GAGOP – Morning Report

Today’s Big Thing: Yesterday, the proposed state House & Senate maps in Georgia cleared the first major hurdle when they were approved by the respective redistricting committees. Debate will return to the chamber floors in the General Assembly today. As a reminder, over the next few weeks you can watch the Georgia General Assembly’s legislative session live online by clicking here.

To see the proposed state House and Senate maps, visit the Georgia General Assembly online.

Also today, President Obama wraps up his three-day, three-state bus tour that went “coincidentally” through three of our nation’s electoral battleground states. While the White House continues to paint this trip as official Presidential business, the calls are coming louder than ever that the President is “campaigning from behind a taxpayer-funded presidential seal.”

As the bus tour wraps up and President Obama prepares to gallivant in Martha’s Vineyard for 10 days, the American public can’t help but question the priorities of the Campaigner-in-Chief.

From the Republican National Committee,

NO ONE BOUGHT THE WHITE HOUSE’S CLAIM THAT THE BUS TOUR

WASN’T PURELY POLITICAL

MSNBC’s Chuck Todd: “You could fool me. I mean it feels like a campaign trip. It certainly walks like one, it quacks like one.” (MSNBC’s “Jansing & Co.,” 8/16/11)

CBS News’ Mark Knoller: “The trip and events have all the characteristics of a campaign swing, but WH bills it as official and taxpayers pay all the costs.” (Mark Knoller, Twitter, 8/14/11)

The Associated Press: “Though classified by the White House as an official presidential trip, the tour's first day had the distinct feel of a campaign excursion.” (Jim Kuhnhenn, “Obama Sets Tone For Governing, Campaigning At Beginning Of Three-Day Midwest Tour,” The Associated Press, 8/16/11)

·         AP: “Obama's rhetoric had a campaign pulse as well.” (Jim Kuhnhenn, “Obama Sets Tone For Governing, Campaigning At Beginning Of Three-Day Midwest Tour,” The Associated Press, 8/16/11)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: “[A]n unusually partisan address for an official White House visit …” (Eric Roper, “Obama Talks Jobs, Jabs At GOP,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 8/16/11)

USA Today: “The White House says President Obama's bus trip is a non-campaign event, but that hasn't stopped him from making his most extended comments yet on the Republican presidential field.” (David Jackson, “Obama Goes After Republican Candidates On Taxes,” USA Today, 8/16/11)

·         USAT: “His toughest question may have come from a young girl who asked, ‘Why Cannon Falls?’ … Iowa and Minnesota are states critical to his re-election effort — an answer the president sidestepped.” (Richard Wolf, “Obama Defends Government,” USA Today, 8/15/11)

·         USAT: “Still, the trip had stark political overtones.” (Richard Wolf, “Obama Defends Government,” USA Today, 8/15/11)

The New York Times: “While the White House billed all this as a presidential visit, the line between that and a campaign event is fine: loudspeakers blared standard Obama campaign anthems by U2 and Brooks & Dunn.” (Mark Landler, “Obama Tries To Reclaim Momentum With Midwest Bus Tour,” The New York Times, 8/15/11)

Slate’s John Dickerson: “The president is on a political bus tour which he says isn't a political where he will tell Republicans to stop behaving politically.” (John Dickerson, Twitter, 8/15/11)

GAGOP Media Briefing

In the Headlines…

AJC: House, Senate maps approved in committees (Click here to read more)

Chattanooga Times Free Press: Panels move forward on Georgia redistricting (Click here to read more)

GPB: Barrow, Kingston Watch Redistricting (Click here to read more)

Dalton Daily Citizen: Attorney General Olens talks redistricting, health care (Click here to read more)

GPB: Healthcare Exchange Moves Forward (Click here to read more)

Tweetable: Georgia

@RepWestmoreland: My The @FinancialCmte hearing today in Newnan on bank failures was very successful. http://t.co/Q4ckKqk

@SenatorIsakson: Traveling around South Georgia to meet with constituents. Yesterday, I visited Soperton and Waycross. I'll be in Jesup today.

@ScottForGA: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." ~ Albert Einstein #tcot #ga08 #gagop

@ButchMiller: The legislature is back in session today as we work to pass redistricting maps. #gapol

Tweetable: National

@ReincePriebus: If @BarackObama would rather campaign than lead, his campaign account should foot the bill. http://t.co/beme2yf #debtendtour

@RNC: NYT Reporter: I Wish I Had A Dollar For Every Time WH Shifted To Jobs http://t.co/TWPBGic

@RNC: #ObamasPriorities- First: Campaign. Second: Vacation: Third: Give a speech promising a plan you may never see.

                  

@SpeakerBoehner: Mr. President, Let's Get to Work http://j.mp/oYk5nX <-- op-ed w/@GOPLeader Cantor in @USAToday #4jobs