Roy Barnes may not care who he's running against, but the Democratic Party of Georgia does.

The DPG blasted out a press release attacking Nathan Deal, the newly minted Republican nominee for governor, for various ethical issues which plagued him during his final days in Congress ...

Wednesday was an historic day for Georgia - for the first time, one of the most corrupt Members of Congress became a nominee for Georgia’s highest office.

Congressman Nathan Deal was listed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an independent watchdog group, as one of the most corrupt Members of Congress, sparking a Congressional ethics probe that forced him to resign his seat less than 5 months ago.  In addition, the Congressional Office of Ethics said Deal may have violated up to six House ethics rules while in office.

The alternative plan to extend sewer lines into the Sandy Creek basin received a tepid, if not outright dismissive, response from Athens-Clarke County commissioners who have already rejected the project on three previous instances.

During last night's work session, commissioners peppered Athens-Clarke County staff with questions regarding the proposal.

Athens-Clarke County District Four Commissioner Alice Kinman, who has been outspoken in her opposition to the expansion, told BTT the alternative would build less sewer line than an earlier plan. However, she added that line would be of more value to future developers, not existing homeowners in the area. She said

But all of us had questions about how costly it would be for existing residents to hook up to the sewer line -- not just stub fees, but the cost to run collector lines. So, basically, my conclusion, and I think it is shared by my colleagues, is that the alternative plan would be a developer's line, just as would the line that was in the plan.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the first female Finance Minister in Nigeria, and she believes the best way to help Africa is by doing business there.

Just to make sure we're all on the same page, Republican voters narrowly defeated the Sarah Palin-endorsed candidate to nominate this guy to run for governor.

Karen Handel has conceded the race for governor to Nathan Deal, meaning the former congressman from Hall County is the Republican nominee.

She just sent out this statement ...

I want to thank all of my friends, supporters, volunteers and my campaign team for a tremendous effort over the last 16 months. We ran a terrific campaign, beat the odds to come in first place in the Primary, and came so very close in the runoff election.

As of this morning, we are four tenths of a percentage point behind Nathan Deal with absentee ballots and overseas military votes yet to be counted.

We certainly have the option of requesting the automatic statewide recount. But we are not going to do that.

The best thing for our party is to rally around Congressman Deal as our nominee in the fight against Roy Barnes. Barnes would return Georgia to a past that is best kept in our rearview mirror. We must marshal all of our resources to defeat him.

At the end of qualifying week for local, non-partisan elections in Athens-Clarke County, Bertis Downs submitted a letter to the editor to the Athens Banner-Herald requesting additional information related to not just why the five declared candidates for Clarke County Board of Education were seeking office, but also where they stood on a variety of issues confronting the local schools. BTT decided to take his questions and ask them of all the candidates, and this is the third installment of those responses. Jill Caudill's responses are here, and Sarah Ellis's responses are here.

Carole Lumpkin is up ...

How do we attract and retain quality teachers, the key ingredient in any child's education?

The Saporta Report noted the release of the criteria laid out by the Georgia Department of Transportation for how funding raised from the upcoming T-SPLOST can be allocated, and it doesn't look terribly promising for large-scale, mass transit options ...

The criteria also puts together a minimum and maximum range of what can be spent on road, transit and other transportation projects. For example, the range for roadway capital is between 20 to 50 percent. The range for transit capital is between 10 and 40 percent. The range for transit operations and maintenance is between 5 and 20 percent.

The balance would be spent on safety, traffic operations, freight and logistics, non-motorized transportation, aviation and roadway and bridge maintenance.

- By a margin of just 2,500 votes, it appears that Nathan Deal has held off Karen Handel to win the Republican nomination for governor. According to 11 Alive News, a recount is not automatic, despite the close margin, as Handel has to request one. There's no word on what she's going to do just yet, though she declined an invitation to appear on 11 Alive's morning news show.

- Here's BTT's coverage of last night's runoff.

- Locally, Frank Ginn won the GOP nomination for State Senate District 47 here in town. Shane Coley, a Tea Party favorite, refused to endorse him following the race.

- Additionally, Ralph Hudgens is going to be your next Insurance Commissioner. Process that for a little bit.

Our first installment of the night, and, with 20 percent reporting, Karen Handel and Nathan Deal are virtually tied. Why? Look no further than Deal's ability to overperform in places like Cherokee County where Handel won easily during the general election. With 66 percent reporting, Handel's up 1,063 to 693 in what is supposed to be her backyard. However, during the general election, Handel won by a two-to-one margin in that county.

As of now, it's Deal with 29,172 and Handel with 28,498.

7:57 p.m. - Places to watch ... Chatham County. Did Eric Johnson deliver? Oh, and with 24 percent in, Deal's up by less than 600 votes.

8:00 p.m. - Closer to home, Shane Coley is up by 39 votes over Frank Ginn with 24 percent reporting in the runoff for State Senate District 47.

8:02 p.m. - Ralph Hudgens is cruising right now with 26 percent of the vote in. He's up by more than 10,000 votes over Maria Sheffield.

8:03 p.m. - Deal's moved up by 3,000 votes as Hall County, his home base, starts to roll in. There's 28 percent reporting.

Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that will provide more than $26 billion in aid to state and local governments dealing with revenue shortfalls for the upcoming fiscal year.

As expected, no Republican in Georgia voted in support of the proposal - only two, Rep. Anh Cao of Louisiana and Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware, backed the bill - though Rep. Paul Broun Jr. apparently missed the vote, as did three other GOP congressmen from the state.