On the day that President-Elect Barack Obama announced his national security nominees, we face a crisis in Georgia.
The President-Elect has taken measures to deal with the crisis, but those measures require immediate action on our parts. Details below the fold.
The crisis concerns the Senate run-off. (Yes, I'm talking about the Georgia next to South Carolina, not the one sparring with Russia.) On November 4, Saxby Chambliss, he who smeared Max Cleland as a coward, narrowly edged Democrat Jim Martin. Chambliss did not, however, crack the 50% barrier of votes won, so the race moved to a runoff.
The deadline to vote in the runoff is Tuesday, December 2. Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last chance for Georgia voters to send a progressive Democrat who will help Barack Obama implement the changes Americans want in our economy, our health care, our environment, our foreign policy, and our confidence in government's ability to keep us safe and come to our aid in times of need. Jim Martin is that progressive Democrat.
Jim Martin has a chance to join the United States Senate, but it is an uphill battle. Not only did Chambliss gain the most votes on November 4, but so far in the early voting, turnout is slow. Sean Quinn at fivethirtyeight.com gave an update on the field operations in Georgia over the weekend. He reports that Martin has 25 field offices across the state with a nice ground operation. That operation, however, has work to do to pull off a win. According to Quinn:
...at the close of early voting Wednesday, according to the Secretary of State's office 345,564 had voted, and 22.5% of those votes were African-American, an ominous dropoff from the 34.5% of black early voters for the general election.
Still, according to Georgia Democratic Party spokesman Martin Matheny, thousands of volunteers were hard at work across the state knocking doors in the rain and making phone calls on Jim Martin's behalf. The lines on Election Day will be much shorter than during the general election, given the much shorter ballot, and Democrats here think that most of its voters are going to turn out on Runoff Day itself.
The key now is to get as heavy a turnout of Democratic voters as possible tomorrow. People in or near Georgia can volunteer at Martin's site, or (more practically, given the short time remaining), go to one of the 25 field offices across the state to help get the vote out.
The rest of us, if we have even a free half hour today or tomorrow can pitch in as well. Obama for America has lent Jim Martin its phonebanking operation so that we can call likely Democratic voters in Georgia and convince them to turn out December 2 (tomorrow) to vote for Martin. In a runoff where turnout will be down, targeting and motivating these likely voters may mean the difference between re-electing Senator Saxby Chambliss or introducing the United States Senate to Jim Martin. That difference may be crucial in the upcoming Senate votes on health care, energy, aid to veterans, or any number of issues in which Chambliss stands for the same failed Bush agenda.
We can make that difference, but the time grows short.
Make a call.
Find an office.
Volunteer.
Donate.
Elect Jim Martin, Democrat from Georgia, to the United States Senate.