Sarah Palin hits the campaign trail Sunday and Monday for GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
WASHINGTON. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is adding her name
to the list of big-name surrogates who are making campaign cameos in
the last remaining Senate election this year.
Palin teams up with Sen. Saxby Chambliss at a fundraiser Sunday
night and at four campaign stops across Georgia on Monday, the last
full day of campaigning before Tuesday's runoff election.
Chambliss is the freshman Republican senator from Georgia who is
fighting to keep his seat. He's facing Jim Martin -- a former state
lawmaker in Georgia -- in the runoff election. Chambliss
won a plurality of the vote on Election Day, but Georgia state law
requires 50 percent plus one vote for a victory. Due to the inclusion
of a third party candidate, Chambliss fell just shy of that threshold,
forcing a runoff contest. Palin is the latest high-profile
surrogate to stump with Chambliss. Sen. John McCain returned to the
trail to campaign with Chambliss just nine days after losing the
presidential election to Sen. Barack Obama. Two weeks ago,
former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who ran for the Republican
presidential nomination before dropping out in March and backing McCain
-- campaigned with Chambliss. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has
also teamed up with Chambliss. Romney also ran for the GOP presidential
nomination before ending his bid in February and backing McCain.
Last week, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned with
Chambliss. Giuliani was another contender for the Republican
presidential nomination. He dropped out in late January and immediately
endorsed McCain. Giuliani, Huckabee, and Romney all could take another stab at presidential politics in 2012. Palin might possibly join them. Martin
is also getting some major-league help. Both former President Bill
Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore have separately teamed up
with Martin.
Do all these big name surrogates make a difference?
"Generally they can help boost turnout, because of all the media
attention. Turnout in a runoff election is often very low compared to a
presidential election and each side needs to get as many of their
voters to the polls as possible," says CNN senior political analyst
Bill Schneider. Democrats have so far picked up seven Senate
seats in this year's election, with the Republican seats in Georgia and
Minnesota still undecided. In Minnesota, freshman GOP Senator Norm
Coleman topped his Democratic challenger, Al Franken, by just 215
votes, triggering an automatic recount, which will extend well into
December. If the Democrats take both contests,
they'll reach their pre-election goal of controlling 60 Senate seats,
which would be a filibuster-proof majority. A filibuster is a move by
the minority party in the Senate that basically brings the chamber to a
standstill by blocking votes on legislation.
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