Saxby Chambliss

**VolunteerHillbilly** · 12-02-2008, 09:08 PM

Fox website is saying he won. AJC site says he has a 20 point lead with over half of the precincts in. CNN site is silent. Not sure where this is going. It kind of reminds me of 92 when Coverdell was in a runoff and Clinton came down to Macon, among other GA locales, and campaigned hard for the D candidate. Coverdell's win was viewed as a sort of high water mark for the Ds from which Gingrich rallied the Rs. It'll be interesting to see how this is spun if Saxby pulls it out.

edit: The AP and AJC are now declaring Saxby the winner. I guess that's that.

TennTradition · 12-02-2008, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VolunteerHillbilly

Fox website is saying he won. AJC site says he has a 20 point lead with over half of the precincts in. CNN site is silent. Not sure where this is going. It kind of reminds me of 92 when Coverdell was in a runoff and Clinton came down to Macon, among other GA locales, and campaigned hard for the D candidate. Coverdell's win was viewed as a sort of high water mark for the Ds from which Gingrich rallied the Rs. It'll be interesting to see how this is spun if Saxby pulls it out.

edit: The AP and AJC are now declaring Saxby the winner. I guess that's that.

He's won the race...CNN is reporting it as well. The good news is that the Democrats won't automatically be handed a super-majority. The bad news is that the Democrats could still end up with 59 seats (and no less than 58), just a northeastern republican or two away from having a filibuster-proof majority on some votes.

Edit: This played out like we thought it would on election night - actually, with perhaps less attention paid to the race by the democrats than I would have thought..but Chambliss was positioned very well in the head-to-head race.

**VolunteerHillbilly** · 12-02-2008, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TennTradition

He's won the race...CNN is reporting it as well. The good news is that the Democrats won't automatically be handed a super-majority. The bad news is that the Democrats could still end up with 59 seats (and no less than 58), just a northeastern republican or two away from having a filibuster-proof majority on some votes.

Edit: This played out like we thought it would on election night - actually, with perhaps less attention paid to the race by the democrats than I would have thought..but Chambliss was positioned very well in the head-to-head race.

I don't think the filibuster is going to be all that big of a deal. The bigger problem the congressional Ds will have is that their recent gains in traditionally republican areas, the so-called "DINOs", will not side with the liberals on various issues if it comes to a floor vote. The tent is a little too big right now. I have not really run the numbers but I am willing to guess that as of now there are more DINOs than there are Rockafeller-republicans in the senate.

**GAVol** · 12-02-2008, 09:21 PM

It's looking like a full fledged blowout. I think it was pretty much a losing battle from the word go for the Dems, but they had to pour money in here and try. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was running some of the most ridiculous ads you'll ever see. In the end though, Jim Martin just didn't look the part and wasn't a very good candidate.

**GAVol** · 12-02-2008, 09:26 PM

The most surreal moment of the runoff had to have been yesterday when Sarah Palin campaigned for Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin held a competing rally where the National Anthem was sung by Miss Alaska 1984 - the woman that beat Sarah Palin.

**VolunteerHillbilly** · 12-02-2008, 09:27 PM

Thanks for the insight GA. I have not followed this race very closely. I did find this little snippet interesting regarding voters' motivations. It kind of validates some of what I have thought about people voting out of fear when times are bad. There is just a perception that when time are bad the democrats will take care of everyone. Of course, when times are good more of us want to be left alone to take care of ourselves.

Quote:

Chambliss' argument that he's needed as a firewall to Democratic dominance in Washington resonated with some voters.
Murray Gottlieb, 54, a caterer in Savannah, said he voted for Chambliss because he doesn't want complete Democratic control of the Senate.
"I support Barack Obama now. I hope he's the best president we've ever had and we get out of the funk we're in, but I don't want to give him that much power," Gottlieb said after casting his ballot at a church in Savannah.
The ailing economy brought architect Glen McClure, 47, out for Martin.
"My motivation is, I'm unemployed as of yesterday," he said at a library-turned-polling place in Atlanta's upscale Buckhead neighborhood.

GOP's Chambliss wins Ga. Senate runoff - Decision '08- msnbc.com

The Dude · 12-02-2008, 09:33 PM

I'm just happy the campaign ads are done. I'm sick of seeing that pic of Martin in 'Nam and that Rockwellian shot of Saxby with his 19 grandkids around the fire, or what have you.

**GAVol** · 12-02-2008, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Chambliss' argument that he's needed as a firewall to Democratic dominance in Washington resonated with some voters.

IMO this is way overanalyzed. Saxby was in a 3 way race in the general election with a Libertarian involved and came within .2% of winning outright anyway. What happened is that the Libertarian was out of the way in the runoff election, the Obama ground game disappeared and the black turnout nosedived. Jim Martin was a lost cause and Obama was not going to spend anymore than token political capital.

MontereyVol · 12-02-2008, 10:54 PM

Reid is going to create a break away group that is going to oppose him. Wait and see.

**volinbham** · 12-02-2008, 11:02 PM

I'm sure it was Colonel Poole's influence that pushed him over the top.

Anyone been to his crazy BBQ place in Elijay? I was there a couple weeks ago.

**GAVol** · 12-02-2008, 11:23 PM

I'm going to be in Elijay next week. Where is it?

**hatvol96** · 12-02-2008, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GAVol

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was running some of the most ridiculous ads you'll ever see.

Please tell me you see the irony in accusing someone of running "ridiculous ads" against Suxby.

**GAVol** · 12-02-2008, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatvol96

Please tell me you see the irony in accusing someone of running "ridiculous ads" against Suxby.

Yeah . . . he probably went too far in 2000 against Max Cleland . . . even though Cleland was a complete partisan hack that needed to go. The ads they were running against Saxby the past few weeks though were just so ludicrous though that anybody with half a brain knew they were false. They were doing some serious word twisting and splicing video.

**hatvol96** · 12-02-2008, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GAVol

Yeah . . . he probably went too far in 2000 against Max Cleland . . . even though Cleland was a complete partisan hack that needed to go. The ads they were running against Saxby the past few weeks though were just so ludicrous though that anybody with half a brain knew they were false. They were doing some serious word twisting and splicing video.

I'm pretty sure a guy who made it his life's work to come up with excuses to stay out of Vietnam accusing a guy who lost three limbs in Southeast Asia of being an enabler of Bin Laden constitutes going "too far." Georgia and Tennessee are running neck and neck in the race to have the most worthless Senate delegation.

BigPapaVol · 12-02-2008, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatvol96

Georgia and Tennessee are running neck and neck in the race to have the most worthless Senate delegation.

Arkansas deserves a nod in that race.