1
Black Vote Puts Heat on Georgia Republican
Newly registered force Sen. Chambliss into unexpected dogfight
By Nick McMaster
|
Posted Oct 30, 08 1:50 PM CDT
|
Share
(Newser)
–
With Barack Obama’s candidacy driving record early-voter turnout in Georgia among African-Americans, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is in an unexpected dogfight with Democrat Jim Martin, the New York Times reports. Though the Obama campaign stopped short of a full-court press for Georgia, it has spent months registering tens of thousands of new voters, many of them African-American.
Martin, like Obama, has been able to use the financial crisis to hurt his Republican rival: His attack ads link “Saxby economics” to the excesses in the mortgage-securities market. The race has taken on increased national significance with Democrats hoping long-shot candidacies like Martin’s bring them a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority.