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Sunday, August 3, 2008
From Chambliss to Tuesday’s winner: An engraved invitation to the brawl
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometime Tuesday, before the polls close, both Jim Martin and Vernon Jones will receive a hand-delivered envelope from U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Each envelope will contain an invitation for the Democrat who survives the night’s balloting to meet Chambliss in a series of debates.
The double-barreled approach is meant to telegraph Chambliss’ indifference about the outcome of the primary run-off.
“We don’t care who the nominee is. We’re as serious as a heart attack about that,” said Tom Perdue, Chambliss’ chief strategist.
That’s because, in a very real sense, Chambliss’ true opponent — the greatest threat to the Republican’s bid for re-election — was chosen months ago.
Chambliss is running against the surge of new voters that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to drive to ballot boxes in November.
This is why, even though the winner of Tuesday’s Democratic contest will emerge broke, nearly so, or in debt, the Republican with $4 million in the bank tells supporters at every opportunity that his race will be a close one that requires nonstop aggression.
Last week, the Chambliss campaign quietly reserved $5.2 million in TV time.
Recognizing the paramount role of swing voters, Chambliss has assembled a list of 80 or so current or former Democratic officials ready to endorse him. In his suit pocket is a letter of support from Zell Miller.
Neither Jones nor Martin has exploited the Internet as Obama has.
But Chambliss has been careful to guard against a flanking movement in cyberspace. He regularly posts speeches and appearances on his own YouTube channel.
Chambliss’ web site serves as a model for other GOP candidates, and has generated more than $100,000 in contributions, Perdue said.
Most importantly, Chambliss and the Republican party intend to match Obama in the hunt for fresh voters — which Democrats claim as their key to victory.
Perdue said the Chambliss campaign and the state GOP have built lists of Georgia residents who are likely to lean Republican, but haven’t yet registered to vote.
“It’ll be the most comprehensive voter registration effort that Republicans have ever attempted,” Perdue said.
Few details of the operation were available. But remember that in 2004, Ralph Reed did something similar in Florida on behalf of George W. Bush’s re-election, scouring church directories and gun club membership lists.
Throughout this summer, the well-funded Obama campaign has declared Georgia in play. In the first six months of this year, the Obama campaign dropped $1.6 million in TV and radio advertising here. Five Obama offices opened Saturday in Atlanta, Smyrna, Jonesboro, Athens, and Valdosta.
At minimum, the point has been to force Republican John McCain to devote time and resources to a state he should be able to take for granted.
Chambliss, in essence, is about to present himself as a firewall. If Obama wants to grab Georgia’s 15 electoral votes from McCain, he’ll have to go through a Republican senator to do it.
The gauntlet hits the ground Wednesday. No matter which Democrat wins Tuesday, it’s likely to stir up more than a little dust.
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