Barry Fleming has one more problem.

Rep. Paul Broun and Fleming both filed their second-quarter FEC reports today, 12 days early. Broun out-raised Fleming almost two-to-one, but Fleming has $344,000 on hand compared to Broun’s $202,000. Still, that’s great news for the Team Broun.

It’s bad news for Democrat Bobby Saxon, though, whose report is not online yet. Team Saxon had hoped that, assuming Broun won, he’d be essentially bankrupted by the primary, putting them on more or less even footing. But Broun is learning how to raise money like an incumbent.

Peach Pundit has video of the Atlanta Press Club debate. You’ve probably heard most of it before. Fleming did haul out the bankruptcy/tax lien angle, which I expected him to do Monday in Athens but he did not.

Im on ur floorz, droppin ur lejislayshun.

State Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, will be one of Sonny Perdue's floor leaders next year. Says the governor's press office:

"Cowsert joins Senator Bill Heath (District 31) and Senator Ronnie Chance (District 16) who also serve as Administration Floor Leaders in the Senate. Cowsert will replace Senator Joseph Carter, who has announced that he will run for Superior Court judge in the Tifton Judicial Circuit.

“'Bill is a smart, analytical member of the Senate that has already won the respect of his colleagues,' said Governor Perdue. 'I look forward to his contributions as we continue to move Georgia forward.'”

Things one could possibly read into this:

A) Cowsert is deathly afraid of Tommy Malcom and Perdue is giving him a little boost.

B) Cowsert is being groomed for bigger and better things.

C) Sonny just thinks Bill's a heck of a guy.

And this is one.

Fleming's Franklin County chairman resigned from the campaign today, citing Fleming's negative campaigning against Rep. Paul Broun. Bust out your Bible and read this:

Barry, Brian and Campaign Staff,

I told you when we first met that I would be happy to work for the Fleming campaign in Franklin County, GA as the individual assigned to do so by the leadership of the Franklin County Republicans. I also told you that you would have all my support and efforts provided that you did not go negative by bringing up the past against Paul Broun. It appears now that you have done so. Therefore I resign as the Franklin County Chairman for the Fleming for Congress campaign.

Activist judges. Judicial activism. Usurping the will of the people. Legislating from the bench.

We hear elected politicians utter those phrases on an almost daily basis in response to some perceived outrage emanating from the third branch of government. But the charge is more about whether the politician in question agrees with the decision than whether the decision was based in law.

Take, for instance, Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens. Last week Broun, who earlier condemned the California Supreme Court gay marriage decision, railed against the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning the death sentence of a Louisiana man convicted of raping a 13-year-old because it is cruel and unusual punishment.

Let’s talk qualifying.

We’ll have two very interesting Athens-Clarke Commission races to follow: Elton Dodson versus Mike Hamby in District 10 and Red Petrovs versus Ed Robinson in District 6.

I know Petrovs far better than Robinson because I’ve been covering OneAthens and I wasn’t around for the 2004 election. This will be a race of contrasting ideas and styles where there’s a clear-cut choice.

Petrovs is a tough-talking, no-nonsense kind of guy who is conservative, especially fiscally, but is driven by facts and not ideology. His voice would be unique on the commission. He could get stuck with the Chamber of Commerce tag – the kiss of death in recent elections – but he says the chamber’s changed so much since Larry McKinney left that it’s not such an albatross anymore.

Paul Broun’s re-election campaign released another internal poll Monday touting the congressman’s huge lead.

Broun leads Republican primary opponent Barry Fleming 80-15, has an 81 percent approval rating and 97 percent name recognition, compared to Fleming’s 58 percent. The poll of 300 district residents was conducted by the Tarrance Group and has 5.8 percent margin of error.

The poll’s accompanying memo also says that Fleming’s negative campaign tactics – otherwise known as questioning Broun’s voting record – have backfired.

I still don’t believe these numbers, but there they are.

No one’s been talking about unknown political newcomer Rand Knight as a contender in the U.S. Senate race, but at some point you’ve got to take the guy seriously. That time might be now.

Let's be realistic. Despite his immigration flip-flopping, pork-laden farm bill, support for the war and the general distaste for Republicans these days, Saxby Chambliss will be tough to beat. If you're going to go down, why not run a fresh face out there and see what happens?

Knight, an ecologist and by all accounts a longshot for the Democratic nomination, raised eyebrows when the AFL-CIO, Georgia’s most powerful union, endorsed him in May. Today came the news that he racked up another big endorsement, this one from the Georgia Association of Educators, another key Democratic constituency.

Or, Somewhere Something Cooler Is Happening and I’m Not There

Athfest was awesome. The worst part of the whole weekend was trying to decide who to go see. Here’s how it all went down:

• Dark Meat is not quite as mind-blowing when you’re standing 100 yards away from the stage surrounded by creepy 50-year-old dudes more interested in checking out high school girls than the music. I overheard a few hilarious conversations between parents and their kids involving the parents trying to look hip by saying how much they wanted to see Dark Meat. The band responded to the non-hipster segment of the audience by generally keeping it clean, encouraging the front rows to dance and substituting “hug” for an unprintable word in one chorus. It didn’t go over well – the crowd shrank by half by the end of the set.

A couple things real quick to ponder and discuss for the next few days.

One, the NBAF EIS is out. It’s 1,000 pages long. Guess I know how I’ll be spending my weekend.

Two, I spoke to Carl Jordan earlier today and he is not running for re-election.

Blake.aued@onlineathens.com

Barry Fleming implies that Paul Broun is in favor of child molestation. Broun responds by calling Fleming something even worse – a Democrat.

Broun issued a response today to Fleming’s TV ad portraying Broun as soft on child molesters. In it, Broun points out that Fleming has worked for two Democratic congressmen, and says his primary challenge is playing into the hands of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who’s replaced Hillary Clinton as Republicans’ ur-bitch) by diverting funds from other tight races.