Obama ‘robo calls’ for Martin; Chambliss gets Giuliani

President-elect Barack Obama has become even more involved in Georgia’s bitter U.S. Senate runoff, recording a so-called “robo call” urging voters to elect Democrat Jim Martin in his Dec. 2 runoff battle with incumbent U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

The recorded calls were being placed to Georgia voters on Monday, but Martin’s campaign declined to specify when they started or how many calls were being made.

“Barack Obama is doing robo calls on behalf of Jim Martin,” Martin spokesman Matt Canter confirmed Monday night.

Georgia voters go back to the polls in a week to decide Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff, which has attracted national attention because it could tilt the balance of power in the Washington. But it’s far from certain if most voters will even bother returning for one more shot of partisan politics.

The high-profile runoff takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, smack dab in the middle of the holiday season.

Obama has already recorded a radio ad for Martin and has been invited to come to Georgia to campaign for the Atlanta Democrat. A Georgia trip by Obama had still not been scheduled as of Monday, and it was uncertain whether he would make the journey, or simply assist Martin from afar.

Obama’s recorded call says: “I want to urge you to turn out one more time and help elect Jim Martin to the Unites States Senate. Jim supports my plan to get our economy moving again. Jim Martin is a man of his word and I know he’ll do everything he can in the Senate to help me change Washington and get America moving again.”

Obama won the presidency, but in Georgia he came in second to U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by about 200,000 votes in the general election. Still, the president-elect’s support is seen as key to get African-American voters to return to the polls to vote for Martin.

Both campaigns on Monday were predicting a healthy turnout for their sides. But both are keenly aware that they are heading into the final week of a bitter campaign with voters focused on family, food and football.

“We’re just going to keep focused on our message,” Martin said Monday.

Chambliss’ camp, meanwhile, was maintaining its strategy of bringing GOP heavyweights to the state to stump for Chambliss. Tuesday, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani campaigns for Chambliss, just two days after former Vice President Al Gore came to Atlanta for Martin.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was also invited to campaign for Chambliss, but had not officially confirmed Monday afternoon whether she would come.

The state Senate race has attracted a long line of political big shots as Democrats push for a 60-vote, filibuster-proof “super majority” in the upper chamber and Republicans pull out all stops to hold Chambliss’ seat.

Democrats now have 58 seats. Only races in Minnesota and Georgia have to be decided.

Chambliss and Martin are trying to keep voters focused on a race that they know they will win or lose based on turnout, which historically tends to be abysmally low for runoffs.

The last high-profile U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia was in 1992, between incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler and Republican challenger Paul Coverdell. Only about half the voters (55 percent) who cast ballots in the general election that year came back to the polls for the runoff. And that runoff vote took place before the Thanksgiving holiday.

“It will probably be harder to get people back this time,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, author of a book about runoffs.

Bullock said the Thanksgiving holiday will play a role this year, but runoff turnout also could be affected by the fact that 500,000 new voters cast ballots in the Nov. 4 general. First-time voters, he said, are less likely to return for a runoff.

There is also the problem of voter fatigue. Some Georgians will have voted four times by the time the runoff concludes. Democrats already have voted in the Democratic primary, the Democratic U.S. Senate runoff and the Nov. 4 general election.

Both camps continued to step up the rhetoric on Monday. Martin accepted the endorsement of the Veterans & Military Families for Progress, which has about 500 members nationwide but only about a half-dozen in Georgia. Martin took the occasion to blast Chambliss for what he called a “four-day junket to Boca Raton, Florida,” in the days leading up to a key vote in the war in Iraq.

“I would not have done that,” Martin said. “I would have been in Washington.”

Chambliss’ campaign called Martin’s claims “just another attempt to mislead the people of Georgia.”

“Veterans across Georgia and across the country have endorsed Senator Chambliss’ re-election, including two of the largest veterans groups — Veterans of Foreign Wars and Vets for Freedom,” said Chambliss spokeswoman Michelle Grasso.