StarTribune.com - Last Seat of New Senate Likely to Be Determined by GA. Runoff; GOP Incumbent Trying to Hold
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StarTribune.com - Last Seat of New Senate Likely to Be Determined by GA. Runoff; GOP Incumbent Trying to Hold
By SHANNON McCAFFREY , Associated Press
The last seat of the new Senate will likely be determined by a runoff in Georgia, where Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss apparently came just short of winning enough votes to send him to a second term.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday, Chambliss had 49.8 percent of the vote, shy of the 50 percent plus one required under state law to avoid a runoff. The mild-mannered Democrat Jim Martin, a former Georgia legislator and once-reluctant Senate candidate, won 46.8 percent of the vote. Libertarian Allen Buckley pulled 3.4 percent.
Some absentee votes were still being counted late Wednesday. However, if the current results hold, Chambliss would face Martin on Dec. 2.
"We're prepared for a runoff. We have already hit the ground," said Chambliss, who was expected to coast to re-election in reliably GOP Georgia before the nation's economy faltered, fueling a wave of anti-incumbent frustration. Some conservatives were angered that Chambliss backed the $700 billion bailout.
Martin said he had already been in touch with Barack Obama's campaign, but there were no immediate plans for the president-elect to visit Georgia. "The runoff race begins right now," Martin said.
It would be the first test of whether Obama can mobilize voters when he is not on the ballot. On Tuesday, Democrats added three seats to their Senate majority, but even if they swept the remaining still undecided races, they would fall short of the filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority.
Runoff results from top vote getters have been mixed in Georgia.
Of 215 local and statewide runoffs held between 1970 and 1986, the top vote getter in the general election won the runoff 69 percent of the time, according to the book "Politics in Georgia."
But more recently, incumbent Sen. Wyche Fowler led on Election Day before ultimately losing a runoff in 1992. A public service commissioner suffered the same fate in 2006.
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