By Rachel Kapochunas CQ Staff
Published: 12-03-08
Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss broke away for a comfortable victory over Democratic challenger Jim Martin in Tuesday’s Senate runoff election in Georgia. The victory which clinched a second term for Chambliss also ended Democrats’ hope of gaining a so-called filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats in the upcoming 111th Congress.
Chambliss established a clear lead from the beginning on Tuesday night’s vote count and the Associated Press called the race in his favor just two hours after the polls closed. With 92 percent of precincts reporting Chambliss led Martin by 58 percent to 42 percent.
Yet Chambliss’ win amounts to a bit of late salve for Senate Republicans who suffered major setbacks for the second consecutive election cycle. The Democrats after gaining six seats in 2006 to grab a razor-thin majority have clinched a seven-seat gain this year ensuring themselves of effective control of 58 seats.
Still up for grabs is the cliffhanger race in Minnesota where first-term Republican Sen. Norm Coleman ’s exceedingly narrow lead over Democrat Al Franken is being tested in a runoff that will be followed by both candidates’ official challenges to the status of thousands of ballots.
So while Democrats will not hold the three-fifths majority of 60 needed when all members are voting to end delaying tactics on legislation the big gains they did make will bring them close enough to craft alliances with some of the Senate’s more moderate Republicans — at least on some issues — that would enable them to break such filibusters anyway.
Chambliss’ performance in the runoff was a marked improvement percentage-wise over his vote share on Election Day four weeks earlier when he fell short of the majority required under Georgia law to win a contest outright without a runoff. Chambliss in that election received 49.8 percent to 46.8 percent for Martin and 3.4 percent for Libertarian Party candidate Alan Buckley.
Chambliss though was able to prevail more because fewer of his supporters than Martin’s decided to sit out the runoff in which turnout was dramatically lower than on Election Day.
Martin benefitted greatly in the Nov. 4 vote by the massive organizational effort by Democrat Barack Obama ’s presidential campaign. Obama came within 5 percentage points of Republican nominee John McCain in a conservative-leaning Southern state that in recent years has exhibited a much stronger Republican lean and Martin appeared to benefit from a “coattails” effect.
It was especially crucial for Martin to maintain high turnout in the runoff among members of the state’s overwhelmingly Democratic African-American constituency who turned out heavily for Obama’s bid to become the nation’s black president. But Martin was unable to do so without the driving force of Obama running at the top of the ticket.
Republicans were eager to nationalize the race promoting Chambliss to Republican voters as the “firewall” who could prevent a 60-vote Democratic majority. McCain a four-term senator from Arizona visited Georgia to campaign for Chambliss as did Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin his vice presidential running mate in the recent campaign.
Obama conversely delegated aides from his own campaign organization to go to Georgia to help on the runoff campaign but declined entreaties from Martin’s camp that he personally visit the state to campaign for Martin.
Obama has been preoccupied with his presidential transition. Compared to most newly elected presidents he has acted at a faster clip in issuing nominations and appointments for key positions in his administration since his election just less than a month ago.
From the partisan political perspective an active effort on Obama’s part to unseat an incumbent Republican senator during the transition period might have been viewed by some as an abrogation of his pledge to reach out across the aisle to pursue solutions to the nation’s problems. Martin also was widely viewed as the underdog in the runoff and there was some speculation that Obama did not want to attach himself personally to a potential losing Democratic race even before he takes office.
Martin was unable to hold his ground despite the appearances on his behalf by some very high-profile Democratic Party surrogates including former President Bill Clinton former Vice President Al Gore and hip-hop singing star Ludacris.
The fact that this race required a runoff to resolve was little anticipated earlier this year.
Chambliss was strongly favored to win as the Republican nominee and Martin also was not regarded as a top-flight candidate. But polls taken in the fall showed Chambliss had slipped into a very close race with Martin. Chambliss stated after the Nov. 4 election that he believed his vote for the unpopular financial industry “bailout” legislation enacted in early October hurt him at the polls during the general election early voting period.
But Chambliss said throughout the runoff campaign that he was confident more voters had come to support the financial industry aid program as a necessary measure. He championed his own conservative record and argued Martin would be a liberal on economic and other issues if elected to the Senate.
Martin narrowed his issues focus during the runoff mainly criticizing Chambliss on votes Martin believes did not benefit military veterans. Martin is a Vietnam War veteran and his campaign and other Democrats highlighted deferments Chambliss received that kept him out of military service during the war.
Martin highlighted his similarities with President-elect Obama and argued he would be better suited than Chambliss to work with the upcoming Obama administration.
