National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) predicted that Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) will beat Democrat Jim Martin by 5 or 6 percentage points in Tuesday's runoff.

"The Barack Obama magic on Election Day has not carried over to the runoff," Ensign said during a conference call with reporters.

Chambliss fell just short of the majority needed to win the seat in the Nov. 4 general election. He got 49.8 percent of the vote while Martin received 46.8 percent. Republicans have attributed the relatively close race to Obama's efforts to win the state in the presidential race.

Ensign said that Chambliss will benefit from a stronger get-out-the-vote operation in the runoff and from appearances on his behalf by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

"In a runoff election it's about turning your voters out," Ensign said. "She was able to get a lot of people excited to make sure they would focus on that race."

With the Georgia Senate runoff election taking place today, liberal bloggers urge readers to give last-ditch support to Democrat Jim Martin, while conservatives lambaste Democrat Al Franken for considering an appeal to the U.S. Senate in the Minnesota Senate seat recount.

Despite a Public Policy Polling survey yesterday that showed Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) up by 7 percentage points, Chambliss's Senate seat is not out of reach for Martin, MyDD's Todd Beeton declares. At Daily Kos, brownsox implores readers to help Martin today by phone banking, while on the right Townhall.com's Amanda Carpenter writes that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has energized Georgia Republicans by campaigning there for Chambliss.

Still several hundred votes behind Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Franken is contemplating a new last-ditch effort to win the Minnesota Senate race, Power Line's Scott Johnson says: appealing to the Senate for rejected absentee ballots to be counted. Franken would de-legitimize his bid for Coleman's seat by appealing to his fellow Democrats in the upper chamber for help, Pejman Yousefzadeh opines at RedState.

And TalkLeft's Jeralyn is unsurprised (if a little disappointed) to hear that a Texas indictment against Vice President Dick Cheney has been dismissed. Cheney had been indicted by a Willard County, Texas grand jury on the grounds that his investments in private prison companies made him culpable in prison abuse cases, and the blogger decides that the case was too good to be true.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Palin GOTV Calls for Chambliss - Matt Lewis, Townhall.com
Michael Steele, Meet Your Party - Michael D., Balloon Juice
Run-off Day - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Indictments Dismissed against Cheney, Gonzales - Jeralyn, TalkLeft
Clinton's Fresh Start - Sean Quinn, FiveThirtyEight
Meet the Press Settling for Gregory? - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Thoughts on Rebuilding - Erick Erickson, RedState
Run, Toomey, Run! - Atrios, Eschaton
A Team of Mavericks in Georgia - M. K. Ham, The Weekly Standard
He Means It This Time? - Jennifer Rubin, contentions

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Success of Clinton Choice Hinges on Rapport - Washington Post
Pardon Is in Focus for Justice Nominee - NY Times
Franken May Seek Senate's Help to Win Race - The Hill
Canadian Autoworkers Would 'Take a Hit' in U.S. Bailout - Bloomberg

While Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) campaigns for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) in Georgia today, Democrat Jim Martin will have a star-studded event of his own: rapper Ludacris will appear with Martin at a rally tonight in Atlanta, along with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, who has been speculated as a possible U.S. veterans affairs secretary pick for President-elect Barack Obama.

Georgia Democrat Jim Martin blasts Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) for voting against Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) 21st Century G.I. bill in his latest TV ad.

Martin, a Vietnam veteran, has hit Chambliss for numerous veterans-related votes this week. Yesterday, in a Thanksgiving video message circulated by Martin's campaign, former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) criticized Chambliss for voting against more leave time for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Martin and Chambliss will face each other in a Dec. 2 runoff for Chambliss's Senate seat. See the new ad below.

More U.S soldiers would be spending Thanksgiving with their families if Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) had not gotten his way, former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) says in a Thanksgiving video message circulated this week by Democrat Jim Martin's campaign.

Chambliss voted against an amendment offered by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.)–part of his 21st century G.I. bill–that would have required soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to get periods of leave time at least as long as their deployments.

"What a shame, what a tragedy," Cleland says. "How many more servicemen and women would be at home for Thanksgiving around their family's table now if my fellow Vietnam veteran's amendment in the Senate to bring our troops home for as much time as they've spent overseas, Jim Webb's amendment, had been adopted? But Saxby Chambliss voted against it."

