» Kemp rally with president puts plans for debate in doubt,

Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp has canceled his appearance at what would have been the second and final televised debate with Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams.

Kemp will be campaigning alongside President Donald Trump in Macon at 4 p.m. Sunday, creating a scheduling conflict with the debate set to begin at 5 p.m. in Atlanta.

A burst of finger-pointing between the Kemp and Abrams campaigns followed the Republican’s cancellation. Kemp’s team said he offered to reschedule “multiple days, times and venues.”

Abrams’ team accused Kemp of backing out on his commitment and said she will find a way to still answer voters’ questions on Sunday at 5 p.m.

“Brian Kemp says he wants to be our next governor, but he’s breaking his promise to show up for the job interview,” Abrams’ campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said in a statement.

Misti Turnbull, the news director at Channel 2 Action News, said the station will keep trying to get the candidates to face each other once more before the election.

“Our No. 1 concern is giving Georgia voters what was promised, and that is a debate with all the candidates,” Turnbull said. “As in past major elections, we work to bring the candidates together in a debate forum so the viewers and their constituents can hear each candidate’s responses to pressing questions.”

Early voting tops 1.5 million: Early voting hit another milestone on Tuesday: More than 1.5 million people have already cast their ballots, more than doubling turnout from this point during the 2014 midterm elections.

An analysis by Ryan Anderson, whose website has gained an immense following among Georgia politicos, found that a plurality of these voters — 37 percent — also voted early in 2014. An additional 28 percent voted on Election Day four years ago.

But 500,000 or so early ballots — about one-third of the total — came from voters who skipped the 2014 midterm. That subcategory includes a spike in minority votes: Most of the early ballots cast by Hispanics and Asian-Americans come from voters who didn’t vote in the last gubernatorial election, along with one-third of blacks.

That fits with Abrams’ goal of trying to drive up “unlikely” voter turnout. She’s staked her campaign on energizing the left-leaning voters who often ignore these elections to vote for her, whether because of her liberal policies, her Medicaid expansion plan or their disgust for President Donald Trump.

But Republicans are buoyed by the early findings, too. While turnout in Democratic strongholds has soared, so has voter participation in GOP bastions in the outer suburbs and rural areas.

Kemp aims to connect with farmers: In between campaign stops in Warner Robins and Tifton — where Kemp pulled in with two campaign buses and a phalanx of family, statewide candidates and local elected officials — the Republican quietly peeled off for a detour with Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black.

In an unmarked gray SUV, the two men made a quick pit stop at the Turner County Stockyard.

Black said he coordinated the detour, which took place during a livestock sale. Like several of the officials on the stump with Kemp, he took a swipe at Abrams’ recent comment that “people shouldn’t have to go into agriculture or hospitality in Georgia to make a living.”

“Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Georgia. We respect it, we don’t mock it,” he said in an interview. Georgia’s largest stockyard, he added, provides “a great picture of rural Georgia and it’s good we could take (Kemp) down there.”

Black, who’s running for a third term against Democrat Fred Swann, had a few more zingers in his stump speech. While introducing Kemp in Forsyth, Black suggested the campaigns pick theme songs.

“I would suggest to you that the theme song here for Brian Kemp and this ticket will always be ‘Georgia on My Mind,’” he said before turning to Abrams. “But, ladies and gentlemen, our choice on the other side is ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco.’ That’s where their money’s coming from. It could be ‘New York, New York.’”

The GOP has endlessly slammed Abrams for the money she’s received from out-of-state donors.

Where the campaign trail leads: Here’s where the candidates will be Thursday: Brian Kemp 11:30 a.m. — Dalton, with Vice President Mike Pence, Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Dug Gap Battle Road

2:30 p.m. — Grovetown, also with Pence, Columbia County Exhibition Center, 212 Partnership Drive

5 p.m. — Savannah, with Pence, Savannah Convention Center, 1 International Drive Stacey Abrams

9 a.m. — Woodstock, Allen Temple AME Church parking lot, 232 Arnold Mill Road

11 a.m. — Norcross, Best Friend Park Pavilion, 6224 Jimmy Carter Blvd.

12:30 p.m. — Marietta, town hall with Oprah Winfrey at the Cobb Civic Center, 548 S. Marietta Parkway S.E.

3 p.m. — Decatur, another town hall with Winfrey at the Porter Sanford III Performing Arts Center, 3181 Rainbow Drive