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ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) - The Georgia senate race looks competitive as the general election nears.  A new Rasmussen Reports poll of Georgia voters shows Democratic challenger Jim Martin trailing incumbent Saxby Chambliss by just six percentage points.

The state's $428 million homeowner tax relief grant program has done little more than supplement the growing spending habits of local government, Gov. Sonny Perdue said Tuesday.

Perdue, who has already frozen the grant payments to counties because of the state's budget crisis, said the program has proven ineffective in holding down property taxes in Georgia

"The growth of local government has been overwhelming," Perdue said. "While the [grant program] had great motives initially - to reduce the local tax burden - it has not worked out that way."

Washington —- Rep. Paul Broun of Athens has spent more than 80 percent of his annual office budget, leaving his office very close to running on empty for the last half of this year.

Official numbers released Monday show that almost half of his spending went for mass mailings to constituents in advance of his July 15 primary.

Use of Reed shows he’ll do anything for contest

As Sen. John McCain makes daily statements about the conflict in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, his campaign is answering questions regarding how his top foreign policy adviser, lobbyist Randy Scheunemann, made a killing in lobbying fees from the Georgian government.

But that’s not McCain’s only Georgia problem. Ralph Reed is fund-raising for the Arizona senator’s Aug. 18 fund-raiser at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta, and that has made even the most ardent McCain backers scratch their heads.

Ralph Reed's involvement in an upcoming Atlanta fund-raiser for John McCain has the presidential candidate fending off an onslaught of criticism from Democrats.

Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition, was tied to the corruption scandal involving Jack Abramoff, the highly paid Washington lobbyist now serving a six-year prison term. Much of the Abramoff scandal was exposed by an investigation led by McCain when he chaired the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

No lobbyist? Grab your wallet.

It's time to keep one eye on your bank account and another on our friends at the state Capitol. Times are tough, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, fresh off his junket to China, is circling like a shark, looking for additional cash for state government. Perdue fired the initial shot last week when he suggested that the state end $400 million in annual property tax relief that dates from the administration of Gov. Roy Barnes.

Ralph Reed's standing in national GOP circles is getting a test.

Campaign Money Watch, a campaign finance watchdog group, has just called on Republican presidential candidate John McCain to cancel plans for an Aug. 18 fund-raiser in Atlanta hosted in part by Reed, the former state GOP chairman and ex-leader of the Christian Coalition.

MOST CITIZENS probably got blindsided by the state's freeze of property tax "give backs" in its quest to deal with what is truly a pretty drastic budgetary shortfall in revenue - as much as $2 billion is apparently possible. Heck, most citizens probably didn't realize this line-item reduction on their property-tax bills was saving them more than $200 a year. It's little wonder the current ruling Republicans never made a big deal about it while talking up "tax reform." Pretty hard to brag on an actual tax reform that was put in by a Democratic administration.

Lawsuit against the state involving dismal test scores offers revealing remarks

Remember those surprising failure rates in the state's science and social studies tests? The depositions in the lawsuit against the state brought by rural schools offer some insights into those awful results.