yep..this is one of those hold your nose and do it votes...............
EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. --- On Election Day, Republican Mark Chastain cast his ballot for Libertarian Allen Buckley in Georgia's U.S. Senate race. Now that the contest is heading into a nationally watched runoff, he's coming back into the GOP fold and says he'll vote -- somewhat grudgingly -- for Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
"We've got to elect Saxby because he's the closest thing to a Republican we have in the runoff," Mr. Chastain said at a Chambliss rally Saturday in northern Georgia.
As Mr. Chambliss sprints toward a Dec. 2 rematch with Democrat Jim Martin, unease with Mr. Chambliss among some Georgia conservatives is turning into acceptance. Republicans angry with Mr. Chambliss over his support for the $700 billion federal financial bailout bill and an immigration measure critics likened to amnesty are getting over it -- fast. The stakes are too high, they say.
At Poole's Bar-B-Q in northern Georgia's apple country on Saturday, Mr. Chambliss implored supporters to come back out to vote and issued a dire warning about the higher taxes and spending he said would accompany Democratic dominance in Washington.
Mr. Buckley ran disproportionately well in the area on Election Day, pulling votes from disaffected Republicans.
Joe McCutcheon likes to take some credit for that. The conservative activist from Ellijay has a public access television show broadcast around North Georgia and became a vocal supporter of Mr. Buckley. He was furious with Mr. Chambliss over the Farm Bill, which the Moultrie Republican co-wrote. Mr. McCutcheon said it was loaded down with giveaways and freebies.
Still, he's backing Mr. Chambliss in the runoff.
"I don't like too much spending and Jim Martin is all about spending," Mr. McCutcheon said.
Mr. Martin -- campaigning along the Georgia coast Saturday -- argued that Republicans have gotten the nation in its current financial mess and that Georgians don't want to elect a senator that will be there as a roadblock to progress.
"Barack Obama is sending out a message of bipartisanship," Mr. Martin said. "We need a Democratic senator in there who is going to work with him to get things done."
RUNOFF'S NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
The Georgia race is one of three unresolved Senate contests nationwide, along with Minnesota and Alaska. All involve Republican incumbents.
If Democrats capture all three, it would give them a 60-seat majority, the margin needed to block Republican filibusters.
A Martin win could tip the balance, and his campaign is fighting hard. It announced Saturday that former President Clinton would headline a rally Wednesday in Atlanta. Mr. Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia, in 1992.
Comments
yep..this is one of those hold your nose and do it votes...............
Martin is not perfect but he is more conservative that the SOCIALIST Saxby Chambliss. Remember that Saxby took over $2,000,000.0 from Wall Street LOBBYIST to VOTE FOR the $700,000,000.000.00 Wall Street Bailout. The greedy Wall Streeters have used our money for Bonuses, Road trips, Dividends, and to buy other banks. With Saxby it's LOBBYIST first and the taxpayer LAST.
Buckley has offered to endorse whichever candidate signs a pledge to slash federal spending and take up Libertarian positions on other issues, but both Martin and Chambliss have said they won't sign it.
Unless Chambliss signs the pledge, Libertarians will probably turn out for Martin or stay home, Libertarian Party of Georgia Chairman Daniel Adams said.
"(Chambliss) continues to talk the talk of a conservative, but he's never seen a spending bill he didn't vote for," Adams said. "That's why we're torn. At least with Martin you don't get the hypocrisy."
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