Runoff vote today will end fast, furious Senate campaign

Georgia voters returned to the polls Tuesday to settle a hard-fought U.S. Senate race that has taken on national significance. Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will be open until 7 p.m.

Both the Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and his Democratic challenger Jim Martin have used big-name politicos and celebrities to boost turnout for the runoff, which could attract substantially fewer voters than the 3.7 million Georgians who cast ballots in the Nov. 4 Senate election.

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Stephen Morton / Associated Press

Sarah Palin addresses a crowd during a rally for Saxby Chambliss in Savannah.

Mikki K. Harris / MKHARRIS@AJC.COM

Atlanta-based rapper, Clifford “T.I.” Harris campaigns for Jim Martin Monday night at the Georgia state capitol.

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Dec. 2 runoff voting:

Local and state results U.S. Senate Georgia Public Service Commission Georgia Court of Appeals Carroll County Clayton County DeKalb County Douglas County Fulton County Gwinnett County

Photos:
• Chambliss, Martin in Atlanta | Voters

Nov. 4 voting:

Local and state results U.S. President U.S. Senate U.S. House Georgia Public Service Commission Georgia State Senate Georgia State House Georgia Constitutional Amendments Georgia Supreme Court Georgia Court of Appeals Carroll County Cherokee County Clayton County Cobb County Coweta County DeKalb County Douglas County Fayette County Forsyth County Fulton County Gwinnett County Henry County Rockdale County

About 100 residents had voted by 8 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Snellville. An hour after voting started, there was no line and balloting took five minutes.

But poll workers said the morning turnout was higher than they expected in a runoff.

In Decatur, a steady stream of voters passed through the Medlock Elementary School precinct within the first hour of voting. As of 7:30 a.m. there was a line of 15 to 20 voters waiting to cast ballots.

Chambliss barely missed getting a majority in the Nov. 4 vote, setting up the runoff.

Chambliss and Martin crisscrossed Georgia on Monday, rubbing shoulders with celebrities and the common folk as their bitter four-week runoff came to a close.

The battle between the former University of Georgia Sigma Chi fraternity brothers could tilt the balance of power in the Senate.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin roared back onto the campaign trail for the first time since the Nov. 4 election, telling thousands of voters at rallies across Georgia that the state’s U.S. Senate runoff is a chance to begin rebuilding a wounded Republican Party.

“It’s going to take rebuilding, and I say let that begin right here in Georgia tomorrow [Tuesday] with the re-election of Saxby,” Palin told 6,000 cheering supporters at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, her last stop of a four-city campaign swing for Chambliss.

Martin ended his last day on the campaign trail at the state Capitol in Atlanta, where he was lauded by a civil rights veteran and a who’s-who of hip-hop, including Atlanta-based Ludacris, Young Jeezy and T.I.

Ludacris told several hundred Democrats bundled against the cold that Chambliss was running for the wrong reasons. “He’s just about politics and not about helping the American people,” said the hip-hop star.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Atlanta) said President-elect Barack Obama needs Martin in the Senate to help pass Obama’s agenda.

“We need him now more than ever before,” Lewis said.

Martin bounded to the stage, flooded in spotlights and surveyed the shivering crowd.

“You’re not looking at ‘Landslide Jim,’ ” Martin said. “It’s going to be real close. This is about who wants it the most.”

Chambliss, throughout the day, expressed confidence that he would carry the day.

“The wind is at our back in this campaign,” he told supporters in Gwinnett County as he introduced Palin, who took the stage to thunderous cheers and an extended standing ovation.

Palin and U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost the Nov. 4 election to Obama and running mate Joe Biden. The McCain-Palin ticket, however, carried Georgia by about 200,000 votes, and Chambliss brought Palin to the state in a last-minute effort to push conservative voters to the polls for today’s runoff.

Democrats want to oust Chambliss and elect Martin to help secure a 60-vote, filibuster-proof “super majority” in the Senate.

Democrats now have 58 seats in the upper chamber, with only races in Georgia and Minnesota to be resolved.

Republicans have vowed to hold Chambliss’ seat at all costs.

Both political parties and the outside groups that support them have poured millions of dollars into the runoff. Much of the money has been burned up on a seemingly endless barrage of televised attack ads.

Palin said Chambliss is needed to provide a check on the Democratic majority. She stressed Chambliss’ support for gun rights, his anti-abortion stance and his opposition to tax hikes.

Palin began her march across Georgia in Augusta, where 3,000 people lined up in the cold to get into the James Brown Arena for her 8:55 a.m. speech. She later spoke to about 2,000 people in Savannah and about 2,500 in Perry in Middle Georgia.

The self-professed “hockey mom” was mobbed at her final stop in Gwinnett as she waded into the crowd to sign autographs and pose for photos after her speech. Hundreds of people held aloft camera-equipped cellphones trying to get an image.

— Staff writers Phil Gast and Ben Smith III contributed to this report.