With 6 days to go until election time, the Senate race in Georgia between incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Council-endorsed candidate Jim Martin is turning into one hot mess. The race, once considered a sailed ship for Republicans as Chambliss was expected to carry his seat in November, now has the attention of politicos on both sides, with both the RNC and the DNC pouring funds into the state.
This will be Chambliss’ first shot at re-election, and neither his team nor the RNC is going to let this go without a fight, and probably, a dirty one. Chambliss is well known for his dirty Karl Rove-style campaign tactics. In 2002, his campaign made ads that put his opponent’s face – then incumbent Max Cleland – next to Osama Bin Laden’s and Saddamm Hussein’s face, even though Cleland was a disabled Vietnam War veteran. Heck, even McCain found it “reprehensible.”
In 2003, McCain told the Washington Post this:
“I’ve never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful, it’s reprehensible.”
If only that McCain was still around today.
Here’s the Chambliss’ camp latest attempt to hold back Martin:
But, just like his famous 2002 ads, this ad grossly misrepresents his opponent, Jim Martin. The Martin campaign didn’t wait long to respond. The ad is a
“…series of smears about Jim’s record on taxes and protecting the public purse. The “largest tax increase” was a penny sales tax for education, which was supported by Republicans and Zell Miller, and the “27%” expense account hike was a one-time, $16 per diem increase that was pushed for by Johnny Isakson and Sonny Perdue! The truth is this – Jim voted against raising lawmaker salaries time and again, and he successfully fought for the largest tax cut in the history of the state, eliminating the sales tax on groceries.
But now they have stooped to a new low – this time they are lying about Jim’s record on protecting children from those who would prey on them. Jim voted to make child solicitation a felony, period. He voted against a bad bill and supported a better one, which passed unanimously two weeks later.”
Looks like Chambliss realizes he’s in trouble, now he’s just pulling a few old tricks out of the bag. But, they might not work this year. Though he started off with low expectations, Martin now seems poised to take Chambliss’ seat right out from under Chambliss’ golf bag. The latest poll has the race near neck and neck. Watch the latest pro-Martin DCCC ad here:
