New Dem Ad In Georgia -- Which Backed McCain -- Hits Chambliss For Not Backing Obama
Jim Martin, the Georgia Democrat who has an outside shot at picking off GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss in the upcoming runoff election, has a new ad with a very interesting strategy for a red-state Dem: Aggressively tying himself to Barack Obama and attacking the Republican for not supporting the new president-elect.
"No wonder he opposes the Obama economic recovery plan," the announcer says -- in a state that voted 52%-47% for John McCain.
The rub here is that this runoff is similar in many ways to a special election, which is all about mobilizing the base. And Martin sees here an opportunity to capitalize on Obama's honeymoon period in order to get Democratic voters out to the polls for a second time.
Chambliss should still be viewed as the frontrunner, but not by much -- a recent Research 2000 poll has him leading Martin by only 49%-46%. If Martin can effectively leverage economic uncertainties plus the Obama honeymoon into a better base turnout than Chambliss can use right-wing anger at Obama's win, he could very plausibly pull this thing off.
Sly.
Usually the "He's not a Team Player" meme is used by Reps against Dems. Since GA is deep red it's a strategy that may cull a few center-right types as well as galvanizing the center-left.
Someone is thinking...
November 17, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Early voting starts today...
November 17, 2008 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I really like this approach. I will be happy to say buh-bye to Chambliss if we win this one.
November 17, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chambliss....unpatriotic. I seem to remember his using that argument against a disabled war veteran and winning. Sock it to that POS draft dodger!
November 17, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dunno if it'd be prudent, but the poetic-justice side of me sure would like to see an ad featuring Chambliss trashing Max Cleland. And maybe a clip of McSlime calling him out for it!
November 17, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
EXCELLENT!! call the Margin campaign right now!! :)
man, if we win this one (PLUS Alaska, PLUS Minn. that would be so GRAND...)
lately it's been bruited about that Bush will issue lots of pardons -- preemtive pardons even (has this been done before?), to war criminals and the like.. so it occurred to me this morning he might also pardon Sen. Ted Stevens.. wouldn't it be sweetly ironic if Stevens ends up losing after being pardoned by the Decider?? :)
November 17, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Talk to any of the 3,000 gm workers in Doraville Georgia who have lost their jobs how they think things are going.
Chambliss is another republican looking out for corporations while the middle class gets hung out to dry. Voters need to know who the real Saxby Chambliss is.
November 17, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know, but I think unfortunately the argument Reps will spout, namely the specter of the Dems having 60 votes in the Senate, will resonate with some independent voters.. what do you think? it's a Southern state after all.. I hope I'm wrong, but I think that will be an effective argument for the Reps (unless Obama can conjure up the powerful get-out-the-vote machine he emloyed in the general election..) I think there are a lot of x-factors in this race that will make it quite suspenseful...
November 17, 2008 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a good ad and will persuade some voters here in Ga. Unfortunately, Chambliss is up with ads linking Martin to Obama. So clearly Chamblis and his team think that Obama is a net negative for Martin. They may be right too. I'm sorry to say but there's a lot of folks here -- I'm talking about most of my neighbors now -- who simply HATE Obama. One "friend" of mine just told me how sad she thought it was that the illiterate just for Obama elected and they really don't know who or what they just voted for. Uh....yeah...there isn't enough time in the day to describe what's wrong with that. But, it is illustrative of the dominant mentality here.
November 17, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
well, looking at it on the bright side, this mentality on the part of wacko right-wingers is one reason they lost this election so spectacularly.. mainstream and independent voters simply have had enough of the right-wing nutjobs and their religious fanaticism and all the rest....
November 17, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Too true maya. I just hope there's enough middle of the roaders here in Ga to put Martin over the time. Unfortunately, race plays a huge role in politics here. I only moved to Ga a few years ago and it still blows me away how much race is still a factor. It's sad.
November 17, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink