The Super-Close Senate Race You've Never Heard Of

[laststeamtrain]

The Super-Close Senate Race You've Never Heard Of
Nick Baumann

In 2002, Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss was running against Senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.), in one of the most bitter races of that election cycle. With 9/11 still fresh, Chambliss ran an attack ad featuring a photo of Osama bin Laden that accused Cleland, a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee, of not having the "courage to lead" on national security. The ad worked; Chambliss won. But even Republicans thought the attack on Cleland's patriotism was over the top: Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) called it "beyond offensive." This year, Democrats are looking to get their revenge by kicking Chambliss to the curb. And they think Jim Martin, a longtime state legislator and former candidate for lieutenant governor, is just the man to avenge Cleland.

Can Democrats really pick up a seat in deep-red Georgia? Until late September, it didn't look possible. Chambliss led by a 17-point margin in a poll released on September 16. But as the economy worsened, Chambliss suddenly appeared vulnerable. Now most polls have Martin within a few points. Martin has yet to show a lead in a major non-partisan poll, but Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com thinks the polls are "lowballing" Martin and the race is closer than it seems:

"The polls, from what I can tell, are showing a fairly high undecided vote among the African-American population. Rasmussen's most recent poll, which had Saxby Chambliss up by two, shows that 12 percent of black voters are undecided in the senate race. Were those voters to split 4:1 to Jim Martin, that would be worth a net of around 2 points to him, making the race a tie. SurveyUSA, likewise, shows a higher rate of undecideds among black voters (7%) than among whites (3%)."

Even if the Georgia Senate race didn't have the Cleland backstory, Democrats would find it fascinating. Ever since they took control of the Senate in January 2007, Democrats have been frustrated by an unprecedented number of Republican filibusters.

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http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/10/10597_jim-martin-saxby-chambliss-georgia-senate-race.html

[LSparkle]

1. This would be a SWEET steal ...

Fucking Chambliss ... Hopefully he and Ditch McConnell
BOTH go down in defeat on Tuesday!

[Warpy]

2. Oh, I've heard of it all right

and that's going to be one of the real nail biters, seeing if the odious Sackless finally gets ousted by the voters.

He's truly awful. He really needs to go, although I don't expect a Democrat from Georgia to be too much of an improvement.

The South has come a long way in the last 50 years, but it's still got a longer way to go.

[KamaAina]

3. A steaming pile of (yellow) dog doo would be an improvement

this is the man who, when the topic of election fraud was raised after his "victory", just stood there and nodded with a (pardon the expression) shit-eating grin on his face. :grr:

[IntravenousDemilo]

4. It is, of course, the state that also gave us the wonderful Jimmy Carter.

So, I guess they're coming along.