Oh, election-year politics under the Gold Dome.

State Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, has scheduled a press conference for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow to announce proposed changes to campaign finance law aimed at the office of insurance commissioner.

Scott, as it happens, is running for governor as a reform candidate. The current insurance commissioner, coincidentally, is John Oxendine, the Republican frontrunner in the governor’s race. Oxendine, wouldn’t you know, is accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions from an insurance company executive who’s also his hunting buddy.

New Speaker David Ralston started shaking up House leadership on Thursday, getting rid of the hated “hawks” and announcing the resignations of two committee chairman who are running for statewide office.

The three hawks – empowered by former Speaker Glenn Richardson to sway votes in any committee and keep Republicans in line with his wishes – have resigned, and rule changes eliminating the positions are presumably forthcoming.

“While this system was initiated to enable House committees to more readily meet their quorum requirements, it has become a tool used strictly for partisan purposes,” Ralston said in a news release. “Under my leadership, I am committed to working across the aisle and ensuring an equal voice to all House members no matter their party affiliation.”

Roy Barnes who shattered records by spending $20 million on his failed re-election bid in 2002, reported raising $2.7 million in the second half of 2009 to fund his bid to take back the governor’s office.

Campaign finance disclosures are due by the end of Friday. The only other gubernatorial candidate to report so far was Republican state Rep. Austin Scott, who said he raised $375,000.

In other governor’s race- and money-related news, Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Jane Kidd is questioning Karen Handel’s newfound commitment to ethics.

State Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, claims to have broken the record for longest walk by an American politician. Guinness does not list this as a record, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that someone, somewhere, is keeping track.

Scott, who recently took a stroll around the entire state of Georgia as part of a long-shot campaign for governor, said he walked 1,068 miles, breaking former U.S. Sen. Lawton Chile’s 1970 record of 1,033 miles.

"I'm surprised that the 'Walkin’ Lawton' record stood as long as it did," Scott said. "I guess there just aren't that many politicians who want to walk throughout their states the way I did."

Team Austin put the record in perspective: 1,068 miles is 250 miles farther than the distance from Atlanta to Dallas, 100 miles farther than the distance from Atlanta to Toronto and 90 miles farther than the distance from Atlanta to Omaha, Neb.

David Poythress is considered a long shot at best to win the Democratic primary for governor, so it makes sense that he wishes former Gov. Roy Barnes would just go away.

The puzzling thing to many Democrats, though, is why he insists that it should be Barnes, not him, who drops out.

Poythress sent out another e-mail today calling on Barnes to drop out of – or rather, since he hasn’t actually started campaigning, not enter – the race.

My story today on state Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, a candidate for governor, focused on his pitch to young voters. Of course, he talked about much more than that.

Scott grew up poor and, like most politicians who grew up poor, brags about it in his stump speech. In a nod to the current credit crisis, he recalled how his parents were turned down for a bank loan to buy a $65,000 house, then borrowed $5,000 from his grandparents to make the down payment.

“That’s how it should be,” he said. “Families helping families get ahead.”