Author: Bill Crane

Larger turnout elections with more independent and fewer socially conservative voters seem to be a safer bet for winning on the Sunday alcohol sales issue.

Few things make an ambitious office-seeker salivate more than the prospect of an open Congressional seat. The 2010 U.S. Census indicates Georgia’s population has grown by more than 20 percent since 2000. That means the state will gain a 14th…

As you may recall from days of yore, Robin Hood took from the rich and then gave to the poor. In those feudal days, the rich were very few and the poor were the masses, more like you and me.…

My grandmother taught me an early lesson: It’s okay to ask important people for their time and help, but just be careful not to waste their time. During the 2010 General Assembly, then House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons…

It was 1975 and our futuristic electric monorail was weaving through the treetops in central Florida, enroute to the Magic Kingdom. I’ll never forget that wonderful first ride on the Disney Monorail. That said, high-speed rail for Georgia and much…

Youth may in fact be “wasted” on the young, but there are few population segments in Georgia facing a potentially more devastating economic triple threat than high school seniors and college students. Drastic cuts in the state budget are likely…

Ten years ago, Georgia had a Democratic governor, Roy Barnes, two Democratic U.S. senators, Max Cleland and Zell Miller, and Democrats in the offices of lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, agriculture commissioner and labor commissioner, as well as…

An editorial cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Luckovich depicted moving day at the Governor’s Mansion. As Gov.-elect Nathan Deal unpacks, he comments that he will have “some pretty big shoes to fill.” Meanwhile, the movers find shoes better suited…

When your hear the phrase, “the politics of green,” visions of Al Gore, Michael Moore and even Green Party Presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney may dance through your head. This isn’t about that. This is about the real politics of green…

I'm going to forecast two words you'll be hearing often after this November election. The words will be spoken with a slight smile or a smirking sneer, depending on the direction you prefer your networks and talking heads to lean.…

Early in my career, when I was traveling Georgia with then-Secretary of State Max Cleland, he often spoke of the “holy trinity of church, home and school” that was such an important part of his early years in Lithonia and…

Georgia sales tax and income tax revenues remain in free fall. County tax digests shrink as homes are foreclosed or decline in value. Only the revenues of the Georgia Lottery, selling hope and HOPE, trend up, but still not fast…

We’ve met the man from Hope, Ark., and a President all about “hope and change,” but here in Georgia, HOPE is a much more tangible and concrete resource for thousands of households. Since Zell Miller created the state’s most popular…

Voters increasingly identify themselves as “Independents” instead of Democrats or Republicans. Recent polls put self-classification as “Independent” near 30 percent, with the GOP and Democratic parties holding only slightly higher percentages. Contrast this with the U.S. Senate’s 100 members, with…

There is something about springtime in Georgia that makes you believe that anything is possible and that a new day may be just around the corner. I personally believe that real and lasting change tends to occur incrementally, as opposed…