A Sunday drive along Turner McCall Boulevard in Rome shows a spread of candidates' signs but not as many as in recent years. Turner McCall and First Street also is not as packed.
With advance voting starting today and the general election eight days out, we're seeing some final moves in a mostly sleepy local campaign. Statewide, there's a real buzz about a runoff in the governor's race as polls tighten up and the rhetoric cranks up. Some notes to share in this otherwise final stretch:
-Advance voting begins at civic center: You can vote today through Friday at Rome Civic Center (photo, right) from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Early voting also continues at the election office at 12 E. Fourth Ave. in downtown Rome in the ground floor office off First Street.
-Here's a link to Floyd County's sample ballots. Click
-RINOs for Sweet Reason? Perhaps they are a local breed of Republicans in Name Only" but whatever the reason, several people claiming Republican ties have stepped before the video camera to pitch Democrat Mike Burton (right) and his "sweet reason" upset bid over Republican Senate District 52 hopeful Barry Loudermilk. (lower right) The lineup includes a twice-failed state House candidate and another with ties to local "media" as well as a Polk County commissioner (Polk is outside the Senate district). As colorful as
Burton is, the YouTube 
video won't change the fact that Loudermilk will make sweet relish out of the Democrat -- and commercial. YouTube
-A challenge for KFC's new double-down sandwich:
You've probably seen the new piggy back yard signs stating "Isakson Deal" on them. The top goes to Johnny Isakson, the veteran Georgia Republican Senator who's seeking a new term. The bottom is Nathan Deal, the GOP candidate for governor. Odd to see a federal candidate and state candidate paired like that. But then who thought a high-calorie chicken sandwich--minus the bread--would be a hit?
-NAACP-Tea Party forum gets national attention: News organizations as far away as San Francisco picked up the prelude to last Thursday's candidates forum shared by the local NAACP chapter and the local Tea Party (click). Georgia Public Broadcasting also spun its own short story on the union. It defies national stories about NAACP and Tea Party groups at raging odds.
-Going for the gray vote: At least two senior living residences in Greater Rome have campaign material from local and one statewide candidate on some of the front tables as you enter and on what we'll classify as a community table. Smart move? You bet. We don't have the specifics but we'll assume older voters are more active than time-stretched younger counterparts.
-They've got a ticket to ride ... but will we care? A flock of statewide Republican candidates, including Rome school superintendent hopeful John Barge, are touring parts of the state on a bus campaign. Stops Sunday and Monday included Rome, Cartersville and Cedartown. The tour is called the "Real Jobs for Georgia" tour and therein lies the problem. With many of these guys being incumbents or having held other offices recently, why is the job push something on a potential future agenda vs. reality right now? Our jobless rate has been in the double digits for more than a year.
-Quiet night at election headquarters? All of two races will be decided solely by Rome/Floyd County voters on Nov. 2: A county commission seat and state House District 13. Will we still see the normal parade of politicos and wannabes at the administration building the night of Nov. 2? The only suspense of the night is the governor's race.
-Rome-grown Internet radio show Kudzu Vine growing like.. kudzu: Founded in 2007, David McLaughlin's Democrat-leading Kudzu Vine Internet radio show continues to grow. In recent weeks, it hit no. 2 on the BlogTalkRadio's politics category. You can hear Sunday's 7 p.m. show on demand or tune in Oct. 31 for the next live edition. Click Kudzu.
Local cell phone wars escalate as new gear arrives for holidays
New iPad sales, 'game-changer' smartphones have customers ... talking
By Natalie Simms
nsimmshh@att.net
Local cell phone wars will heat up this week as new products begin to roll out, signaling the start of the Christmas sales push. And with a new player in the market this year, competition will be at an all time high for your business.
Just over four months ago, Metro PCS made its debut in Rome, opening with four locations: Two owned by JM Communications of Georgia at 1929 Shorter Ave. and 1016 N. Broad St.; and two others are owned by Worldwide Communications, Inc. at 130 Shorter Ave. and 503 E. Second Ave.
"Business has been pretty good. We've been busy getting word out to the community about our services…sponsoring a number of community events," says Robin Dedios, assistant manager at the 1929 Shorter Ave. location. "We now have about 1,000 new customers in the area and November, December and January are coming up… typically the best months of the year."
Metro PCS touts a $40 per month price for unlimited talk, text and long-distance, which brings a relatively-lower priced option to the two biggest players in our market: AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless.
"We have a low flat-rate, no taxes, no contract, no credit checks…all pre-paid at the store," she says. "We are also getting ready to roll out 12 new phones before Christmas. All will be offered with instantly-off savings, no mail in rebates."
Rome's Verizon Wireless store manager Justin Harris welcomes the additional competition to the local cell phone market.
"They (Metro PCS) are a company that offers a low cost solution that is needed for some folks. But there are still a huge number of people looking for something more that we can offer," says Harris.
And the offers begin this week as both local Verizon and AT &T stores launch the Apple iPad on Oct. 28. Prices will start at $629.
"We are really excited to see Apple and Verizon come together to offer the iPad. This is a great way to kick off the holiday season," Harris says. "We have some customers already on a contact list for when they come in. I'm sure we'll have some waiting in line."
Along with the iPad, Verizon also will be introducing several new Droid devices before the holidays. Harris believes all the new products will only add to business.
"Our parking lot stays slapped full," he says. "The good news is we've rented a lot up the street for our employees to park and walk down. Plus we're re-doing our parking lot to give us additional spaces. We definitely stay busy and expect to continue to do so."
Along with the iPad, the local AT&T Wireless store at 617 Martha Berry Blvd. is gearing up for the launch of the new Windows Phone 7 with Microsoft's new operating system.
"Microsoft's new mobile operating system has been the focus of worldwide buzz and bandwidth for months," says Stacey Harth, AT&T Corporate Communications. "The new smartphones from HTC, LG and Samsung will be available exclusively for AT&T customers ahead of the holiday shopping season."
Each of the three smartphones sports a capacitive (sensors) glass touch screen, 5-megapixel camera and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. The first to debut will be the Samsung Focus on Nov. 8. The others premiere just before Christmas.
"These devices – quite literally – are game changers, and we are delighted to bring them to our customers," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "It's a perfect match – phones that redefine gaming and entertainment, riding a network that assures customers a high-speed experience."
AT&T also will launch three Android smartphones this holiday season, bringing its line-up to a total of eight Android devices available to customers.
"We want nothing less than the best smartphone line-up on the nation's fastest mobile broadband network," says Michael Woodward, vice president, Mobile Phone Portfolio, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "These diverse new Android devices from Motorola add diversity to our Android platform and provide more options for our customers."
All the changes in the mobile phone wars have not come without casualties. Earlier this month, the Corr Wireless shop on Turner McCall (right) closed its doors after an initial, successful run in Greater Rome. The shop took over Verizon's former location as Verizon moved to new quarters at the intersection of Turner McCall and Broad Street. The location is up for lease.
What's next:
-Arts, crafts, food, hot apple cider and entertainment headline the 46th edition of the 
-Baseball fans are hearing some familiar names in the Yankees-Rangers American League Championship Series. It wasn't that long ago that Texas Rangers' outfielder Jeff Francoeur was a member of the 2003 South Atlantic League champion Rome Braves. Or that Elvis Andrus (right) was tumbled onto the field at State Mutual Stadium as part of another Rome team. Until late July, a third former Rome star--catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia--wore a Rangers' uniform; he's now with the Boston Red Sox organization. 
Peak to Michelle Plemons Sanders, a third-grade teacher at Garden Lakes Elementary, selected last week as the Floyd County Schools Teacher of the Year for 2011. 
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