ATLANTA (AP) - When Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal recently vetoed bills allowing guns on college campuses and shielding religious people who deny people services based on their faith, he was directly bucking his fellow Republican lawmakers, who overwhelmingly supported the proposals, and possibly losing points with his conservative political base.
Why would he do such a thing?
Observers say the answer may lie at least partly in term limits and corporate persuasion.
Deal never needs to win over the Republican base again. Georgia's Constitution limits governors to two consecutive terms, and Deal, 73, plans to retire at the end of his second and final term.
Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said the term limits, coupled with the outpour of opposition on both issues, likely factored into the governor's decision to veto the bills.
