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Georgia voters angry; senate race tightens

September 30th, 2008
By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor

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MyDD’s andrewalker08 screams, Absolutely awesome. Another one comes on the radar:

A new WMAZ-TV (Macon) poll conducted by SurveyUSA says that Democrat Jim Martin only trails the Republican by two points.  This latest poll seems to confirm the numbers released by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) yesterday that showed Chambliss leading Martin by just three points [Source:  Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, “New Georgia Poll Shows Martin Within Three Points Of Chambliss”, September 29, 2008].

U.S. Senate - Georgia

Saxby Chambliss (R) - 46%

Jim Martin (D) - 44%

Allen Buckley (L) - 5%

Undecided - 5%

[Source:  WMAZ-TV (Macon), “13WMAZ Poll: Obama, Martin Tighten Ga. Races”, September 30, 2008]

Twelve days ago, Saxby Chambliss led his Democratic opponent by 17 points in a similar SurveyUSA poll [Source:  Georgia Politics Unfiltered, “SurveyUSA Poll: McCain & Chambliss Hold Big Leads”, September 18, 2008]

It sure looks like the economic collapse hurt Chambliss. Bad. Georgia is front and center in McClatchy’s story about how Angry voters drove bailout’s failure (no mention of Pelosi):

The thousands of Georgians who’ve phoned, written and e-mailed members of the House of Representatives over the past few days had just one message: Vote against the $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street … or else.

“I wanted to tell you, my husband and I plan to vote for you under one condition — that you do not vote yes for the Wall Street bailout. If you vote yes for that, you’re going to lose a lot of votes. We’re going to see to it. Thank you,” said one caller who left a phone message for Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Grantville.

After more than 1,600 similar phone calls, e-mails and faxes, Westmoreland got the message loud and clear.

“You cannot do this type of buyout — bailout of $700 billion without adequate hearings, without hearing other alternatives,” Westmoreland said Monday on the House floor.

In all, eleven of Georgia’s 13 House members voted against the $700 billion plan to shore up the nation’s ailing financial sector. […]

It is a position that put the House members at odds with their fellow Republicans in the Senate, Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss.

The AJC’s Jim Galloway has video of Chambliss this morning on the Wall Street rescue:

In his statement, Chambliss began on a partisan tone, putting the blame for Monday’s debacle “on the part of the leadership on the Democratic side, both in the House and in the Senate.”

Chambliss also managed to call the bill a “Democratic proposal,” rather than a measure initiated by the Bush administration.

But other than that, Chambliss more or less prepared Georgians for the fact that he intends to vote in favor of the measure, once it is revived in the House and moves to the Senate.

“Every single issue that we’ve asked to be address, has been addressed,” Chambliss said. “It may not have been exactly the way we liked it.

The seat has been a “Republican lock”. Chambliss won his U.S. Senate seat by attacking the patriotism of Max Cleland, a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran. Now he’s neck and neck with a man the AJC says is an attractive alternative:

A Vietnam veteran, he has earned deep bipartisan respect through his service in the state Legislature and as commissioner of the state Department of Human Resources under Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican.

Martin also stresses the importance of being an independent voice for Georgia in the Senate regardless of who is elected president, drawing a contrast to the blind allegiance he claims Chambliss has given to Bush. His nomination would bring credit both to his party and to his state.



This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 11:49 pm and is filed under Senate, 2008 Elections. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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