One of the major distractions of 2009 is about to become one of the major distractions of 2010.

House Speaker David Ralston told the academic and business group Georgia Bio today that the House will take up Sen. Ralph Hudgen’s so-called Octomom bill this year.

Hudgens, at the time, said the bill would simply stop a woman from having Lord knows how many children and going on welfare. Critics said it would pave the way to outlawing abortion, make it impossible for any woman to undergo fertility treatment and short-circuit our nascent biotech industry by inhibiting research into stem-cell therapy, or at least making Georgia seem really backwards.

During the first day of the General Assembly’s 2010 session on Monday, we heard lots of words like openness, transparency, independence, bipartisanship, character, honesty and integrity. New Speaker David Ralston promised more civility and more debate. He even spoke to reporters – something Glenn Richardson hadn’t done for two years.

Today, House leaders kicked the media out of a Republican caucus meeting. Has anything really changed?

High praise for Murphy

After accepting the gavel from former Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter on Monday, Ralston showed he’s a student of history.

Ralph Hudgens is in trouble in his own backyard.

The Oglethorpe County GOP took a straw poll on Saturday, and in the insurance commissioner’s race, Alpharetta health care consultant Gerry Purcell beat Hudgens 79 votes to 56 (five other candidates combined for 84 votes). Hudgens represents Oglethorpe County in the Senate.

The man who thinks stem-cell research is evil is deftly using the Intertubes for publicity.

State Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, sent out a message to his Facebook group today announcing that Guy Millner, the former candidate for governor and U.S. senator, has joined his campaign for state insurance commissioner as co-chairman.

So far as we know, Facebook has never killed any babies. Therefore, it does not need to be banned.

In all seriousness, though, Hudgens is looking more and more like the front-runner to replace John Oxendine. He's also out-fundraising the other candidates and won the endorsement of the Georgia Medical Association's political action committee. So to add a big name like Millner, who currently serves as chairman and CEO of the insurance company AssuranceAmerica, to his team is a boost.

Sorry, folks, I've been out sick for the past couple of days. The swine flu's been going around, you know. Here's what you missed while I was gone:

• The talk of the town last summer was Athens-Clarke Commissioner Kelly Girtz’s effort to legalize urban chickens. And, no, that’s not a metaphor for pot.

Girtz never got anywhere. Good thing, too, because Slate media critic Jack Schafer says the in-town poultry movement is a myth.

Conservative Christian activist Tim Echols has changed his mind about running for state Senate.

Echols had planned to run for the north-of-Athens seat Ralph Hudgens is leaving to run for state insurance commissioner, but said he doesn’t think he can effectively serve his constituents with seven children at home commuting from Winterville to Atlanta during the session. He still wants to run for office someday, he said, but not for six or eight years.

Speaking of Hudgens, he was at a Clarke County GOP meeting Monday and said Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has convinced him he is absolutely, positively running for governor – something many observers have doubted, given Oxendine’s history of entering, then dropping out of races for higher office.

Blake.aued@onlineathens.com

State Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, has some competition in the insurance commissioner’s race.

State Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, might jump in, according to the Macon Telegraph’s Travis Fain.

Harp is chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee. I’m not sure what that has to do with insurance, but hopefully he can find a way to use the power of the office to legalize Sunday sales.

Whether it’s Harp or someone else, Hudgens is absolutely going to face primary opposition. The moderate wing of the GOP isn’t going to let him go unchallenged.

Blake.aued@onlineathens.com

Less than 24 hours after state Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, said he’s running for insurance commissioner, we already have one taker for his seat.

Tim Echols, a conservative activist who lives in Winterville, is interested in running in the 47th, he said. The district includes eastern Clarke, Oglethorpe, Madison, part of Elbert, part of Jackson and Barrow counties.

In an article detailing potential primary challenges in 2010, the D.C. newspaper The Hill mentions yet again the rumor that Rep. Paul Broun will take on Sen. Johnny Isakson in the Republican primary.

“Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), no stranger to beating candidates who were supposed to dispatch him easily, could have his own designs on Sen. Johnny Isakson’s (R-Ga.) seat. Rumors are swirling in Georgia that the junior lawmaker is contemplating challenging the largely popular Isakson, and Broun has not ruled out his own bid.”

I just rolled into town from New Orleans, where I was attending a friend’s wedding, to the news that President Obama reversed the Bush Administration’s stem-cell policies and a Georgia Senate committee passed out Sen. Ralph Hudgens’ Nadya Suleman-inspired Octomom bill in response.

The bill had died in committee last week, but was resurrected after legislators caught wind that Obama would pour federal money into stem cell research, an area where the conservative Christian President Bush did not dare to tread. The AJC has the story.