Campaigns Turn Negative in Last Days of Mayoral Race ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - With less than a week before Atlanta voters decide who their next mayor will be, both campaigns' messages have taken a distinct turn. Negative campaigning by Mary Norwood, and shaky claims by Kasim Reed show just how close the race has become.

WABE's Odette Yousef reports.

A mailing from the Norwood campaign claims that Reed held off on paying his property taxes until he decided to run for mayor. Meanwhile, it says, he authored two bills to raise Atlantans' taxes.

Harvey Newman is professor at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy.

NEWMAN: It's easy to make allegations when offices are closed this week and time is very short to track down confirmation or denial.

Reed's tax history was investigated by news outlets, but most found the claims overinflated or flat-out false.

The assertion that Reed also tried to raise property taxes is misleading. The bills cited in the mailing would simply let voters choose for themselves whether to levy taxes for public safety or transportation.

Norwood's camp has also claimed that Reed supporters are stealing their campaign signs and have intimidated their voters.

Michael Leo Owens is political science professor at Emory University.

OWENS: It's just like wow, again - for a frontrunner to be so negative, it's kind of shocking.

Owens says Norwood's negative turn may have greatest influence on undecided voters, persuading them not to vote at all:

OWENS: in many ways the Norwood campaign is hoping that a lot of people will stay home on election day, because I think that low turnout works out to her advantage more so than high turnout.

Owens says that's because if runoff history repeats itself, white voters will outnumber black voters, and Norwood has more white support than Reed.

On the flipside, Reed today reiterated his claim that Norwood has no record of supporting the gay community, an allegation he made over the weekend. Reed has asserted that Norwood skipped a city council vote to extend pension benefits to gay employees' partners.

But the item was on the council's consent agenda, which means it was simply up for a vote, and not open for debate.

Reed's campaign also recently distributed flyers in church parking lots that quote a passage from the Bible and feature Reed's picture. Part of the quotation, which comes from the book of John, says "Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life...." Again, Michael Leo Owens:

OWENS: This, I think, is actually a direct appeal to a segment of the electorate that has been supporting Mary Norwood. The elderly, African American women who go to church on Sundays.

The runoff is on Tuesday.

Odette Yousef, WABE News.
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