Senator Saxby Chambliss began the senate race with arsenal of advantages. Besides the fact he’s a Republican incumbent in a red state, he had a war chest of 10 million dollars and a nine point lead on his Democrat challenger Jim Martin.
But now independent polls show Martin trailing Chambliss by two points in one poll and just one point in another.
Political expert Charles Bullock at the University of Georgia says that’s real close especially when you consider the margin of error. Bullock says a slight shift like the black vote could help tip the scales. “African Americans will vote 90 to 95 percent for Democrats," says Bullock. "The extent to which these new voters get mobilized and get out to vote, and we see a very high rate of African Americans voting early... That’s not good news for Saxby Chambliss.”
Bullock says what’s happening in the senate race is part of a broader national trend favoring Democrats which is turning red states like Georgia pink. He also attributes recent poll results to Chambliss’s yes vote for the unpopular senate bailout bill. It had the senator at odds with all Republican house members in the state.
Chambliss and Martin's first formal debate is this Thursday at the
Georgia state fair in Perry.
