Rhodes Cook on THE GEORGIA SENATE RUNOFF: THE FIRST SHOT OF 2010?
The 2008 election these days may seem long ago and far away. But it is worth remembering that while the Republicans had a bad time at the polls in November, they fared well in the array of contests that concluded the election cycle in December.
The GOP scored two House wins last month in Louisiana, including the improbable upset of Democrat William Jefferson by a little-known Republican, Anh Cao. The latter became the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. And in Georgia, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss scored a decisive victory in a runoff required by state law when he narrowly failed to win a majority of the vote in November.
For symbolic value, Cao’s victory was a powerful tonic for a party that had run poorly among virtually all minority groups in 2008. But as a harbinger of the 2010 midterm elections, Chambliss’ Senate victory could have much greater import.