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Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Notes from the race for the U.S. Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you had to score the first day of the general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, there would be no question: Republican Saxby Chambliss, one. Democrat Jim Martin, zip.
Today was the day for the Republican and Democratic nominees to establish the lines of attack and defense they intend to employ in the next 12 or so weeks.
Chambliss, the GOP incumbent, laid claim the morning shift with a 10 a.m. press conference at his Cobb County headquarters.
Chambliss dismissed Martin as a liberal, and put air between himself and President Bush. Fielding questions from reporters, the incumbent spent a great deal of time discussing the draft energy proposal put forward by his bipartisan “Gang of Ten.” And not a single person asked him about exploding sugar refineries.
Most candidates are happy, the day after a victory, to bask in front of TV cameras. Not Martin. Possibly he feels the pressure of starting a million-dollar campaign — again — from scratch. Celebration was not on his mind.
The former state lawmaker summoned reporters to a mid-afternoon press conference in a courtyard outside his building. Martin walked up to the lectern, and read a prepared three-minute statement at reporters that began thusly:
“Welcome to the general election campaign for the United States Senate. Saxby Chambliss had a press conference this morning and attacked me, and I have something to say about Saxby.”
Then he walked away. His remarks could have been delivered by e-mail, and later were.
Said Martin:
”Saxby Chambliss has supported the economic and energy policies that have gotten us into this mess. We have to get America back on track and the way to do that is make the economy work for the middle class again.
“That means that we can’t keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while they sell us oil at $120 per barrel and they have a surplus of $79 billion in oil money. But Saxby Chambliss refuses to change course in Iraq. It means we have to control spending in Washington.
“In 2002, Saxby Chambliss voted to return our country to deficit spending for the first time since 1998. And it’s been downhill ever since. The 2009 budget has a $482 billion deficit.”
But back to Chambliss, who had the advantage — at least on Wednesday — of being more interesting. The Republican incumbent began with a justification for the artillery he was about to send Martin’s way.
“We know that, now that their nominee has been determined, that we can expect the full force of the Democratic senatorial committee as well as 527s. The liberal groups around the country are anticipated to be in here blasting us.… Martin is the hand-picked guy of the Washington Democratic group and obviously they’re not going to pick someone who’s a conservative, so we know where he stands from a philosophical standpoint.
Now, you’ll remember that Chambliss has invited Martin (and Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley) to debate him. But the incumbent also let it be known that he won’t get carried away with letting rivals share his limelight:
”There will be a number of debates. I have no idea how many, because you have to remember I’m a senator first. I’ve got a job to do…That means spending, unfortunately, more time in Washington than I would like to spend.”
Chambliss has placed himself at the center of the national energy debate, and was aided last week by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee:
“I think it’s very interesting that within three hours of our news conference, Barack Obama does a 180 on his position. He now says that, as part of an overall package, that he certainly would consider it. Jim Martin is opposed to offshore drilling. It’ll be interesting to see what position he now takes.”
When asked about his close association to President Bush, Chambliss hauled out his votes on Medicare, the farm bill, and immigration:
”The president and I had a very strong disagreement on immigration reform. At the end of the day, what Senator [Johnny] Isakson and I supported and what we told the president — face-to-face, twice — was that we need to get away from this overall immigration reform package and talk about border security, border security, border security.”
And what, a reporter asked, about getting booed at the 2007 GOP convention for his initial support of the immigration reform bill?
“That’s been magnified. There may have been five people that booed me out of about 2,000. But in any event, immigration reform is a very sensitive issue.”
One of the last questions aimed at Chambliss raised the question of that TV ad he ran against Max Cleland in 2002, which paired the Democratic incumbent with Osama bin Laden. Martin — in an earlier, more conversational mood — called the ad “cowardly.”
Chambliss said:
“What we did in the 2002 campaign was question my opponent’s voting record. I’m going to question my opponent’s voting record in this campaign. We did it in a fair and legitimate manner. We won. If we hadn’t won, you wouldn’t have heard word one about any ad we ran.”
