Georgia Governor Nathan Deal goes after female vote with wife Sandra

Georgia Goveor Nathan Deal (R), who is running for re-election against state Rep. Jason Carter (D), might be officially worried about his bid. His latest ad, ”Driven features Deal’s wife and former school teacher Sandra Deal, in a clear attempt to chip away at Carter’s female support.

The ad shows Mrs. Deal traveling the state to visit local schools and read to the children. Sandra Deal was recently involved with state literacy campaigns and in the last several months she visited all 159 Georgia counties.

”As a former teacher, I’ve travel to every county in Georgia, visited 181 school districts to read to children in 350 schools.  But I also have done it because Georgians deserve to know that Nathan Deal has increased education funding and is fighting to expand the HOPE scholarship.  I’ve shared Nathan Deal’s heart for 48 years. And he cares about the education for Georgia’s children.

Carter has been hitting Deal hard on education, claiming that the Goveor has not prioritized the issue and has failed to properly fund it. Incidentally, education-related issues resonate more with women than men.  With such strong focus on children, the above ad kills two birds with one stone.

Why Deal hasn’t moved on this before? As lovely as Sandra Deal is, and as good as they look together, the Goveor should have only released ads with his wife. Her southe accent and soft-spoken manner are sure to draw more support.

Most Republican elites in the state must be breathing a sigh of relief. Deal has been polling neck and neck with Carter for a while now.  His ethics complaints have been hovering over the campaign since it launched.  And according to the latest poll, Carter is winning women by 10 percent.  

But Deal has been very confident in his campaign. As he’s pointed out in a speech to Republicans few months ago, he’s never lost an election.  And while Carter is doing much better than anyone would have predicted that a Democrat could do in a southe red state, Libertarian Andrew Hunt is contributing to Deal’s lower numbers.

Since it’s almost certain that the race will go into a runoff, to be held on December 2^nd, Carter would have to win without a third party candidate pulling at Deal’s support.  That and a traditionally lower tuout for Democrats during midterms (especially in runoffs) make Carter the clear underdog in the race, albeit still a formidable opponent.  However, if Deal can take away some of that female support from his challenger, Carter’s chances diminish almost entirely.