Blogging for Max

Updated: 10/31/2006, 9:42 am

STATESBORO, Ga. - We have eight days left. That’s it. And today was one for the ages. It was a day the 12th district will not soon forget. The Max Burns base is recharged, fired-up and ready to get the job done. We have to get Max back to the House of Representatives… so let’s do it!

As everyone likely knows, President Bush visited Hanner Field House at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro today. We were hoping to file a story after the event, but instead whisked up to Atlanta for the final debate of the election. (All the hard-news was covered by the networks and cable news, so if we do write a piece it will be a feature.) So this brief “journal entry” will have to suffice until we can file anything. We will also add some of our photos from the President’s visit to this post sometime tomorrow.

The morning kick-started with a rally in Statesboro. Doors opened at 8 am. By the time President Bush took the stage around 11 am, the place was ELECTRIC. It had an aura comparable to a rock concert - not a political event. Before a packed-house of more than 5,000 screaming Burns backers, Max and Gov. Sonny Perdue welcomed the president.

The house lights dimmed, the stage lights perforated the arena and Van Halen’s “Right Now” opened as Max said, “Please give a warm Georgia welcome to the President of the United States, George W. Bush.” The energy of that moment was indescribable.

President Bush hit on a lot of issues ranging from gay marriage to illegal immigration to agriculture and of course, the War in Iraq. Bush was quick to remind the packed house that Max Burns was the right choice next Tuesday.

“Max knows what it takes to be a United States Congressman, because he’s done it before,” Bush said. “He understands Georgia values, because he was born and raised in this district, and he still lives on a family farm outside Sylvania.

“I’ve been in Washington long enough to know that it makes sense to have people who live on a family farm in the halls of the United States Congress.”

Oh, and Sonny wore cowboy boots to the event. COWBOY BOOTS! We thought that was pretty cool. “Sonny has got him a pair of boots he can be proud of,” President Bush noted to the crowd as Perdue raised his left foot in the air. “By the way, it makes me feel comfortable to be a in a state where your governor wears cowboy boots.”

Being that rally was held at GSU, the president noted Max’s educational background. “I appreciate the fact that Max was a teacher. As a matter of fact, he taught right here at Georgia Southern,” Bush said. “I hope he gave a few of the students As.

“And for those of you who did get an A, you might as well vote for him.”

Following the event, the president stayed in the ‘Boro and headed to the Statesboro Inn for an interview with Sean Hannity. The entire segment will air as a three part series over as many nights on the FoxNews Network’s “Hannity & Colmes” at 9 pm ET. Part one aired tonight.

We were not at the Hannity interview, but heard it is excellent. We instead left Hanner and headed to Atlanta for the final 12th district debate of the cycle. It began at 7 pm and aired live on Georgia Public Broadcasting. The Atlanta Press Club, who hosted the event, should have the video added to their 2006 political debate archive by tomorrow.

In the meantime, we can tell you that Max looked very good. He was comfortable, versatile and, unlike his opponent, did an excellent job of addressing the issues rather than responding with vague generalizations and blanket statements. Barrow looked flustered at times and, as usual, spoke like an auctioneer on 12 pots of coffee (i.e. “re-examining and re-re-examining and re-re-re-examining”). And Max showed his true candor by turning and facing Barrow when asking a question or as Barrow spoke. Barrow never once looked away from the camera.

So we logged a lot of hours today - from 7 am when folks started lining up outside of Hanner, to 12 am when we finally made it back from Atlanta. And we plan to log long hours over the next eight days to get Max back!

We will hopefully file something more on this eventful day, when/if sleep no longer eludes us.

Update: 10/31/2006, 9:10 pm - You can view the debate in Windows Media Player by clicking here.