One of the big question marks in Georgia’s ongoing U.S. Senate campaign is how much President-elect Barack Obama will get involved.
Democrat Jim Martin desperately wants Obama to come here to boost Martin’s campaign against Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who has already secured a promise from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to visit the state on Chambliss’ behalf.
Obama, however, had not responded to Martin’s overtures as of Sunday. And with the president-elect’s weekend calls for an end to partisan rancor after the Nov. 4 election, his involvement in Georgia’s bitter partisan brawl of a Senate race appeared anything but certain.
“Our campaign has talked to their campaign,” said Martin spokeswoman Kate Hansen. “And that it as far as it has gone. We would be honored to have him. We know his operation is incredibly busy right now.”
I hope this state of affairs changes soon. There is precedent for getting involved: President-elect Bill Clinton came down to GA to campaign for Wyche Fowler in his run-off against Paul Coverdell in 1992. I wouldn’t necessarily expect Obama to go that far, but even a single blast to his e-mail list could make a huge difference. So could a TV ad. It appears he may have sent some staffers to help Martin, but I think he can do more.
I can understand the Obama team wanting the election to be over, as far as they are concerned, so that they can focus on governing. And I’m sure they don’t want to get into a potentially stature-diminishing proxy fight with John McCain (who is coming to the state for Chambliss). But I think that any such direct confrontation is easily avoided.
We’re going to have plenty of legislative fights which come down to a single vote in the Senate – and we’ll win a lot more of them with Jim Martin on our side.
My network of Obama organizers is already planning trips to Gerogia, fundraisers and phonebanking. What Obama does will be up to him and his staff but I hope he lends Martin some help. At least a fundraising blast to the list.
Politico cited the Fowler-Coverdell race as a major setback for the beginning of Clinton’s term. Nevertheless I think that the risk of a smattering of bad press is doubtlessly worth the chance of taking back Cleland’s old seat. However it may smack of partisanship, Chambliss’s utter repugnance should serve as an antidote.
As far that is concerned, I hope the Martin camp widely publicizes this quote from McCain when he arrives in Georgia:
http://politicalwire.com/archi…
“I’d never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”
I’d probably agree with you, David, but Obama has to worry about his first impressions, and if Martin loses when it appears as though Obama was giving him a lot of help, it would embolden Republicans to pick fights on a lot of Obama’s agenda.
energize people.
He doesn’t have to lambast or even mention Chambliss, just be present, perhaps to introduce some of his policy initiatives (and oh-so-casually mention that there’s a great Senate candidate who shares his vision who incidentally is on the ballot next month!).
One of the primary reasons for people wanting Obama to campaign for Martin is to keep black turnout up. Perhaps Obama can record some ads targetted to African-Americans to be aired on BET, black-oriented radio stations, etc.
Obama was sending his OH team to Georgia to help out Jim Martin, or am I thinking of something else?
So often during presidential primary season, a governor’s wife endorses a candidate while the guv stays neutral (think it happened in IA this year, and has happened a lot in the past). The guv always plays the lame “she endorses who she wants…” line each time and its all just silly, cuz you know the guv has played his hand.
Couldn’t Michelle get down there and do the same thing? She would certainly drive turnout up to some extent within the AA community. And her presence really wouldn’t hurt Obama if Martin loses…Michelle Obama has no political capital and little to lose really.
Add in Carter, Clinton’s, etc. And does John Lewis help drive turnout too???
Also, anyone know the rules on the runoff regarding early voting? Just curious of what it is, since one would think by Thanksgiving all minds will have been made so maybe that eneds to play into the whole mini-campaign….
I do not see the risks as all that great. So what if he campaigns for Martin and Martin loses? This is especially true if his involvement is somewhat limited as I suggest below. The more important limitation, IMHO, is that Obama’s first responsibility is to prepare for the transition. So, I don’t want him camped out in Georgia.
But, there are things he can and should do to help Martin: email his supporters to encourage donations to Martin and their support; cut a radio and TV ad for Martin mainly geared to Black voters and to be run on radio and TV shows with large black viewers/listeners; and hold one rally for Martin near the date of the election. Obama’s main purpose is to energize and turn out the black vote. Without that, Martin loses. With it, he has a good chance.