The Georgia surge continues

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported recently on disproportionate early voting among African-Americans. Georgia doesn't appear to be in play in the presidential election, but it tracks early votes contemporaneously (and online), so it may be a useful bellwether for what's happening elsewhere.

If it is, the news continues to be extremely good for Obama. Early vote totals have now reached 499,582 -- more than 75,000 more than were cast early in all of 2004, according to Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for the Secretary of State. (The state is also newly encouraging early voting this year, so that's a major factor in the overall increase.)

Most striking: The ratio of African-American voters remains extremely high. 37% of the early votes were cast by black voters, who make up just 29% of the state's electorate.