Big push to campaign end

Georgia’s seemingly endless U.S. Senate runoff finally winds down today, its last day marked by high-profile rallies, withering attack ads and stealthy efforts to get campaign-weary voters back to the polls.

Alaska governor and former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will appear with Saxby Chambliss at four campaign rallies today after headlining a private Atlanta fundraiser Sunday night. Palin will appear at public rallies in Augusta, Savannah, Perry and in metro Atlanta at the Gwinnett Center at 4 p.m.

Jim Martin will spend the day on a statewide bus tour that will take him from a MARTA stop in Atlanta this morning to Augusta, then Macon and back to a rally at the state Capitol at 5:30 p.m. with civil rights veterans and hip-hop star Ludacris.

The race, which could tip the balance of power in the world’s most powerful deliberative body, will be decided by the time the polls close Tuesday. Both candidates planned to spend today —- the final day of campaigning —- in a sprint to the finish.

“If you have family members that don’t go vote on Tuesday, shame on them and shame on you,” Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue told a recent Chambliss campaign rally in North Georgia. “The world and the nation understand how important this race is.”

Martin and his supporters have pressed the same message, recently employing automated “robo” calls from President-elect Barack Obama and the future first lady to get voters back to the polls.

“I urge you to turn out one more time and help elect Jim Martin to the United States Senate,” Obama says in his message. “Jim supports my plan to get the economy moving again.”

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

Republicans have vowed to hold Chambliss’s seat at all costs to provide a GOP buffer to complete Democratic control. Democrats now have 58 seats in the upper chamber, with only races in Georgia and Minnesota to be resolved.

Both political parties are worried that holiday-focused voters might skip Tuesday’s runoff —- only about half the general election voters turned out for Georgia’s last high-profile Senate runoff in 1992.

The vote comes at the end of a bitter and expensive four-week campaign dominated by a barrage of attack ads and big-shot politicos swarming to the state for both candidates.

Neither Chambliss nor Martin got a majority of the vote in the Nov. 4 general election with Libertarian Allen Buckley.

Under state law, the top two vote-getters were required to duke it out in a runoff.

Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, came to Georgia recently to rally the GOP ground troops as they prepared to launch their 72-hour, get-out-the-vote effort.

That “ground game” includes everything from personal telephone calls to door-knock visits.

“We know who our voters are,” Duncan said. “We target those voters and try to make sure they get out to vote.”

Martin spokesman Matt Canter said much of Martin’s get-out-the-vote effort will be coordinated by former Obama volunteers who stayed in the state to help Martin.

“We have thousands of volunteers who will be calling their families and friends to get them to the polls on Tuesday,” Canter said.

Chambliss beat Martin by more than 100,000 votes in the Nov. 4 election, and most polls show the first-term senator leading in the runoff.

However, voter turnout drops precipitously for most runoffs and both camps say they place little faith in the accuracy of runoff polls.