Well, now that the Republican ticket has a lot of free time on their hands, it looks like they’re about to lend an assist to their buddy Saxby Chambliss in his December runoff election against hard-charging Democrat Jim Martin:
U.S. Sen. John McCain will come to Georgia to campaign for Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Moultrie lawmaker’s campaign confirmed Friday.
“We just have to work out the dates,” said Chambliss’s spokeswoman, Michelle Grasso.
Grasso said the campaign is also in touch with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s office about a possible Georgia appearance.
“She wants to come down, but right now we are working with her schedulers to see if that’s possible,” Grasso said.
It’s no secret that Martin’s strategy is to turn out as many Obama fans as possible for the runoff — he’s already airing an ad hitching himself to Obama’s wagon. But will Obama lift a finger? My guess is not likely — especially with the news that McCain will campaign for Chambliss.
Look at it this way: Obama’s already beaten McCain once. I don’t think he wants to turn this race into a proxy war, allowing the pundits to chatter about how McCain “beat Obama” in this contest if Martin lost. No, I have a feeling that Obama will stay on the sidelines here.
Martin’s best hope may be to get Bill Clinton, the last Democratic presidential candidate to win this state, to return on his behalf.
So he’d likely be willing to campaign some.
I agree that Obama shouldn’t actively campaign for Martin. He has other things to focus on and defeat could tarnish his presidency before it begins. Sending an email to supports in Georgia (or perhaps nationally), on the other hand, would be quite helpful and low risk.
There is a lot he can do to help, especially if his GA folks and others in the region take a trip to help out. It’s possible, POSSIBLE that the sight of McCain campaigning for Saxby could bring Obama’s supporters back out. After all, how motivated do you think McCranky’s will be to show up again after getting crushed. Some may cite the example of 2002 in LA, but it was because Donna Brazile and Bill Clinton got the AA community out in large enough numbers to alter the composition of the electorate. If downstate GA does not show up in the same numbers, we can tip the balance getting Atlanta and the surrounding area out in force.
I know that would be the conventional view, but Obama is pretty good at spinning out from under conventional views I think. Couldn’t he just say something like
Fighting only those races in which you have a better than 40% chance of victory is the old, ten-House-challengers Democratic strategy. Adding in all the races in which you have a 25-40% chance of victory has been a central argument of the netroots and others seeking to revitalize the party. The campaigns of Jim Webb, Paul Hackett, Tom Perriello, Charlie Brown, Kay Hagan, Kathy Dahlkemper, Linda Ketner and others have been about attempting those races that fall between 25 and 40% probability, and winning about that percentage of them.
I’m not a campaign expert, and if the odds of a Jim Martin win are indeed well under 25%, then Obama would be right to pass on the race. I don’t want him to go out on a limb for absolutely nothing. But the conventional view has been far too conservative on this subject — the idea being that contesting the second tier is a sign of weak judgment, not of electoral strength and political resolve. I think the voices advising Obama (ESPECIALLY EMANUEL!) are too likely to advise him to pass, when he should instead say “fuck the post-election spin, I can outspin them anyway, let’s try it.” So I’m arguing the other way.
I thought McCain would just go back to Arizona for awhile and hide out until the new year, but he’s still in campaign mode. I wonder what he will say about President-elect Obama after the concession he gave on Tuesday?
Univeral Healthcare will be tough to get with just 57 Senate seats. 58 would be exponentially better (picking off two is much easier than picking off three.)
Employee Free Choice won’t be easy either. The Republicans will draw the line in the sand at one or more likely both of those.
He needs Martin. He really does.
http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2…
Looks like Obama is helping out Martin and in a way much more beneficial than simply stumping for him. As one of the Obama worker’s states “I’m coming to Georgia and bringing several hundred of my friends with me.” Whoa.
The 2 links about the “invasion” of Ohio tourists to S.C. are effin hilarious. Good example of culture war flaming. I am curious to see if Chambliss goes on the “carpetbagger” and other negative campaign which has the outsider (code: racial) tip. On the positive note, this is the best thing that the campaign could have done. Low profile but high impact – if we pull out the win on this it will prove that this election wasn’t just about the anti-Bush vote and the black turnout but the incredible organization of the Obama campaign.