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Some final number-crunching in the U.S. Senate race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My number-crunching colleague Ben Smith has churned out some low-to-the-ground numbers on the Tuesday performance of U.S. Senate candidates Jim Martin and Vernon Jones in all-important DeKalb County.
Overall, Martin won Dekalb by 61 percent — roughly the same as the statewide margin that made him the nominee.
Martin’s DeKalb cushion amounted to more than 15,000 votes, which he piled up by running strong in the southern end of the county, which is dominated by African-American voters, and by crushing Jones in the northern portion.
Martin won 25 of the 108 majority black precincts in DeKalb, including Stone Mountain Middle School and Candler, which have registered black voting populations of more than 80 percent.
Martin won 42 percent of the vote in majority-black precincts — a significant accomplishment for a white candidate who was running against an African-American. And who happens to be the DeKalb CEO.
Martin won 92 percent of the vote in majority-white precincts, and carried six of every 10 votes cast by absentees.
Martin didn’t win the county by a rush of white voters to the polls. Turnout in majority-black and majority-white precincts was comparable — 15 percent in majority-white precincts and 16 percent in majority-black ones. Overall turnout for DeKalb was 17 percent, only two percentage points lower than in the July 15th primary.
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McCain, not Bush, on his way to Atlanta in mid-August
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Per U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ news conference this morning, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is headed to Atlanta the week of Aug. 18.
The Republican incumbent made the announcement after he’d been asked whether President Bush would be making an appearance in Georgia on his behalf.
Though Bush’s schedule has seemed fairly flexible, and should be relatively open in October, Chambliss spoke as if the issue were pretty much settled. “Unfortunately, we were never able to work out a schedule,” the senator said.
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A day-after message from Jones includes no endorsement of Martin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Defeated U.S. Senate candidate Vernon Jones has sent out an e-mail to supporters. “Yesterday’s run-off election for the United States Senate was a close one,” he writes of the 60-40 contest.
Perhaps more important, while the DeKalb County CEO speaks kindly of Martin, Jones stops short of endorsing the Democratic nominee. Here’s the text:
Yesterday’s run-off election for the United States Senate was a close one and I want to thank each and every one of you who went out to the polls and voted. Thank you for your letters, phone calls, donations and kind emails of encouragement. Your support has meant the world to me.
I also want to thank my wonderful campaign staff, my family, and all my friends for their love and support. Your tireless efforts and endless support drove this entire campaign. Because of you I am able to stand today still a victor.
Jim Martin is now our state’s Democratic Nominee for the U.S. Senate and will face Saxby Chambliss in November. Jim put up a formidable fight and I respect him.
My service in Georgia politics has been a long and successful one. I could not have come this far without you. I am humbled by your continued confidence in me. I’m a country boy from a tobacco farm in rural North Carolina who has had many opportunities, a lot of successes, and of course some challenges.
While my journey has reached a crossroad and tomorrow is one of uncertainty, I know that with God’s guidance and the support of those I hold dear, I will rise again. I look forward to serving where He leads me next to inspire hope and positive change.
Photo credit: Rich Addicks/AJC
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It’s the difference between being courted on the front porch, and courted in the garden
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not that it’s the Insider’s job to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm, but sometimes the task of bringing reality to bear is a heavy one.
In Tuesday’s Washington Post was an article about the Obama campaign’s plan for Virginia. It is considered, like Georgia, to be in play.
But there is “in play.” Then there is in play.
First, consider that the Obama campaign, to significant fanfare, opened five offices in Georgia this past weekend. This is in Georgia, which has 15 electoral votes.
Now read this passage about Virginia, and it’s 13 electoral ballots:
“If you had told me four years ago that a Democratic presidential candidate would be running a competitive race in Virginia and would open 10 offices, I would say that is spectacular,” said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a leading contender to be Obama’s running mate. “Now we have a guy who has opened 20 to 30 offices around the state? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
