It was great to see the Saints win decisively yesterday. If the Falcons couldn't be there, it was good that the division was represented. For me, it's not about a rebirth after Katrina, although, I realize if you live in New Orleans, it could be about this. For me, it goes back to my dad and me going week after week, year after year to Falcons games in the late 60s and 70s. Those were the days that regular folks could afford seasons tickets and my dad got tickets because if Atlanta was going to have a pro team, "we should support them." My Sunday afternoons in the Fall were shaped by time with my Dad at Atlanta Stadium watching the Falcons. My favorate game was the Monday night game in 1975 when the Vikings came in undefeated and the Falcons beat the Vikings with 5 field goals. So Go Saints. I'll be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, so I'll see you there.

Archie Manning had to be torn over the Saints win. (http://www.superbowl-ads.com/) I am sure he pictured his days as a Saints quarterback while he feels the disappointment today of his son, Peyton. On the commercial front, The Tebow ad was lovely. If anyone opposed it, they may need to see a therapist. My favorite ad was the Dodge Charger ad about what men do to get along. It was so funny and living in a mostly male retreat, I have heard those complaints before.

I like to check out The Week magazine, I call it my "liberal news round up." I read it so you don't have to. This week, the cover was about Republicans and the "party of no." Why is it that with the largest majorities in years, the Democrats couldn't hold their coalition together and that's why the president's agenda is floundering. You see it in elections around the country, however, Republicans need to understand, this is about fiscal policy and national security.

Jim Galloway, The Political Insider for the AJC, posted an interesting analysis of the Tea Party Movement and Governor Perdue's consolidation of government proposal. Here's what he said (

Tea party threat likely kills governor's consolidation effort

3:00 pm February 6, 2010, by Jim Galloway

In 1984, Gov. Joe Frank Harris asked Georgia voters for a change in state government that had been approved by the best minds in education.

Georgia needed a well-seasoned state school superintendent handpicked by the governor, a blue-ribbon panel had argued, not one elected in an expensive campaign ruled by chance, good hair and a snappy slogan.

The proposed constitutional amendment was the only one of 11 to fail that November. The youngish state senator who helped Harris push the ballot issue through the Legislature was Democrat Roy Barnes of Mableton.

Barnes, out to reclaim his old job as governor, is unlikely to make that mistake again. Nor will many other candidates seeking a place on this November's ballot, despite Friday's invitation from Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Our current governor, down to the last 27 days of his final legislative session, has proposed one of the most sweeping changes in state government since Jimmy Carter was turned loose in the Capitol.

Perdue has proposed making not only the state school superintendent an appointed position, but three others as well: The commissioners of labor, insurance, and agriculture. All are now elected via statewide votes -- every four years, concurrent with the governor.

"It will ensure that agency heads are focused on good policy and not bogged down with the politics of running for re-election," Perdue said.

There are only two things to say about the governor's idea.

First, many at the Capitol quietly agree with his call for a Cabinet-style government, especially when it comes to the state's divided approach to education.

Forty percent of the state's $18 billion annual budget, largely under the control of the governor, goes toward the public school system. But it is the elected school superintendent who is in charge of implementing the policy that your tax dollars pay for.

Many would concede that, if you were to build a state from the ground up, the Perdue approach would make a sensible framework.

But those same people will tell you that it is unlikely to happen. Not in this economy, and not in this climate.

In fact, the governor's proposed makeover may have died before the first official news release announced the support of the majority leaders of both the House and Senate.

Georgia's tea party movement had already condemned it as something close to tyranny.

"The thought of centralizing more power into the hands of the governor scares me," said Debbie Dooley of Gwinnett County, one of the angry faction's organizers.

That Perdue would never benefit -- if voters agree, the office of governor wouldn't have the power of appointment until 2014 -- matters not to Dooley. She promised that, should Georgia's Republican governor pursue his idea, he will find tea party protesters not just outside his Capitol office, but marching outside his residence on West Paces Ferry Road.

The spectacle probably wouldn't impress Perdue. But it might chill the two-thirds of the Legislature, especially Republicans, needed to place the issue on the November ballot. All 236 legislators in the Capitol are up for re-election this year.

Beyond any tea party outrage, there's the fact that, over several decades, constitutional offices have become seen as the property of those most directly affected by their regulation. The 1984 school superintendent vote was defeated largely by opposition from schoolteachers.

Farmers in rural Georgia like to think they pick the agriculture commissioner -- who for the past 41 years has been Democrat Tommy Irvin, now serving his final months. Irvin says an elected commissioner -- bound by no term limit -- brings a certain consistency to state government.

"We who've been here a long time have to hold [others] by the hand and guide them along," Irvin said. An independent commissioner, the ag commissioner noted, also serves as a check on the governor.

And in fact, state School Superintendent Kathy Cox last month was quite blunt when telling lawmakers about the impact of Perdue's proposed cuts to education. Cox, a former high school teacher seeking a third term, said she would oppose Perdue's call for an appointed superintendent.

Republicans might have other reasons to think twice about putting Perdue's rearrangement of state government on the November ballot -- instead of some other pressing issue, such as transportation.

There is, of course, the matter of who would finance the argument. Perdue, from the leftovers of his own political action committee?

More important, an attempt to consolidate the powers of the executive branch in Georgia could easily turn into a referendum on Perdue's two terms, at a time when Republicans will be eager to turn the page.

"Look at the people Perdue has already appointed. His appointments haven't made government more efficient," said House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter of Dublin, a candidate for governor.

Porter was in the House for that '84 vote to make the state school superintendent an appointed position. He voted against it.)

and we'll talk about this at length today on The Martha Zoller Show.