Jason Carter hits Georgia brewpub searching for votes

DECATUR, Ga. — Jason Carter's final event before Election Day wasn't a typical campaign rally, with supporters waving signs and the candidate delivering platitudes about what he would do if elected governor.

No, former president Jimmy Carter's grandson instead hit a local brewpub and billiard hall on Monday night, where volunteers indulged in some Four Count Pale Ale and Criminal Sin IPA as they called voters from cellphones and urged them to turn out Tuesday. Call it two-fisted phone banking.

"This election is really important," said one volunteer. "We need your vote."

Carter, 39, strolled in wearing jeans and a button-down shirt and began making his way around the bar, greeting each table and having extended conversations about his plans – his chief priority is education, he said. Carter said that under his Republican opponent, incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal, 72, schools have suffered with fewer teachers and more students and that property taxes have been levied to pay for it.

"So right now, we're getting less education and higher taxes, nobody wants that," Carter said, noting that for him, it's personal. His wife is a high school teacher and his children are 5 and 8 years old.

In recent weeks, polls show he is trailing Deal by 3 to 6 percentage points. The most recent, a WSB-TV/Landmark survey taken over the weekend, has Deal up 51%-45%. By law in Georgia, a candidate must secure 51% to avoid a runoff.

Carter seemed optimistic at Twain's Brewpub & Billiards, though in a quiet moment with his grandmother, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, he seemed less certain. "We'll see what happens," he told her.

The former first lady — who has been an animated presence on the campaign trail here, perhaps more so than her husband, Jimmy — also worked the crowd at Twain's. Someone offered her a glass of chardonnay. In a 16-ounce tumbler. She graciously accepted it as if that's how she normally drank her wine.

Jason Carter said that throughout his life, his grandparents inspired him with an important lesson about public service.

"The most important thing I think that they did is they showed me that you could go through all of this process of being in politics and not change who you are," he said.