Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss defeated Democratic challenger Jim Martin on Tuesday to win re-election to a second term.
Chambliss and Martin — University of Georgia Sigma Chi frat brothers in the 1960s — faced off in a U.S. Senate runoff that has become the focus of U.S. politics in the wake of the Nov. 4 general election.
The Martin loss also prevented President-elect Barack Obama and the Democrats from having a filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 in the US Senate. Democrats now have 56 seats in the upper chamber plus two independents who caucus with them, with only the race in Minnesota to be resolved. Republicans vowed to hold Chambliss’ seat at all costs.
Each candidate spent millions of dollars and had a number of political heavyweights visit Georgia over the past fortnight. For Chambliss: Sen. John McCain, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rudy Guiliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Democratic Georgia Gov. Zell Miller. For Jim Martin: former President Bill Clinton, former Vice-President Al Gore, former US Senator Max Cleland (who lost his senate seat to Chambliss in 2002),
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plez sez: martin rode BARACK OBAMA's coattails to a runoff, but there was no way that martin was going to be able to generate the excite and turnout necessary to repeat the results from november 4th without Obama making a personal appearance and plea to his faithful. but rightly so, Obama decided not to expend the political capital on such a long shot (he did provide his ground troops and recorded a few robo-calls for jim martin).
the democratic party in georgia should've dredged up max cleland to reclaim his old seat... that was really their only chance to win the senate seat in georgia. maybe we're still a TRULY REDneck state!
The election cycle is not completed in Georgia. To win an election in these parts, you need to get 50 percent plus one vote. Since the incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss fell short on November 4th, he's going against his Democratic rival, Jim Martin, in a runoff election on December 2nd.
This race is garnering national attention, because this is one of three US Senate races that have not been resolved, and if Jim Martin wins, the Democrats will be one seat closer to the magical 60 Senators necessary for a filibuster-proof Senate. This is also interesting since Georgia "used to be" a red state, with Republican governor and two Republican senators. The state, particularly in the metro Atlanta area, turned slightly more blue during the general election with President-elect Barack Obama losing the state by only 4 percent.
Both parties are pulling out the big guns for this runoff:
Sen. John McCain was in Georgia last week stumping for Chambliss
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Georgia’s GOP presidential primary in February, joined about 2,000 people Sunday afternoon at a rally for Chambliss
President Bill Clinton will be in Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon for Martin at Clark Atlanta University
There are rumors that Gov. Sarah Palin may come to Georgia for Chambliss
The Obama campaign infrastructure has revved back up to support Martin, by making phone calls, sending e-mail messages, and encouraging early voting
Donna Brazile, campaign director for Vice President Al Gore's run in 2000 plans to come to Georgia to advise the Martin campaign
And some circles are holding out hope that President-elect Barack Obama may come down here to seal the deal a few days before the election
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Early voting started on Monday, November 17th and runs through the Wednesday (November 26th) before the election. No voting on Thanksgiving.
With the SugarPlum in tow, plezWorld voted Monday afternoon in DeKalb County. There wasn't a long wait (no more than 5 minutes), but there was an unanticipated flurry of activity in the elections office for it to be 2 weeks before a runoff election. Both campaigns are trying to get out the vote and their efforts appear to be working. Don't look for 2 or 3 hours waits, but in some parts of the state, there may be lines as the election date draws closer.
Advance Voting Locations in Metro Atlanta
Clayton County
Early voting 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 24- 26 at six locations. Voters can request an absentee ballot from their county registrar’s office through the close of business on Nov. 26. 770-477-3372.
Cobb County
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Board of Elections & Registration at 736 Whitlock Ave., west of the Marietta Square. Nov. 24-26, voters can go to five additional locations. 770-528-1000.
DeKalb County
8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at the main elections office at 4380 Memorial Drive. No satellite locations will be open during early voting. 404-298-4020.
Fulton County
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at: Fulton County Government Center (downtown), 141 Pryor St.; North Service Center, 7741 Roswell Road; and South Service Center, 5600 Stonewall Tell Road. Voting will continue at these locations 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 24-26. 404-730-4000.
Gwinnett County
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the main elections office at 455 Grayson Highway, Lawrenceville. There will be no satellite early voting locations. 678-226-7210.
What you’ll need
Under the state’s Voter ID law, voters need one of six forms of photo ID:
Any valid state or federal government-issued photo ID, including the free Voter ID Card issued by your county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services.
A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired.
Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of the state. This includes current photo ID from a public Georgia high school or college.
BLOG UPDATE August 6,2008 12:14AM - Jim Martin defeated Vernon Jones for the Democratic Party's nomination for the state of Georgia's U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday night.
The AJC reports that with 89 percent of the precincts reporting Jones was trailing Martin by nearly 20 percentage points in their runoff battle.
Jones lost all of the large metro Atlanta counties (Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett). He lost Fulton County 29 percent to 71 percent (more than a two-to-one margin). Jones lost Gwinnett County 31 percent to 69 percent. The loss in Cobb County was almost three-to-one.
