Back in early February, Jim Galloway pointed out how the recent Republican representative shift from rural to suburb (think Perdue vs. Deal) played out during the 2011 legislative session with the passage of the Sunday alcohol sales bill.  “An interesting perspective”, I thought.  “I’ll have to see how this plays itself out in the coming months.”

Well, low and behold, give ‘em a couple months and suddenly, not only are ITP blue and OTP red purchasing Sunday liquor, but they’re standing side-by-side announcing that together, the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta had just convinced Porsche to consolidate its North American HQ at the old Ford Hapeville plant.

Maria Saporta notes the recent rarity of such an announcement…

For people in economic development circles, they couldn’t remember the last time that the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta had stood side-by-side to make such an announcement.

In fact, as best folks could remember, such a joint appearance may have dated back to when Atlanta was hosting the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

…But both Deal and Reed said that the two governments ability to collaborate was critical in Georgia and Atlanta attracting an increased commitment from Porsche.

“We wouldn’t have gotten this done without us working together,” Reed said after the press conference. “There was strong coordination between the state and the city. We both stepped up to the table repeatedly.”

A reminder that while there may still be real and theoretical differences between the two parties running the state and city, common interest sometimes trumps all.  And as of 2011, there seems to be a lot more common interest between the city and state than there used to be.

Unsung or not, it’s already producing results.