Barack Obama is within striking distance of winning deep red Georgia next Tuesday. The latest poll out of Georgia shows a statistical tie. If McCain loses Georgia he will lose it as part of a larger national Barack Obama landslide.
Down ballot the Georgia Senate race is heating up. Democrat Jim Martin is in a dead heat with Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
Chambliss won his senate seat in 2002 by beating Vietnam veteran and triple amputee Senator Max Cleland in one of the sleaziest campaigns in recent times. Chambliss questioned Cleland’s patriotism and played the fear card to the hilt. Here’s a Chambliss ad from 2002:
Georgia now has a chance to retire Saxby Chambliss and his brand of politics. Next Tuesday night, this is the Senate race (except for the expected Mark Warner rout in Virginia) I will be paying the most attention to. And so will Max Cleland.
This election season my senate race contributions went to Jim Martin. I am really hoping Jim Martin can score a victory. That is more important for me than an Obama victory in georgia.
Remember the remarks he made at a meeting with emergency responders in Valdosta, Georgia on November 19, 2001, “turn the sheriff loose and arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line.”
Rumi, hopefully we are all celebrating Chambliss’s retirement next Tuesday night.