Folks,
Hopefully this diary is timed slightly better than the last. The halo of the RNC is starting to wear off, and McCain-Palin is going into the country to try and keep up what momentum they can. Meanwhile, we've still got to deal with the state-by-state duels to take the Senate.
I will post my usual upfront fundraising plea here before getting into the meat of the topic. Right now, Jim Martin has almost reached the $20k mark on ActBlue. Is a goal of reaching $50k by the next week too high a mark to set?
Alright, now to the heart of the matter. This is part two of a two part series. In the first part, I brought out the first set pieces of Saxby Chambliss in the coming two-month TV slamfest. The second part is about our side, with Jim Martin.
If you check out 538.com, you can see that we currently have just under a 10% chance of getting to 60 without needing to keep Joe (I-ManAsAnIsland) Lieberman around. A pickup of five seats is roughly in the bag, with the weakest in the bunch being the Colorado Udall cousin.
The battle for 60 has the netroots supporting a lot of good candidates, including Jim Slattery (KS) and Scott Kleeb (NE). Martin currently has a better chance of victory than both of them. He has recent experience in running for statewide office, in which he outperformed the top of the ticket, in 2006. After the cash-draining runoff with Vernon Jones, he brought his Democrats home straight away, and is looking to fight Saxby Chambliss for Georgia independents.
The DSCC sees this as a race to improve, with Schumer pledging conditional support - namely if Jim can make it close. In closing a 21-point gap in May down to a 5-point gap in August, I think Jim has satisfied his end of the bargain. The aid of the DSCC in the coming air war is helpful, but of course it will be best if Jim has resources of his own that he can direct and put in tune with Georgia voters.
The history of Jim Martin in this state is an excellent and increasingly well-known one. First, he is a solid progressive, and is not afraid to be one. His State House district is admittedly liberal, as it is an enclave of well-to-do lawyers and professionals in the middle of Atlanta.
However, in the 2006 elections, Martin ran as a solid progressive, while his top-ticket partner, Mark Taylor, ran a campaign for the stereotypical "Bubba" complete with a very tough two-strikes law. In the final results, Martin's edging of Taylor's vote count should indicate that not all is as it seems in the state of Georgia.
In addition to the gay community, Jim also has friends among those community types we have been hearing about lately.
So, those are some of Martin's bona fides. Hopefully, I can get more into his legislative record later. Given that a lot of it is from before the Georgia General Assembly was online, it may take some time.
Meanwhile, let's have a look at what Jim is hoping to return to Saxby.
Here is Martin's opening bio piece:
Martin is also out to highlight the fact that we are doubling paying for our addiction to oil - both here and there:
Here is an older one from 2006, where Martin (before the mortgage crisis) saw the need to bring down predatory lenders:
So, please help Jim define himself on the air in Georgia so that he can move on to countering eventual attacks.
ActBlue link
Cheers, and enjoy your Friday evening and weekend.