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November 22, 2008

Heavy-hitters coming to Georgia to campaign for others

By Jamie Jones

RINGGOLD — With the U.S. Senate runoff between incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin now 10 days away, Republicans and Democrats are bringing out the heavyweights in hopes of persuading voters to their side.

Former GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney was in Georgia on Friday stumping for for Chambliss. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is expected to traverse the state next week. Former President Bill Clinton came to Atlanta earlier this week to garner support for Martin, while former Vice President Al Gore is expected to be in the state’s capital today.

And on a crisp and cold Saturday morning Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., dropped by the restaurant Alvin’s Outback to thank volunteers for their efforts to help Chambliss win re-election. Earlier this month, Chambliss received 49.8 percent of the vote (1.86 million votes) to Martin’s 46.8 percent (1.75 million votes). Libertarian Allen Buckley won 3.4 percent of the votes (128,002 votes). The runoff is Dec. 2.

So why is the runoff receiving such national attention? A Martin victory would give Democrats the magic number of 60 votes in the Senate. That would thwart Republicans from blocking legislation and presidential appointments. Democrats would have control of the presidency and the Senate.

“If Saxby were to lose this race, and I do not think that is going to happen, but it will alter the balance of power in this country in such a way that even Georgia Democrats will be disappointed in the policies that are put in place,” said Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga. “And I mean that.”

One of the most talked about issues Corker and Congress are facing is a possible financial bailout of the Big Three automakers: Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. Executives from those companies testified this week before Congress why they need some $25 billion in bridge loans. Corker said “the jury’s still out” whether the federal government will grant that money.

“Candidly, they hurt themselves tremendously coming up with such a lack of coherent (plan),” Corker said. “Basically, they felt like the ‘getting was good’ in Washington and let’s go get a piece of money and continue to do the same things they’ve been doing for so long in such a poor way.”

Since the runoff is receiving less attention than the Nov. 4 presidential election, Corker said mobilizing residents to vote will be key.

“You’ve got to turn out in huge numbers to offset what is happening in other parts of the state,” Corker said.

There are also some everyday citizens stumping for Chambliss. Several North Georgia residents hung around after Corker’s appearance to make telephone calls asking voters to pick Chambliss.

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