For anyone who just couldn’t get enough of Election 2008, the Georgia run-off between GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic former state Rep. Jim Martin is providing a last-minute fix in its four-week dash to the December 2 balloting.
Under Georgia law, if no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, then the top two proceed to a run-off. Chambliss came within about 8,000 votes of 50 percent, taking 1,867,090 votes or 49.8 percent. Martin got 46.8 percent or 1,757,419 votes, a difference of 109,671 votes. The spoiler in the general election was Libertarian nominee and attorney Allen Buckley, who took 3.4 percent or 128,002 votes.
It is very likely that Buckley hurt Chambliss more than Martin and even Chambliss contends that some conservatives likely voted for Buckley instead of him out of frustration with his vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package. It didn’t help Chambliss that turnout among GOP voters was down. But, while Buckley certainly stood in the way of Chambliss and 50 percent, both major party candidates underperformed their respective party’s presidential nominees. Republican
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