Romney visits Atlanta to stump for Chambliss

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney threw his support behind incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss on Friday, saying the Moultrie lawmaker is needed to keep the two-party system alive in the United States.

“The reason the whole nation is focused on this [Georgia’s Senate runoff] is because we have to decide if we want two parties in Washington or only one that gets everything it wants,” Romney said at a morning rally for Chambliss at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead.

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Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com

Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney (left) was in Atlanta Friday stumping for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is in a runoff with Democratic challenger Jim Martin.

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“I proud of supporting a man who has kept America strong and will continue to fight to keep America strong.”

Chambliss is locked in a bitter Dec. 2 runoff with Democrat Jim Martin of Atlanta, who on Friday began running radio ads in which President-elect Barack Obama urges voters to return to the polls for Martin.

The 300 or so supporters at the event chanted “Saxby! Saxby! Saxby!” as Chambliss came to the podium with Romney. Many held aloft cell phones to snap photos.

Romney said Chambliss is needed in the Senate to prevent cuts to the military, tax hikes on small businesses, and to keep liberal judges from being appointed the Supreme Court by Obama.

The Georgia Senate race has become the focus of post-Nov. 4 political activity in the nation. Democrats are pushing for a 60-vote, filibuster-proof “super majority” in the upper chamber and Republicans have pulled out all stops to hold Chambliss’s seat.

The possibility of a 60-vote majority shot up this week when Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens lost his seat in Alaska to a Democrat. The Democrats now have 58 seats - only races in Minnesota and Georgia have to be decided.

Romney is the latest in a group of big political names to come to Georgia for Chambliss and Martin. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Martin earlier this week and U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have stumped here or Chambliss. Former Vice President Al Gore comes to town Sunday to campaign for Martin.

Romney finished third in Georgia’s Republican presidential primary behind Huckabee and McCain.