Georgia has become perhaps the meanest, most hardball state for politics in the nation.

From InsiderAdvantage Georgia:

• Insiders report that Democrats are intent on seeing Richardson re-elected as Speaker, hoping he will serve as a lightning rod as the ethics complaint and follow-up stories potentially gain greater traction with the public at-large. The public is generally unaware not only of the complaint, but of the name of the Georgia Speaker of the House of Representatives. (Name identification for statewide officials is usually relatively low among the general public, with the exception being the governor and U.S. senators.)

• Many members of the GOP House caucus were caught completely off guard as the story began to unfold late this week. Several members are questioning the situation, but at present there has been no report of anger toward Richardson by these members or any requests for internal caucus action. Some of this is attributed to the fact that Richardson is known to rule the caucus with “an iron fist,” much like his Democratic predecessors in the position (among others, the late George L. Smith, Tom Murphy and Terry Coleman).

• Longtime GOP strategists . . . expect the Richardson issue to have more serious political implications than some GOP pundits have privately suggested. As one expert put it: “For whatever reason, Georgia has become perhaps the meanest, most hardball state for politics in the nation. No one ever would have done this to certain Democrats who might have been in similar circumstances in past years. We obviously now live in a political environment where set-ups and very hurtful personal attacks will be common. It’s dynamite that will hurt both sides if it doesn’t come to an end.”