Georgia Runoff is About More Than Filibusters

President-elect Barack Obama can hardly be faulted for deciding against taking time away from the transition to campaign for Democratic US Senate candidate Jim Martin in today's Georgia runoff election.

Faced with the task of assembling an administration capable of righting the course of a dramatically-off-kilter economy and – as the Mumbai attacks remind us – of dealing with global challenges and threats left unaddressed by Bush-Cheney administration bluster and war-making, Obama can be excused for choosing against putting an overtly political spin on a demanding transition process. (Indeed, if he had gone to Georgia, Obama would have taken hits from a right-wing echo chamber that is having a hard time getting a grip in its efforts to discredit a popular president-elect.)

But if Martin loses today to incumbent Saxby Chambliss, there will be speculation about whether the determination by Obama's agile political team to keep the Democratic party's most dynamic top-tier campaigner out of Georgia might have been a deciding factor.

Republicans have thrown everything they've got into the fight to reelect Chambliss, dispatching not just big money but big names, including Arizona Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, to Georgia. (The Republican ticket won the state by a narrow margin November 4, while Chambliss fell just short of the 50 percent mark required to avoid a runoff race under the state's unique election law.)

Short of a campaign swing, Obama has done everything in his power to help Martin, a former state legislator who has run an impressive, aggressive and generally progressive campaign. The president-elect has cut radio commercials for the Democratic candidate and kept his extensive presidential campaign operation going – maintaining fully-staffed campaign offices and voter turnout operations around the state.

Martin has also gotten an assist from former President Bill Clinton, as well as rapper Ludicris and rocker Michael Stipe of REM – with the musically-inclined campaigners boosting efforts to generate excitement among young voters who will have to turn out, along with African Americans, in maximum numbers if the Democratic contender is to have a chance.

The question is whether anything short of an Obama visit can generate the enthusiasm needed to prevent a win by Chambliss, who leads narrowly in most polls.

For Democrats, including Obama, defeating Chambliss would bring many rewards.

It would bring the party closer to the 60-member Senate Democratic Caucus required to achieve a filibuster-proof majority. (The caucus now includes 56 Democrats and two independents -- Vermont's Bernie Sanders and Connecticut's Joe Lieberman. A Martin win in Georgia tonight and a victory by Al Franken in Minnesota's ongoing recount fight would give the party the 60 votes required to avert Republican attempts to block Senate votes.)

But the Georgia fight is about a lot more than filibusters. Jim Martin has run his race as a mainstream "national" Democrat (critical of the Iraq war, supportive of entitlement programs and public education, enthusiastic about helping Obama) in a southern state that – thanks to demographic shifts, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean's 50-state strategy and Obama's commitment to contend for votes in supposedly conservative regions – appears to be trending in a progressive direction. In contrast, Chambliss was elected in 2002 thanks to an ugly, Karl Rove-coordinated campaign against former Senator Max Cleland and has served as one of the Senate's most reactionary members.

Electing Martin would matter, not just for Georgia and Senate Democrats but for the struggle to make the south a region in which responsible Democrats can compete.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution – one of a number of Georgia papers that has endorsed the Democrat – sums up the difference between Martin and Chambliss very well:

In his almost six years in the U.S. Senate, Saxby Chambliss has built a reputation as a loyal defender of President Bush and his policies and as a champion of corporate interests.

The people of Georgia now have to decide whether that's the senator they want for the next six years as well.

On his seats in the Senate intelligence and armed services committees, Chambliss strongly backed the president's decision to invade and occupy Iraq and rejected charges that Bush misused intelligence to convince the country to follow his lead. On the Senate Agriculture Committee, Chambliss fought reforms of farm subsidies. In fact, in one of his rare disagreements with Bush, Chambliss fought the president's efforts to limit government subsidies to the wealthiest of farmers. Unfortunately for taxpayers, Chambliss won that fight, ensuring that income limits for farm subsidies were so high as to be meaningless.

That attitude was most blatantly on display in a Senate committee hearing this summer into the deaths of 13 workers in an explosion at a Savannah sugar plant. A company whistleblower testified to the repeated warnings he had issued to top executives, including explicit written warnings that executives ignored. Rather than laud the whistleblower, as senators of both parties had done, Chambliss questioned his sincerity and integrity and tried to imply that the true villain had been the whistleblower, not his superiors...

Martin, a University of Georgia graduate who volunteered to serve his country in Vietnam, has pitched his campaign at his opponent's weak spot by focusing on protecting the middle class. He advocates lower taxes on the middle class, stronger consumer protection laws and an end to corporate welfare...

Martin has a long record of public service in the state Legislature, where he earned respect from Democrats and Republicans alike for his intelligence and willingness to buck party leaders if necessary. He was appointed by Gov. Roy Barnes, a fellow Democrat, to head the Department of Human Resources, and was asked to remain in that post when Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue took office

(Martin) is what he seems like, a smart guy who wants to help his fellow Georgians and doesn't care who gets the credit.

Comments (24)

1. Looks like the theft process in Minnesota by Frankin is about to stall...

   For all here after the elections..

   "The "Change" we seem to be seeing is a dejavu(sp) of the Clintonian fog...

   and the view you all here are seeing, off to the left....that is an oil pan...to the right...the exhaust system...

   ...for you are looking up at the under carriage of the bus."

   I had to switch to a new name...

   ..was I banned from the blog?

   Why is one bannned if that is the case?

   Anyone know what might have happened?

   I saw my post as Jomamma but it never showed up on other computers, so..

   Am I persona non "welcome ada"?

   Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 2:27pm

2. The shift in Southern politics is from Repub to Libertarian...I would guess with the libertarian out the Repub would win handily unless every black voter votes multiple times.

   Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 2:29pm

3. Sup, MAASCH....wondering when you'd get back.

   On-topic-

   Mr Nichols, your persistant naivete is always endearing, but...

   I think, if YOU think hard, you might see that Obama showing up doesn't help Martin, but maybe fires up the Chambliss base as "Our way to stop HIM from getting whatever he wants!". Obama can't win any votes for Martin, that Martin shouldn't win for himself.

   Given the latest from Insider Advantage and PPP, I don't think it matters much anyway.

   The trick now is to win over Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.

   Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 2:34pm

4. JM, where have you been? You were sorely missed around these parts.... :-)

   Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 2:34pm

5. Hi Mask and Acook..

   I think I was banned...

   I would send out a response to someone, but it never showed up..

   I think I was banned...

   I am off to China for 10 days next week...I will try to post from there..see if I am banned there too!!!

   Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 2:43pm

6. Mr. Nichols I think you should have waited to write your thread because after early voting finished in Georgia, Senator Chambliss was up by 6 percentage points. I was among them to cast my vote for him, not because I like him, but because there should never be a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate period.

   I say it would be worth while to have those passionate Senators fight it out (on our behalf) for what we truly believe in.

   Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 2:45pm

7. ACook, they don't fight it out-- at least not toward resolving anything. The minority just blocks, so nothing gets done. A blind man couldn't miss what's been happening in the Senate for the past 2 years. I feel deeply sorry for anyone who actually voted for a cad like Chambliss for such a pathetic reason.

   Posted by paranoid36 at 12/02/2008 @ 3:12pm

8. Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 2:43pm

   I doubt it's banning, JM. Probably the same account bug that forced me to create "Maskbeta" and "Maskdelta".

   BTW, you know the Chinese will monitor your Internet useage. Don't say anything pro-Tibet!!!!!

   heheh

   Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 3:58pm

9. Posted by paranoid36 at 12/02/2008 @ 3:12pm

   P36, the only "cad" in the Senate is Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid!

   Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 3:58pm

10. Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 3:58pm

    Technically CONVICTED FELON Ted Stevens is still in the US Senate, yet you "oddly" don't consider him a "cad"....?!???!???

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 4:04pm

11. Technically CONVICTED FELON Ted Stevens is still in the US Senate, yet you "oddly" don't consider him a "cad"....?!???!???

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 4:04pm

    What?! Stevens is still there?!I thought they through that old goat out already?!?!?

    Why isn't he in the "big house" now?

    Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 4:09pm

12. Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 4:09pm |

    Soon. But interesting that you only see somebody being political/partisan as "being a cad"...

    and not one who actually committed CRIMES!?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 4:13pm

13. About more than a filibuster? From the title it seems the run off is about wishful thinking.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:21pm

14. BTW, you know the Chinese will monitor your Internet useage. Don't say anything pro-Tibet!!!!!

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 3:58pm

    I am sure once they see I blog on the NATION all will be forgiven...

    although, I must say, the Chinese are more capitalistic than anyone on the American left these days..

    Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 4:21pm

15. and not one who actually committed CRIMES!?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 4:13pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Stevens is in the wrong party...thats his crime...

    he should be consulting with Congressman Jefferson...

    Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 4:22pm

16. Jommama

    A great big hearty welcome back!

    I got banned too, twice.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:46pm

17. The question is whether anything short of an Obama visit can generate the enthusiasm needed to prevent a win by Chambliss, who leads narrowly in most polls. ************************************************************

    Chamblis is going to win by about 5%. There is no way Obama could have made that swing, and as Mask notes, might have created a backlash.

    Obama did smart politics. He couldn't impact the outcome and appearing to fail would negatively impact his momentum.

    But it is kind of funny to read Nichols making excuses for him: "Oh, he's too busy cleaning up Bush's mess to act selfishly and put another ally in the Senate."

    Yeah, good one.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:49pm

18. Oh, he's too busy cleaning up Bush's mess to act selfishly and put another ally in the Senate

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:49pm

    Because he totally could if he wanted to, you know. Cuz, like, he's The One, you know.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:51pm

19. I'm also guessing the Franken is toast if he is floating trial balloon about trying to get the Senate to give Minnesotans the middle finger and Al the Senate seat.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:52pm

20. Soon. But interesting that you only see somebody being political/partisan as "being a cad"...

    and not one who actually committed CRIMES!?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 4:13pm

    What do you want from me?! I already told you I thought they threw him out! Tell you what, if you want me to call him a cad, then fine.."he's a cad!"

    To me, "cad" is a rather benign name to call a lyin and cheatin, dirty, rotten 'ol bastard (or do you think SOB would be more appropriate?)

    Posted by ACook at 12/02/2008 @ 4:57pm

21. Frankin lost but will manage to steal it anyway..Minnesota is a strange place at times..

    the trouble is Coleman is almost as big an ass and jackass as Frankin..

    Posted by YourJomamma at 12/02/2008 @ 4:58pm

22. A 59-member Democratic Caucus plus Leiberman doesn't give you a filibuster-proof majority. I'm sure Obama has better things to do than to get too wrapped up on the elections of Frankin and Martin.

    Posted by srjenkins at 12/02/2008 @ 5:53pm

23. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 12/02/2008 @ 4:49pm

    Well, actually "too busy cleaning up Bush's mess" will be EVERYBODY's rationale for some time to come.

    Posted by Mask at 12/02/2008 @ 7:50pm

24. I guess Sarah can feel vindicated now that Chambliss has won in Georgia.... she may think her presence there at least had one Republican win something!!!! It sure never worked for McCain did it? One thing for sure she just loves being in the limelight...she lit up like a Xmas tree when she was speaking at that Governors' meeting today. I feel she is never going to go away, she will always be showing up somewhere to annoy us all.

    Posted by Caj at 12/02/2008 @ 9:39pm