Former Gov. Roy Barnes is just shy of winning the Democratic nomination for governor without a runoff, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey released today.

The poll showed Barnes with 49 percent of the vote, Attorney General Thurbert Baker with 19 percent and 21 percent undecided. Support for the other five candidates was negligible – they split the remaining 11 percent.

The survey of 600 Democratic likely voters taken July 2 and 3 did not include a margin of error.

A couple of interesting factoids: African-Americans supported Barnes over Baker, who is black, by a 51-28 margin. White voters were twice as likely to be undecided as African-Americans. The older the voter, the more likely he was to support Barnes. Women and men hardly differed at all in who they supported.

Democratic attorney general candidate Ken Hodges continues to claim that Andrew Young endorsed him even after Young denied it.

Young told the AJC that Hodges had his picture taken with him, but he did not endorse Hodges or his opponent, state Rep. Rob Teilhet, D-Smyrna. He has, however, cut a check to Teilhet.

Hodges, the Dougherty County district attorney, e-mailed a list of endorsements to supporters this morning. Right at the top of the list is this: “Ambassador Andrew Young - Former Mayor of Atlanta, U.S. Congressman, and Ambassador to the U.N.”

Hodges and Teilhet traded press releases over the Fourth of July weekend. Teilhet announced an endorsement today from the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Jane Kidd is telling county party leaders to quit talking trash about John Barrow.

The Savannah congressman has angered many liberals over the years, but for some activists, voting against health care reform was the last straw. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., recently visited Barrow’s district to talk up HCR, and Barrow is facing a challenge from former state Sen. Regina Thomas on his left flank.

From the Associated Press’s Russ Bynum:

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party is telling local party heads to silence their criticism of U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a Savannah Democrat facing opposition in next month's primary election.

But the Democratic gubernatorial candidate says he’s not going to make a big deal out of it.

Porter, the House minority leader from Dublin, is a hard man to pin down on abortion. That’s not surprising, given that he’s stuck between a conservative, religious rural constituency and statewide ambitions that involve appealing to a more liberal, female, urban audience as well.

Talking to Porter about biotech research this afternoon, I prefaced a question about embryonic stem cells by asking him whether he was pro-life or pro-choice.

“I don’t know if that’s where government needs to be,” he dodged.

I pressed a little bit, and he said he believes abortion ought to be legal in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life. So, otherwise, you’re pro-life, then, right? Right, he said, but with the caveat that state governments don’t have much control over the issue.

As we reported today, Jason Carter, the former president's grandson, won election to the a Dekalb County state Senate seat on Tuesday.

The story said that Carter faces a rematch against fellow Democrat Tom Stubbs in the July primary to decide who gets a full term. That was true at the time, but a very tired-sounding Carter said today that Stubbs graciously bowed out of the race, leaving him unopposed. Barring the one-in-a-million chance that a Libertarian or independent gets on the November ballot and beats him, Carter’s in until 2012.

And he’s not wasting any time getting started on his new job. He’s been summoned to a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting Thursday morning, he said.

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Here's a sneak peek at my story for tomorrow's paper on the Democratic gubernatorial debate this afternoon at the University of Georgia.

Democratic candidates for governor called on Washington Saturday to bail out cash-strapped schools in Georgia.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced a $23 billion bill Wednesday to save teachers who would otherwise be laid off due to budget cuts. It’s needed in Georgia, five Democrats said during a debate at a Young Democrats convention in Athens.

“It is that desperate,” House Minority Leader DuBose Porter said. “We do need the additional stimulus money, and if we didn’t have what we have right now, we’d be in unbelievably terrible shape.”

From a tactical standpoint, the knock on Democrats – nationally, but especially in Georgia – is that they like to sit around and wring their hands about whether they should attack Republicans or appease them. Meanwhile, Republicans are letting everyone know that the other side is a bunch of godless Communist surrender monkeys who will take your guns and force dudes to marry other dudes.

Yeah, voters say they don’t like negative campaigning. But guess which one usually works better?

So the Democratic Party of Georgia has apparently grown a pair and launched a Web site listing allegations of corruption against five GOP officeholders.

Sorry that this is turning into “All Paul Broun, all the time,” but a Democratic Party of Georgia tirade just arrived in the in-box.

As reported on this blog a month ago, Broun said on Fox News that “people are going to die because of this Obamacare.”

It seems the DPG just picked up on it today, when Broun said on the House floor that “this program of 'government option' is being touted as being this panacea, the savior of allowing people to have quality health care at an affordable price, is going to kill people."

“The reigning king of Capitol Hill hyperbole is dusting off the same old Republican scare tactics and distortions to make his case for protecting big insurance companies while turning a blind eye to millions of Georgians without health care,” a DPG press release said.

I’ve heard pressure is being applied to certain Democratic gubernatorial candidates to clear the field for former Gov. Roy Barnes, thus saving resources and avoiding acrimony for the showdown with the Republican nominee. Democrats do not have a long enough bench to have so many big dogs on the same track.

With that in mind, the AJC’s Jim Galloway offers a rundown on how the various other statewide races might shape up on the Democratic side.

In particular, he quotes Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, an Athens native, saying that he is interesting in running for lieutenant governor and will make up his mind in July.

Not quite, but ...

The University of Georgia College Republicans chapter bills itself as the largest in the nation. These days, it’s not even the largest political group on its own campus.

As I mentioned Monday, I occasionally drop by College Republicans or UGA Young Democrats meetings to hear speakers. In the Bush years, College Republican meetings were usually packed out, while the Young Democrats only really picked up during the presidential primaries last year.

The attendance gap between the College Republicans Monday and the Young Democrats Wednesday was stark, but the other way around. Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Poythress, a bland speaker who last ran for office when current college freshmen were seven years old, drew about 80 or 100 people. Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel, a darling of the base, drew perhaps 20.