Martin will face Chambliss in a Dec. 2 runoff election for Chambliss's Senate seat. Chambliss defeated Cleland in a bitter campaign in 2002.

Two polls in Georgia's runoff Senate race have liberal bloggers alternately confident and worried, while others ponder whom President Bush might pardon as he exits the White House.

Things are looking up for Democrat Jim Martin, Daily Kos's brownsox proclaims after reading a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)-sponsored poll that shows Martin trailing incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) by two percentage points.  But a Public Policy Polling survey shows Chambliss gaining ground among Independents and improving overall to a six-percentage point lead, MyDD's Todd Beeton cautions.

Pardoning season has arrived, Firedoglake's Christy Hardin Smith announces, noting that speculation over who might get amnesty is rampant. Prospects are good for imprisoned border patrol agends Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, The Corner's Mark Krikorian asserts, contending that even if Bush does not pardon them, President-elect Barack Obama could win political points by doing so at the outset of his term.

And a report that Salim Hamdan, former driver for Osama bin Laden, will be transferred to his home country of Yemen has Hot Air's Ed Morrissey concerned. If Hamdan serves the rest of his prison sentence in Yemen, he could be released or allowed to escape, Morrissey predicts, accusing Yemen of a shaky record on holding suspected terrorists.

FROM THE BLOGS:
The Debate over Gates - Chris Bowers, Open Left
Colmes to Leave "Hannity & Colmes" - DavidNYC, Daily Kos
Hillary Clinton: A Reassuring Choice - Michael Medved, Townhall.com
Obama Worship at The New York Times - Paul Mirengoff, Power Line
The Road to 60: Chambliss Up - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Pardon Prospects - Mark Krikorian, The Corner
Osama Driver Goes Home - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Bush Issues 14 Pardons, 2 Commutations - Jeralyn, TalkLeft
Crying Wolf on the Fairness Doctrine - Patrick Ruffini, The Next Right
Priorities - Attaturk, Firedoglake

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Obama and Bush Working to Calm Volatile Market - NY Times
Biden's Seat Kept Warm - The Hill
Hamdan to Be Sent to Yemen - Washington Post
Obama: Costly Stimulus Needed to Jolt Economy - Reuters

After conservatives accused him of being soft on crime last week, Georgia Democrat Jim Martin's latest web ad takes a more solemn tone than most seen in the 2008 election cycle: in it, Martin stares into the camera and tells viewers that the kidnapping of his own daughter when she was eight years old shaped his stances on crime and punishment.

"You never forget the horror of coming face to face with violent crime," Martin says. "My daughter Becky was kidnapped when she was only eight. We were blessed that she got away, but I never forgot the way she trembled when she faced her kidnapper in court. That's why I fought so hard to crack down on violent crime and lock up violent criminals."

Martin concludes the ad, which was released Saturday, by pledging that "in the Senate, I'll keep working to protect all our families." > Read More

A survey of the Georgia Senate runoff by Public Policy Polling shows incumbent Saxby Chambliss (R) ahead of Democrat Jim Martin.

The PPP survey has Chambliss at 52 percent and Martin at 46 percent. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had touted its own poll earlier on Monday that showed Chambliss barely leading, 48 percent to 46 percent.

The runoff will be held Dec. 2. Chambliss bested Martin during the general election, 49.8 percent to 46.8 percent. A candidate needed a majority of the votes to avoid a runoff.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) is slightly ahead of Democrat Jim Martin according to the latest polls of their race, which is heading to a Dec. 2 runoff.

Chambliss leads Martin 50 percent to 46 percent in a Rasmussen survey, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The Republican is ahead 49 percent to 46 percent in a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, whose margin of error is also 4 points.

In the Nov. 4 general election, Chambliss received 49.8 percent of the vote, which is less than the 50 percent he needed to avoid a runoff. Martin got 46.8 percent.

With three major Senate seats still undecided for the 111th Congress, Democrats have both the most to win and the most to lose if voter fatigue plays a role in the Georgia runoff election between GOP incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss and his Democratic rival, former state Rep. Jim Martin.

Early voting for the only 2008 Senate runoff election began Monday in many Georgia counties, and the two contenders are pushing hard for voters to submit their ballots well in advance of the December 2 Election Day, fearing a lack of voter motivation could keep many from casting ballots. > Read More