The AFL-CIO, which helped prove labor's organizing muscle with its formidable ground game in the battleground states, is now ramping up big time in the high-stakes Georgia runoff, putting in place an operation that it bills as the largest effort the federation has ever taken for what is effectively a special election.

The AFL is dropping this mailer to more than 80,000 homes later this week, a piece that ties GOP incumbent Saxby Chambliss to Bush by asking voters to send Chambliss packing along with the outgoing president (click to enlarge):

AFL shifted field staff from around the country to the state last week and is aiming to recruit in the neighborhood of 10,000 volunteers between now and the voting early next month. AFL is also hoping to drop over half a million pieces of mail in the next couple of weeks and mounting an aggressive door-knocking operation.

The key here is that the election is expected to be low-turnout, so while Dem challenger Jim Martin is clearly the underdog in this race, its conceivable, though not likely, that he could pull it out with a highly successful turnout operation pulling for him.