With his candidate of choice, Eric Johnson, out of the race, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston is throwing his support behind Nathan Deal in the gubernatorial runoff.

"I encourage conservative Republicans in Southeast Georgia to join me in rallying behind Nathan Deal to be Georgia's next governor. For those who supported Eric Johnson, Nathan is the natural fit for the Aug. 10 runoff.

"As a member of Congress, Nathan earned a perfect score from the American Conservative Union which speaks volumes for his conservative record.

"On immigration, he introduced legislation and led the fight to end birthright citizenship. His citizenship verification law slashed Medicaid fraud, cutting Georgia's Medicaid rolls by 160,000 and saving our state millions.

Nathan Deal and Karen Handel are virtually tied, according to a poll of 400 likely Republican primary voters taken Thursday night by McLaughlin & Associates and released today by the Deal campaign.

Be aware that Team Real wouldn’t have released this poll if it wasn’t favorable to them. That said, 39 percent of respondents support Deal, 38 percent support Handel and 23 percent are undecided. The poll has a 4.9 percent margin of error.

The poll also shows:

• Deal and Handel both have favorable ratings above 50 percent, but both Handel’s favorable and unfavorable ratings are higher than Deal’s.

• 38 percent think Deal has a better chance of beating Roy Barnes, compared to 33 percent who think Handel does.

• 56 percent called Deal conservative and 19 percent called him moderate or liberal. Forty-one percent said Handel is moderate or liberal, and 35 percent said she is conservative.

Sarah Palin is getting under Nathan Deal’s skin.

Team Deal sent out an e-mail Saturday saying that “Real women, real leaders, real conservatives all have endorsed a real leader, Nathan Deal.” It included quotes from female supporters like former U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood’s widow, Gloria.

Team Handel shot back, calling Deal a “sexist.” “We have news for Mr. Deal,” they said. “Sarah Palin is a real woman, and she supports Karen.”

Women are going to decide the Republican race for governor. A Georgia Newspaper Partnership/Mason-Dixon poll out today shows men evenly split between Handel, Deal and John Oxendine. But 34 percent of women support Handel, compared to 19 percent for Oxendine. Apparently, only 16 percent of female Republicans are “real women,” because that’s how many are voting for Deal.

If you’ve been following the Republican race for governor lately, you're probably under the impression that they think gay people – not the economy, not unemployment, not education cuts – are the single biggest challenge facing the future of our great state.

Team Deal aired an ad attacking Karen Handel’s positions on gay issues – charges she vehemently disputes.

Team Ox set up a website devoted largely to alleging that Handel is sympathetic to gays – something she adamantly denies.

Now, Handel, who left her broken home at age 17, is saying gay parents are not as good as straight ones, and they should not be able to adopt children, according to 11Alive.

A good rule of thumb to remember in politics is whoever’s under attack is probably winning.

Candidates for insurance commissioner have been coming after state Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, for a long time. Just today, state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, issued a news release accusing Hudgens of failing to return $106,000 that he illegally transferred from his state Senate campaign account to fund his run for insurance commissioner.

The AJC has more details about the bank part-owned by Rep. Paul Broun going under.

Not long before it lost its multi-year fight for survival, McIntosh Commercial Bank had lost so much money on such loans that, by one measure, it was financially the weakest of Georgia’s roughly 300 banks. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimates the closure will cost its deposit insurance fund more than $123 million.

McIntosh had a problem-loan-to-cash-reserve ration of 884 percent, the highest of any bank in the state, and unwinding it will cost taxpayers $123 million. Broun blames the closure on an overzealous Obama Administration. Federal investigators are conducting an audit to determine whether the bank should have been shut down, the AJC reported.

Democratic candidate Russell Edwards is turning the business failure into a campaign issue:

U.S. Rep. Tom Price switched his endorsement in the governor’s race from his former congressional colleague, Nathan Deal, to Karen Handel. From Team Handel:

"Karen Handel has demonstrated the strength, courage and leadership in business and public office that we desperately need in the next Governor of our great state of Georgia. Karen is not only the best candidate to win the nomination and take on Roy Barnes and the Democrats in November, but she will also be a wonderful Governor for our state," Congressman Price said today.

Price continued, "I know Karen. We have worked together on important issues for our constituents and our state. Karen will fight for transparency and accountability in our government and has the vision we need to create jobs, cut taxes, improve education and finally tackle the transportation challenges faced by so many Georgians."

As you’ve probably heard, Arizona recently passed a law requiring police to ask for proof of citizenship if they think you might be an illegal immigrant.

Nathan Deal likes the idea so much, he says he’ll pass such a law here if he’s elected governor. Which means scenes like this one might be coming to Georgia:

Clearly, the owner of this car is a gang member with no license and a bale of marijuana in the trunk

Deal’s full statement is below the jump.

Former congressman and current gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal stopped by for a chat today. The conversation, inevitably, turned to ethics.

Had Deal not resigned last month, there was enough evidence to charge him with using his position to preserve a state contract with a business he owns, according to an Office of Congressional Ethics report.

State officials wanted to privatize a program that inspected totaled cars that were being repaired and put back out on the road. The program operated out of a salvage yard owned by Deal. To hear Deal tell it, he never profited from the state, and his objections to privatization were based on safety, not money.

“I felt like I never did anything wrong in that regard,” he said.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling for a criminal investigation into former Rep. Nathan Deal.

The Office of Congressional Ethics released the results of its investigation (warning: large PDF file) today against Deal, a Republican candidate for governor.

The OCE investigated allegations that Deal intervened to preserve a state vehicle inspection program run by a private company he owns. The report concludes that Deal did intervene in his official capacity for his own personal benefit, earned more outside income than he is legally allowed as a congressman and did not properly disclose his involvement with the company.

In other words, he used his position to make money, then tried to hide the money from the public.