Runoff in Georgia draws national interest

Anybody who thought the national election ended Nov. 4 hasn’t been to Georgia lately.

Tuesday’s runoff between U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Democratic challenger Jim Martin has attracted everyone from former President Bill Clinton to GOP presidential nominee John McCain as both parties square off for one final round this election season.

Both Democrats and Republicans contend that nothing less than the future of the nation is at stake. Elect Martin, Democrats say, and voters will clear the path for the substantive political change President-elect Barack Obama promised. Re-elect Chambliss, Republicans counter, and the Senate will have enough GOP votes to stop Democrats from taking the country too far to the left.

“This is the big one,” former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) told 200 people last week at a Chambliss rally in Gainesville. “This is a history-changing election. The world is watching this election.”

The Georgia runoff has become a focus of post-Nov. 4 national politics as Democrats inch closer to a 60-vote “super majority” in the Senate, enough to prevent GOP filibusters that could stymie key pieces of Obama’s agenda or even derail U.S. Supreme Court nominees. Democrats now have 58 seats; only Georgia’s runoff and an ongoing recount in Minnesota remain.

The rhetoric has intensified as runoff day nears and both camps try to get campaign-weary voters back to the polls.

“When Barack Obama says jump, Jim Martin will ask, ‘How high?’ ” WSB Radio talk show host Neal Boortz told listeners on a recent drive-time show. Boortz has called Martin’s potential election “dangerous” to the nation.

Earlier, Clinton urged Georgians to reject the claim that Chambliss should be re-elected to prevent a rubber-stamp Congress for Obama.

“This country doesn’t need a firewall against the future,” Clinton said at a Martin rally. “It needs a bridge to the future.”

Even Obama has gotten into the battle, cutting a radio ad and automated “robo calls” for Martin. Still, as of late last week Obama did not plan to come to the state to campaign for Martin.

Meanwhile, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was this year’s GOP vice presidential nominee, plans to attend a private fundraiser for Chambliss in Atlanta Sunday night. On Monday, she will make a four-city tour, beginning in Augusta and ending in Atlanta at 4 p.m.

The race between two former University of Georgia Sigma Chi fraternity brothers has been much tighter than expected. Chambliss was considered a shoo-in for re-election to a second term, even after Martin bested a five-man field to win the Democratic primary.

Then came the financial meltdown that dominated the heart of the general election campaign and Chambliss’ backing of the $700 billion financial rescue package, which Martin attacked. Suddenly, the state had a senatorial horse race.

Chambliss and Martin landed in the four-week runoff because Georgia’s unusual election law requires a majority of the vote and neither candidate received more than 50 percent Nov. 4. Chambliss won 49.8 percent to Martin’s 46, while Libertarian Allen Buckley played the spoiler, taking 3 percent.

Some political observers estimated that the two campaigns —- and a host of political groups that support each —- could spend more than $15 million in the post-election sprint, possibly more than they spent for the Nov. 4 general election. Much of it has been devoted to a nasty ad war.

Democrats have tried to tie Chambliss to Bush administration economic policies, which they contend led to the recent financial chaos. And they have blasted his underdog 2002 campaign against then-U.S. Sen. Max Cleland —- a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran —- in which Chambliss’ campaign questioned the Democrat’s commitment to national security in a television ad. The ad, which juxtaposed photos of Cleland and Osama bin Laden, has become mythical in Democratic circles.

Republicans have painted Martin as too liberal for Georgia voters in part because of his ties to leaders of the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. They have also revisited his tenure as head of the state Department of Human Resources, a post he resigned after two children were killed after being placed back in abusive homes.

Polls show Chambliss leading by 3 to 6 percentage points. But both camps agree that runoffs —- which traditionally draw few voters —- are difficult to survey. And getting voters back to the polls a few days after Thanksgiving will be a challenge.

Still, Martin’s camp believes he can pull an upset in the race where nobody —- not even Democrats —- thought he had much of a chance.

Republicans, meanwhile, point to the fact that McCain beat Obama in Georgia by 200,000 votes Nov. 4, countering a Democratic sweep across much of the nation.