Filibuster-proof control of the US Senate is within our reach and getting closer.
A couple of days ago I blogged about the Senate race in Texas. What once was a double-digit lead for Republican incumbent John Cornyn moved to a 7 point race when I blogged. Now, it's 6. Victory in Texas is getting close for Rick Noriega.
Today, let's take a look at an even closer Senate upset potential - Jim Martin of Georgia. Check out the most recent polls at RCP:
The 2 point Martin deficit is closer than it appears. Add in the 7 percent undecideds and thousands of new registrations and Martin is poised to win big.
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Like Texas, this is a state where Barack Obama is trailing John McCain. Though McCain's lead in GA has shrunk to only about 6 percent. So, this state may also be winnable by Obama as well as Martin.
Like John Cornyn in Texas, Saxby Chambliss is flush with funds and is outspending Martin 4 to 1 on television advertising.
Martin has been outraising Chambliss as of late, but not by enough to shore up his coffers. The latest figures show that Martin only has $92K in the bank. That's just not enough to compete with the $1.2 million that Chambliss has.
Many of you will no doubt recall how low the Chambliss campaign stooped in 2002 to unseat Vietnam War veteran and triple amputee Max Cleland. For those that don't recall, here's a YouTube video of one of Chambliss' despicable ads attacking Cleland's patriotism:
By the way, Chambliss' real first name is Clarence. But apparently that's not pretentious enough for him, so he goes by his middle name, Saxby. To evade serving in the Vietnam War, he received five student deferments and a medical deferment - sighting bad knees from playing football. And apparently, he thinks he's more patriotic than Max Cleland and his current opponent, Jim Martin, who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. And Chambliss has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from Oil and Gas interests as thanks for his votes to give $5 Billion dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to drilling interests.
To recap how important it is to send Saxby Shameless back to his plantation: The current polls show the Democrats as holding a total of 59 Senate seats after the election. One more seat, and the Dems will have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That means that President Obama's Supreme Court nominees can get an up and down vote on the Senate floor without being stopped by Republicans. That means that President Obama's green energy plan will get its day on the Senate floor. And that also means that President Obama's middle class tax cut will get a fair shake as well without seeing any Republican amendments tacked on.
Jim Martin is another candidate to watch - One that be the extra win that gives the Democrats the 60 seat majority that it needs.
In you live in Georgia, volunteer to help his campaign bring people to the polls and have their votes counted. Remember, this is a state where the techniques of voter suppression have been mastered and you can bet that Chambliss and Republican party lawyers will be swooping around the state like hawks. If you can (even if you don't live in Georgia) give to the Martin campaign. I placed Martin's campaign (as well as the other key Senate swing state campaigns) on my ActBlue page - 60 is Beautiful. Click here to contribute now.