One email could be the difference. On one side of the coin, President-elect Obama chooses not to use his mammoth email list, Jim Martin continues to lag behind Senator Chambliss in fundraising, and the RNC continues to pour money in Georgia while the DSCC largely sits on the sidelines. Here's another way the situation can play out: Obama gives the OK and his team cobbles together a fundraising email - the two of which would collectively take an hour or two - they raise literally a million or two dollars, minimum, for Martin, who can use the money to target voter outreach and potentially win us our 60th seat in the Senate. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?
To date, Obama has made it clear he has no intentions to make a visit to the Peach State for a rally. While I strongly, strongly, wish he had chosen to campaign for Martin, I've given up on the prospect - if he's hedging on whether or not to even send an email, chances are he's not going to make a personal visit for our candidate. That said, as the new leader of our party - one of the President's institutional functions - Obama does not have a choice so much as an obligation to help Martin.
He doesn't want to seem partisan right off the bat? Fine, then don't make a visit. A visit would make headline news in Georgia and might harm relations with congressional dealings. An email - like a radio ad - would not make news, at least not in any real sense, but could single-handedly make the difference in the senate race.
Time is ticking - there's only about a week left for Martin's campaign to allocate funds for the remaining few days before the election. While our efforts have been noted and laudatory in helping Martin, what we've done would be a drop in the bucket compared to what Obama could do with a single email. Obama knows just as much as we do the kind of campaigner and voter Saxby Chambliss is, and as far as I'm concerned, sitting on the sidelines is simply not acceptable.
Hey, even Al Gore is doing what he can and he is a self-described "recovering politician" who describes the political process as nothing short of "toxic." Gore will be campaigning and fundraising for Martin tomorrow (Sunday) in Georgia - excitement and turning out the base is what's going to win this election, and Gore's appearance, as well as the dollars he'll raise, will accomplish just that. Obama can do all that with a simple email.
I'm not on the campaign staff of Jim Martin nor do I even live in the state of Georgia. I'm writing as nothing more than a concerned citizen who wants to see good people in places of power. So please, President-elect Obama, do what is right [and incredibly easy] and help Jim Martin win his race on December 2nd.