US Senate run-off heats up

Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin, speaking with Georgia Public Broadcasting at a Veteran's Day parade, in midtown Atlanta. (Dave Bender)

Aides from President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign are coming to Georgia to help Democrat Jim Martin, in his runoff bid against incumbent Senator Republican Saxby Chambliss.

Chambliss will get help from John McCain who’s coming to Georgia on Thursday for a rally.

Democrat Martin says they have no commitment for President-elect Barack Obama to visit Georgia, but he says Obama staffers are coming to help:

“it’s a Georgia race, and we’ll be happy to have people come in and pay us a visit, but this is really about Georgians and who will be the best senator in the United States Senate to represent Georgia.”

Martin says his campaign has 25 field offices.

Chambliss announced yesterday he’s opening ten campaign offices.

Experts say the winner will be the one who’s got the best ground game at getting their voters back to the polls on December second.

Neither candidate got enough the necessary 50-percent plus one of the vote on Election Day.

Click here for GPB News election coverage.

Lewis Links McCain to Alabama Segregationist

For the past week, rallies for GOP Presidential hopeful John McCain have gotten heated, as a small vocal minority have yelled racial slurs, along with shouting other vulgarities aimed at Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama and other African Americans.

The behavior began in earnest after GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin said Obama has been “palling around with terrorists.” The remark was a reference to Obama’s relationship with former Weatherman, Bill Ayers, now a Chicago school reformer.

Several major news organizations called Palin’s remarks false and misleading.

After several prominent moderate Republicans began criticizing the campaign for encouraging the ugly behavior, McCain began pushing back on some of the comments. Most notably, McCain corrected one woman who called Obama “an Arab.”

Still, the campaign has openly raised questions about Obama’s faith and commitment to America. And some in the GOP crowds have grown increasingly hostile. As GPB’s Melissa Stiers reported earlier this week, a debate in Macon between Congressional candidates also produced some ugly comments between partisans. One woman shouted out “Bomb Obama.”

Now Atlanta Democratic Congressman and long time civil rights activist John Lewis is calling on the McCain campaign to tone down their rhetoric. In a statement, Lewis warned, “As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy.”

Lewis also linked the McCain tactics to the late Alabama Governor George Wallace, a prominent segregationist and one time Presidential candidate.

“George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights.”

The statement throws Lewis in the middle of what is becoming an increasingly ugly, and in some instances racially tinged campaign.

McCain responded personally, issuing a statement that reads “I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I’ve always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track.”

McCain also called on Senator Obama to “immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.”

Earlier this week, the McCain campaign also responded publicly to similar criticisms by attacking Obama.

Obama’s campaign responded by saying the Senator doesn’t believe McCain and Wallace are comparable, but added “Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’ "

McCain and Lewis have worked together on major legislation in the past, and McCain has called the Georgia Congressman one of the “wisest men” he knows.

Most of the actions appear to be coming from a minority of supporters. However, reports from the rallies suggest the anger has gotten more intense. Privately, McCain is blaming the ugly turn on Palin, according to a Times Online report.

The rage is concerning for many non-partisan observers. Former Presidential adviser, Harvard educator and CNN contributor David Gergen said last night, “There is free-floating anger that could lead to some violence. I really worry, when you get that kind of rhetoric that you’re getting now, I think it’s imperative that you calm people down.”

Georgia Republicans back Palin

Peach State Republicans are getting behind Senator John McCain's Vice Presidential pick. They say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is a strong conservative whose values match up well with Georgia's. They also expressed relief that John McCain didn't pick a more unorthodox running mate that could have upset the core of the party. They dismissed suggestions from Democrats about her relative lack of experience, saying her two-year tenure as Alaska's governor shows she's ready to lead.

Bob Barr claims Ron Paul supporters

Former Georgia Congressman and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr
told reporters that he is getting support from those who backed Ron Paul in the GOP primary. Barr was at the state capitol today to file paperwork to get on the ballot in Georgia.
Barr says he has been in touch with Ron Paul and that his supporters are now contributing to the Barr Campaign and are working as volunteers. Ron Paul is a former libertarian candidate for president. He dropped out of the GOP primary after Senator John McCain clinched the nomination.

GOP convention comes to Columbus

Georgia's Republican Party convention meets this weekend in Columbus. Some 5,000 GOP faithful from across the state are expected to pack the Columbus Civic Center.

They'll pick half the state's delegates to the national convention, to be held this fall in St. Paul, Minnesota. And, convention-goers will choose two representatives to the Republican National committee.

Josh McKoon, who chairs the party's Muscogee County branch expects over 1,100 delegates to attend. And, he says, factional politics could provide some surprises:

"I think there will certainly be a move by those that support Ron Paul to get some of their supporters on the delegate list representing Georgia. I know that's happened on the local level at earlier stages of this process, so that potentially could be something that could cause a little bit of a stir."

But McKoon predicts a straightforward event, rallying behind presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain.

There is one stumbling block however.

McKoon says the elected delegates are pledged to former Arkansas governor and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee:

"...and unless he releases them from that, when they go to the convention, they'll be bound to vote for Huckabee on the first two ballots. Huckabee will have the lion's share of delegates coming out of Georgia..."

This is the second time in four years the event has been held in Columbus, and is expected to boost the local economy.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the presidential elections.

Perdue backs McCain

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain for president. McCain has all but locked up the Republican nomination for president so Perdue's late support isn't surprising. Perdue is set to host a $1,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain in Atlanta on Thursday.