My mistake. I thought we were talking about Georgia.
Last night, after Saxby Chambliss won re-election to his Georgian Senate seat, the Republican pundits partied like it was November 2004. If you listened to cable news or any assortment of hit-paraded Republican blogs, this is just the first of many setbacks--CRUSHING DEFEATS!--for President-Elect Obama. (Actually, according to truthologists Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, his election is the sole reason for the "Obama Recession"---or as it's sometimes called "the recession"---so I guess Jim Martin's double-digit loss is actually Obama's second setback. And that's my second mistake in two paragraphs. Yikes!)
Snow queen Sarah Palin is also credited with giving Chambliss his expected win. "When she walks in a room, folks just explode,"- Chambliss told Fox News in a non-sexual manner after the election Tuesday night. "Man, she was dynamite."- CNN's David Gergen declared the Republican win put "a lot more pressure on Barack Obama to govern much more to the center and not from the left."
If you believe the prophetic commenters at Politico and their "We the people"- comments below an article aptly-titled, Chambliss: Palin 'allowed us to peak', she had a greater impact than even Saxby thought:
"Sarah Palin; The change we REALLY need, and the change we WILL see in 2012! I love this woman! RonaReagan in high heels!"- said user woodyblack.
"Read it and weep. You can't keep a good woman down with lies. Keep it up libtardo's. You ain't seen nothing yet,"- hailed I_B_4_FRED.
Prophesized Wadab: "I would vote for Palin in a nanosecond over ANY libtard. The Democratic Party, represents what is wrong with America, living in DEBT."-
If you ask me, the real run-off election should have been the Obama-McCain election. I mean, Obama must have stolen that thing last month. It's the only explanation! If President-Elect Barack HUSSEIN Obama can't get us out of this economic hole or get a squirrelly member of the Georgia House elected to the senate, how can we expect him to go toe-to-toe with the Iranian HITLER, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, huh? HUH!?
To be clear, before November 4, Jim Martin led Saxby Chambliss in exactly zero opinion polls. In early November, Survey USA had Saxby up by 4, Ramussen had him up 5, Daily Kos' Research 2000 by 1. The race went into a runoff because of libertarian candidate Allen Buckley getting 3.4% of the vote.
Before the Senate runoff December 2, Jim Martin led Saxby Chambliss in exactly zero opinion polls. Pollster had Chambliss up 7. Insider Advantage had Chambliss up 3. PPP had the Republican up 6.
Democratic presidential contenders haven't won Georgia since 1992 (and 1980 before that, since it was Jimmy Carter's stomping ground). Georgia basically left Democrats in the dust with LBJ's Civil Rights Act. In Slick Willie's year, he won the state by .59 of a percentage point over Bush and didn't come close to a majority. Despite the 2002 controversy, Chambliss beat incumbent Max Cleland by an overly healthy 8-point margin. Cleland was in the senate for a single term, didn't receive a majority in 1996 (an in-between period for the Georgian run-off rule), and won by just 30,000 votes. The "Do it for Cleland"- get-out-the-vote campaign couldn't have been created by anyone but a guy who figured he was going to lose, anyway.
Chambliss's "Macaca moments"- (as told by left-wing blogs) weren't moments at all. In Georgia, when you say things like "The other folks are voting"- with a giant wink, or even non-winked statements like, "Arrest every Muslim that comes across the state line,"- you're not being controversial; you're giving people a reason to vote for you.
Jim Martin's would-be ascendancy from the Georgia House to the National Senate was like the dream you had when you were a kid. The one where you went from being you, to being Superman. (Or, Wonder Woman. Or, whatever.)
Let the right have their "No 60 votes! No mandate! Nobama!"- shin-dig for the time being. Let them believe Georgia is a repudiation of Barack Obama's soon-presidency. Let them trample economic theory and say our elected president is responsible for this economic sludgestorm before he's been inaugurated. (McCain did blame him for then-high gas prices over the summer"-) To tell you the truth, I think it's actually kind of fun. Because the Reagan Revolution is getting dragged to your laptop's "Trash"- folder to be replaced with a YouTube video of the 2009 inauguration. This is 1932 all over again for the Democrats. And the Republican arguments are only going to get more outrageous, more hilarious, more Jewish-bankers-did-World-War-II-ish, and more squeamish as these 8+ years roll along.
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