Remember, Vernon Jones has been the CEO of DeKalb County for eight years, and he lost his home county 38 percent to 62 percent. It appears ALL of the voters who didn't vote for Martin or Jones on July 15th, voted for Martin on August 5th (with a fair amount of defections, as well).
With over 97 percent of the precincts reporting, Jim Martin had a 60 percent to 40 percent lead over Vernon Jones, who quickly conceded to Martin, "I accept God's will. He knows what's best for me."
Jim Martin will take on incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in November for the US Senate seat.
Read the entire AJC article about the US Senate run-off here.
plez sez: there was only one real Democrat in the race... and he won!
In local politics, there was the DeKalb County CEO race to fill Vernon Jones's office. Burrell Ellis (a real estate attorney) handily defeated Georgia State Representative Stan Watson, drawing 63 percent to Watson's 37 percent. Since there was no Republican candidate, Ellis will take office in January 2009.
Surprisingly, almost as many DeKalb County residents voted in the run-off as voted in the primaries on July 15.
On Sunday evening, the remaining Democratic candidates for US Senate squared off for debate to determine who'll take on Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in November. DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones looks to replace Sen. Barack Obama as the only Black person in the 100 member US Senate. The former Georgia State Representative has been the CEO of DeKalb County for the past eight years. Jim Martin is a long time Georgia State Representative and former Human Resources Commissioner.
Unfortunately for Jones and Martin, Saxby Chambliss is nursing a double-digit lead over BOTH Democratic candidates (Georgia has been a red state for quite some time). The Rasmussen Reports poll from July 21, 2008 has shown that Sen. Saxby Chambliss leads Democratic challengers Vernon Jones 59 percent to 29 percent (30 point lead) and Jim Martin 51 percent to 40 percent (11 point lead).
The poll also shows that against Jones, Chambliss is supported by 96% of Republicans in Georgia and 19% of Democrats. When put against Martin, Chambliss earns support from 90% of Republicans and just 9% of Democrats. Chambliss tops Jones 66% to 18% among unaffiliated voters. Against Martin, he leads 56% to 33%. While the incumbent leads Jones by double-digits among both men and women, he trails Martin 45% to 43% among women. He leads Martin 62% to 32% among men.
It appears that statewide, Martin will perform a lot better against Chambliss than would Jones.
The debate brought to light some interesting facts: Jones relished his voting for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, Martin voted for John Edwards on Super Tuesday even though he'd already dropped out of the race, Jones has had a number of altercations with DeKalb County Commissioners (one of which involved a formal apology), and Martin isn't well known around the state. Jones opposes the windfall profits tax on big oil companies as proposed by Barack Obama, and Martin supports them. Jones also opposes Obama's proposed tax increase on those families making over $250,000 a year, and Martin supports it.
The run-off election will be held on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 here in Georgia.
Check out the debate using the links below... make an informed decision.
US Senate Run-off Debate in Georgia: Jones vs. Martin
plez sez: this is a tough call. i would love to support vernon jones in the us senate race against sen. saxby chambliss. Sen. Barack Obama looks to put georgia in play in november, but he will not be able to win the state with a weak statewide candidate for the democratic party. the poll results show that jones will not perform well against chabliss in the statewide election, and it is the fear of plezWorld that his poor performance will have an adverse affect on Obama's chances in the state.
his misleading campaign mailers (showing Obama and jones together), questionable activities while running DeKalb County (which has some of the state's worst public schools, an underfunded and understaffed police department, and increasing crime), the votes for bush, and near-slanderous mudslinging during the debate leads me to believe that vernon jones is not the best candidate for the democratic party. it is a longshot for martin to keep within 10 points of chambliss on election night, but his chances and those of Obama are much better than with those of jones.
it's strange that jones would fabricate a campaign mailer showing him and Obama together, when the only thing it appears that they have in common is their skin color! jones opposes a number of key initiatives that have been proposed by Obama while campaigning for president. HELL, he didn't even endorse Obama until late into the primary season (long after the Super Tuesday primary in georgia)!
...and i'm still having trouble reconciling vernon jones's support of george w. bush in 2000 and 2004! in the debate, it sounded as though he would vote for bush again if he had the chance... just keeping it real here, i don't trust the judgement of ANYONE who felt that george w. bush would be a better president (and history bears me out on this one) than Al Gore or John Kerry!
~ husband ~ father ~ son ~ brother ~ mentor ~ subdivision dweller ~ northern by birth ~ southern by choice ~ raised a black baptist, now guided by the spiritual ~ raised a kennedy democrat, now politically dead center (moderate) ~ raised in a Cadillac Coupe Deville, now hooked on an SUV ~ college educated and still a student of life ~ wild college frat boy and now a settled alumnus ~ intellectual yet fun-loving geek ~ technical and leading edge ~ corporate cog ~ consultant ~ college football saturday devotee ~ and a ramblin' gamblin' helluva engineer (GO JACKETS!) ~
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