Georgia Tipsheet

Another Republican is reportedly likely to enter the contest to fill Rep. Paul Broun’s congressional seat in Georgia’s 10^th district, with the AJC saying “chances are good” that conservative activist Jody Hice will join the fray.

Hice previously ran for the 7^th congressional district in 2010, losing a runoff battle to now-Rep. Rob Woodall after seeking to replace the retiring John Linder in Congress.

Should he ultimately decide on mounting another bid, Hice would likely appeal to those amongst Paul Broun’s socially conservative base. Prior to his 2010 campaign, he gained notoriety for a 2003 effort aimed at stopping the ACLU’s attempts at having a Ten Commandments statue removed from a Barrow County courthouse.

State Rep. Donna Sheldon announced he entry into the contest last week, following state Senator Bill Cowsert’s announcement he wouldn’t be running.

Stephen Simpson, who was vanquished by Broun in last year’s primary, is giving it another go and Columbia County’s Brian Slowinski has also announced his entry.

-Brandon Howell

Though 10th congressional district hopeful Stephen Simpson is being heavily outspent in the fundraising department, today marks a bit of good news with the announcement that former Georgia congressman Mac Collins will be joining the first-time candidate for the closing week of the campaign.

Per a campaign email blasted this morning by the Simpson campaign:

Stephen Simpson is proud to announce that he will be joined on the campaign trail in Jackson today by former Congressman Mac Collins. Stephen and Mac will begin their day at 7:00 am at a popular breakfast stop in Jackson…

“Stephen brings the right mix of leadership and experience to the people of the 10^thCongressional District” said Congressman Mac Collins.  ”Stephen understands that Washington no longer works for the people but seems more interested in rhetoric than results.  Stephen’s distinguished career in the military and in the private sector gives him the common sense and practical experience we need in our leaders. Stephen will work to reign-in bureaucratic regulations that stifle small business and cost our country jobs.”

This is not the first run-in Collins and Broun have had on opposite sides the campaign spectrum. Collins defeated Broun in the 1992 Republican primary for Georgia’s then-3rd congressional district seat. He was also rumored to have decided to challenge Broun himself this election cycle, but elected otherwise in mid-May. 

-Brandon Howell

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun’s GOP primary challenger Stephen Simpson fell victim on Friday to a common Twitter phishing scheme in which users are duped into sharing platform credentials.

After receiving a seemingly-personal note in which a masked link is provided, unassuming users are prompted to provide their username and password on an interface that mirrors Twitter’s web client because their “session has expired.”

The Tipsheet (@GeorgiaTipsheet) received an in-service message on Friday indicating Team Simpson had joined the legion of hoodwinked tweeters, though it’s unlikely the candidate himself fell for the scam, as his presence on the micro-blogging network relays campaign events in a third-person narrative.

But at least he’s in good company: Simpson’s campaign alerted one follower just last month that they had been deceived by one such scam.

@JeffreyHarveyFB I think that your account was hacked earlier today. You might want to change your twitter password if you haven’t already.

— Stephen Simpson (@SKSimpson2012) May 27, 2012

Even as Simpson’s Twitter travails have fizzled, his stump stingers are passing muster with the truthiness arbiters at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politifact.

The fact-checking outfit rated as mostly true Simpson’s claim that “nothing [Rep. Broun] has introduced has ever passed.”

- James Richardson

In a not-so-veiled attempt to drive attention to the residency of his primary challenger, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun announced on Tuesday he would debate fellow Republican Stephen Simpson in an out-of-district forum in Macon.

Broun’s campaign said it had agreed to square off later this month with Simpson on “Close Up,” a Macon public affairs program broadcast by local CBS affiliate WMAZ. Host Randall Savage would moderate the debate, televised on noon on Saturday June 30 and rebroadcast at 6 AM the following day, between the two.

Though Simpson calls Macon home, it falls outside the boundaries of the district for which he is campaigning. Broun said he thought it appropriate to debate in the home towns of each contender, and asked that Simpson, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, accept an invitation to debate in districted Athens.

“Congressman Broun also believes that, since he lives in Oconee County, it is appropriate that one debate will be held in nearby Athens, and, that the other debate will be held in Macon (although outside the 10th District) because that is where Mr. Simpson lives,” a release from the Athens Republican’s campaign reads.

- James Richardson