CARRYING GEORGIA

Republican strategists now are privately conceding that the GOP could lose Georgia's 15 presidential electors for the first time since 1992 because of Bob Barr's ballot position as the Libertarian Party presidential candidate.

The most recent Georgia survey by the polling firm InsiderAdvantage, conducted July 2, shows 46 percent for Sen. John McCain, 44 percent for Sen. Barack Obama and 4 percent for Barr. George W. Bush, who carried all 11 states of the old Confederacy in both 2000 and 2004, had 58 percent of Georgia's vote in the last election.

Third party presidential candidates almost always run more poorly in the actual election than their showing in the polls, but Barr as a former Republican congressman from Georgia might sustain support in his home state. He already has slipped a little in Georgia, based on his 5.6 percent standing in the June 19 InsiderAdvantage poll, when McCain had a lead of 1.6 percentage points.

REID VS. COBURN

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is threatening to hold the Senate in session over the weekend of July 25 to consider spending bills held up by the objection of Republican Sen. Tom Coburn instead of being set loose early for the election campaign, as Reid has promised.

Reid would bundle together anywhere from 40 to 80 bills objected to by Coburn. Such a "Coburn omnibus bill" on the floor might provoke an extended debate for several days.

A footnote: Although Reid has told reporters that there is no use trying to talk to Coburn, they have been negotiating with each other in an effort to reach a unanimous consent agreement.