National Committee, could only spend $19 million each in consultation with the McCain or the Barack Obama campaigns.
 
The limits mean that the parties, since the 1990s, have set up independent expenditure units that can spend money on behalf of candidates as long as they have no contact with each other. The RNC spent more than $50 million against Obama through its independent operation.
  
“That results in these expenditure units being given money without direction, without coordination,” Duncan said. “You get results where candidates are often upset with the message that is going out.”

The RNC’s effort to permit fundraising for state parties and state candidates would reverse a key component of the 2002 law that McCain helped write with Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and House members Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass.

Under that law, the national parties can only raise money under federal fundraising restrictions. The law banned the national parties from raising so-called soft-money – that is, unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions or individuals. If the national parties can raise money for state parties or for state candidates, they would adjust that fundraising to state limits, some of which are not as strict as federal law.

Duncan said he wants the RNC chairman to be able to raise money next year, for example, for governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey. Duncan was spelling out his plans for the lawsuits to governors attending the Republican Governor’s Association meeting in Miami.

He said such greater fundraising freedom also would strengthen the party’s hand for congressional redistricting efforts. The party money could be used to help elect state officials who have a hand in making redistricting decisions and to finance litigation challenging any new district lines.