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In the battle for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, one candidate is getting schooled in what not to say.

The drama started with a diss: Republican candidate David Perdue knocked Republican rival Karen Handel for not having a college degree. "There's a high school graduate in this race, OK? I'm sorry, but these issues are so much broader, so complex," Perdue said at an event. "There's only one candidate in this race that's ever lived outside the United States. How can you bring value to a debate about the economy unless you have any understanding about...what it takes to compete in the global economy?"

The remarks, made in January, were caught on video and sent to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by an unnamed source. The paper posted the video online in early April. And then a storm began.

"Some in this race think the problems in Washington are a little too complex for a gal like me," Handel quipped at a luncheon a day after the comments surfaced.

For her campaign, the dig became a gift, providing a golden opportunity to discuss her hard-won accomplishments. Handel says she left a troubled home in Maryland at age 17, then finished high school and made her own way, eventually serving as Georgia Secretary of State. "My mom was not a well woman. She had a very severe alcohol problem. It was very unstable in that environment," she told NBC News in her first extended interview since the flap began.

"I don't talk in too much detail about it, and here's why: My father is still alive and I don't want to ever embarrass him," she said. "For me, the best decision was to remove myself from what was becoming a more and more volatile situation. I was able to live with another family and finish up high school. I tried to remember that as bad as I thought things were for me, someone else had it a whole lot worsethere was no point in me sitting around whining and boohooing."

Sarah Palin speaks at a county women's group meeting as she campaigns for Karen Handel, right, on April 3, 2014, in Union City, Ga.

Handel is no stranger to controversy. She was an executive at Susan G. Komen for the Cure when the breast-cancer charity came under fire in 2012 for a decision to phase out a grant to Planned Parenthood, then reversed the move amid a public backlash.

The recent dustup with Perdue "very much illustrated just how out of touch he is with the majority of Georgians," she said. "For all of us, our responsibility in life is to make the most of what comes our way. I have walked in the shoes of an average person."

Perdue's camp told NBC he has worked hard to achieve success himself. "David certainly did not mean to offend anyone with his comment," said spokesman Derrick Dickey. "Like most Americans, he wasnt handed anything on a silver platter." Perdue, a former CEO of both Reebok and Dollar General, "grew up the son of two teachers in middle Georgia and worked his way through school by taking construction and warehouse jobs to pay the bills," his spokesman said. A cousin of former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, the candidate has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgia Tech, according to his website.

The rest is here:
Ex-Komen honcho's new flap

HARTFORD With one month to go before the state Republican convention, Senate Minority Leader John McKinney of Fairfield has raised the highest amount of any candidate for governor in the all-important money race.

McKinney had raised more than $178,000 in small contributions by the end of the first quarter on March 31. He was followed by Greenwich business executive Tom Foley at $131,000 and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton at $121,000, according to public documents.

But Boughton has combined with his lieutenant governor candidate, Heather Somers, to raise a combined $184,000 in qualified contributions as they try to reach the necessary threshold of $250,000 to qualify for public financing. Under a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in 2010, running mates can combine their money in order to reach the threshold.

"We picked a very clear path on how to get to our qualifying amount,'' Boughton said Tuesday. "Heather has to raise another $20,000, and I have to raise another $45,000. We would like to qualify before walking into the convention.''

The Republicans will be choosing their candidates for governor and other statewide offices at the convention on May 17 at the Mohegan Sun casino. Any candidate who receives the votes of at least 15 percent of the delegates will qualify for an August primary. The winner then would run in the fall against Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

The main candidates have said they will be seeking public financing, which requires them to raise $250,000 in amounts up to a maximum of $100. As such, they need 2,500 contributors at $100 each. If the average falls below $100, then they would need even more contributors a task politicians say is more difficult than it appears. If they reach the threshold, they would qualify for $6 million in public funds to run in the general election.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti was in fourth place among Republican gubernatorial candidates at more than $110,000, while former West Hartford town council member Joseph Visconti and Avon attorney Martha Dean trailed with less than $9,000 each. Dean was the last candidate to enter the race, but she was among five candidates on the stage last week at the Mark Twain House in Hartford for the first major televised debate of the season.

In addition, lieutenant governor candidate Penny Bacchiochi, a state legislator from Stafford Springs, raised more than $82,000. Her total would provide a significant boost to any candidate if she joined a ticket.

The money-raising totals cover the period that ended on March 31. Malloy has been raising money this month for his campaign, but he did not sign his filing papers as a candidate until April 1, which was the start of the next fundraising period.

McKinney, the son of a former member of the U.S. Congress who is well known in Fairfield County, reported more than 2,000 individual contributors to his campaign. McKinney noted that he is ahead of the pace of others who have qualified for public funds in the past and said that he is "pleased with our progress and well on our way to qualifying.''

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Republican Candidates Race Toward $250,000 Threshold

Republican lawmakers said hearings on Sylvia Mathews Burwells nomination as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary provide a fresh opening to raise questions about President Barack Obamas health-care law.

Obamas choice of Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to succeed Kathleen Sebelius will elevate some of the concerns that Republicans have about Obamacare, Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said on CBSs Face the Nation program.

After initial stumbles, the program known as Obamacare beat initial forecasts as the first open enrollment period ended on March 31. About 7.5 million people signed up for private health insurance through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care, Sebelius told a Senate hearing on April 10, hours before her resignation was announced.

Sebelius said she decided to leave after feeling optimistic the administration would meet its enrollment goal and recover from a terribly flawed and terribly difficult launch of its health-care website last fall. In an interview broadcast today on NBCs Meet the Press program, she said she wasnt forced out.

Republican lawmakers said they want details on how many enrollees have paid for their plans, the age composition of the enrollees and how that will influence insurers decisions to raise prices next year.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget, right, is U.S. President Barack Obama's choice to be his next secretary of Health and Human Services. Close

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget,... Read More

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Sylvia Mathews Burwell, currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget, right, is U.S. President Barack Obama's choice to be his next secretary of Health and Human Services.

Lawmakers should use Burwells confirmation hearings to figure out first and foremost who actually has benefited from the so-called success of Obamacare and its rollout, Senator Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said on Fox News Sunday.

Link:
Burwell HHS Hearings Give Republicans Obamacare Opening