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Battle for 2012 Starts in Georgia

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November 07, 2008 12:20 PM

ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: Forget Iowa. The first round in the battle for 2012 is looking like it will be fought out in Georgia -- and much, much sooner rather than later.

With the Senate race in Georgia headed for a run-off, Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ campaign has been in touch with a fleet of prominent Republicans -- including Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Giuliani -- to have them campaign for the senator’s reelection over the next four weeks.

“We’re bringing in all the superstars,” said Michelle Grasso, the Chambliss campaign’s communications director. “We’re in the process of reaching out to everyone. And it’s not just us reaching out, people are contacting us to ask how they can be helpful.”

Chambliss, R-Ga., announced Friday that Sen. John McCain will campaign for him during the run-off period, though no date has been set for his appearance.

None of the 2012 prospects have been locked in for campaign events yet, but Grasso said she expects several national party leaders to campaign for Chambliss. The campaign has also been in touch with Sen. John Ensign, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, about a possible campaign appearance, she said.

A run-off will be held Dec. 2 between Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin if neither man secures more than 50 percent of the vote. The latest tallies have Chambliss having won 49.8 percent, to Martin’s 46.8 percent.

One Republican operative with ties to Chambliss said that with the Democrats controlling at least 57 seats in the new Senate, any Republican who wants to be in the mix for 2012 will want to stop by Georgia.

“It’s the first move on the chessboard for 2012,” he said.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the former Massachusetts governor is happy to help any way he can.

“We are now talking with his campaign about how we can be of further help in the run-off,” Fehrnstrom said.

Even without a formal declaration by the state that a run-off is imminent, national groups have begun to get involved in the race. The independent group Freedom’s Watch is already running television ads on Chambliss’ behalf, and the Democratic Senatorical Campaign Committee is also likely to run ads there, according to a Democratic official.

The race could be viewed as an early field test of the Obama political operation. Obama appeared in radio ads for Martin during the campaign, and while Obama lost Georgia, Martin’s campaign is building off of the ground operation his team put into place during the election.

Martin has invited Obama to campaign in Georgia during the probable run-off.

“We’d be honored to have him, of course,” said Kate Hansen, a Martin campaign spokeswoman. “We’ve reached out to the Obama campaign, and we’re waiting to hear. Obviously he’s only been president-elect Obama for a few days, so we’ll give him some time.”

November 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (152)

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Oh please let them bring Palin back! She was the gift that kept on giving to the Dems and she alone brought down the GOP in this election. The Far Right's failure to recognize this fact will contimue to be their downfall.

Posted by: Grissom | Nov 7, 2008 12:45:55 PM

Grissom,
As much as I hate Palin I will have to disagree with you. The person who brought down the GOP was Rush Limbah. He stuck his nose where it did not belong telling his listeners to vote for Hillary in the Democratic Primary, trying to drag out the primarys and divide our party. It back fired and helped barack build the greatest grass roots orginization ever, and in the end the Hilary supporters came home. I want to thank Rush and his idiot followers for helping elect Barack Obama the 44th president of the U.S.

Posted by: Eric from Ohio | Nov 7, 2008 12:55:02 PM

Palin - "I know a lot about Georgia - I can see Russia from my back window, and as we all know, Georgia is part of Russia".

Posted by: Pilky | Nov 7, 2008 12:56:38 PM

Its not surprising that the Republican
carpetbaggers are swooping into Georgia to get publicity out of what they probably see as a sure thing. Republicans have traditionally done very well in Georgia on statewide runoffs. They can generate their hardcore base and win in the overall low turn out associated with runoffs. Factor in that the Libertarian won't be on the ballot to pull votes from Chambliss and factor in that we have a very partisan Secretatary of the State (R) and it looks pretty bleak for the Democrat. Watch the Republicans try to play it up as a repudiation of Obama's policies (even though he will not even be in office yet). However,their plan may backfire - Chambliss is one of the dirtiest campaigners ever - calling triple amputee veteran Max Cleland a friend of Bin Laden and claiming his current opponent is sympathetic to child molesters. Shining the national spotlight on Chambliss' sleezy tactics will give one more example of how low the Republicans have come. They just cant win without wallowing in the mud, and like my Dad use to say "When mud splatters, it gets on everyone."

Posted by: Mark from atlanta | Nov 7, 2008 1:19:42 PM

Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Giuliani and McCain:

boy, if there wasn't enough reason to vote AGAINST Chambliss before, here sure is now.

Posted by: JR | Nov 7, 2008 1:20:13 PM

Obamabots are terrirified of Palin and her popularity...........even with will the illegal money Obama used to buy the election, and the bad economy...the race was still very close. Impeach obama, bring Palin back.

Posted by: chattyway | Nov 7, 2008 1:22:47 PM

chattyway,

Uh look at the exit polls. Palin was one of the major reasons McCain lost. She energized the GOP base but pushed independents and conservative dems to the Obama ticket.

Posted by: Vanessa | Nov 7, 2008 1:50:41 PM

What a great plan, Sen. Chambliss. Bring in Palin, who helped lose the McCain campaign, bring in McCain, whom the voters soundly rejected; and Gingrich who's plan to create a Republican dynasty crashed and burned in a spectacular fashion this year. And all of the other narrow-minded, hate-filled Republicans who represent everything the voters rejected this week. Good luck with that, buddy. You truly represent "More of the Same."

Posted by: DaveM | Nov 7, 2008 1:58:51 PM

Grissom: You are so wrong. Palin energized the campaign and drew more crowds than McCain. The republican's did it to themselves by not getting in back of McCain and campaigning for him from the start. Palin is in good with the Republican Organization and she might run in 2012. McCain had a poor speech writer. Obama's speech writer took many words from the books of MLK, RFK and JFK adding additional words. And Obama will not be able to fix the economy unless the spending in Washington stops like McCain said but Nancy Pelosi is on a spending kick right now according to the news.

Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | Nov 7, 2008 2:13:13 PM

Who on this board can even defend Palin or even root for her? Its hard to believe that this lady made pass the 8th grade!!!!!!!!

Posted by: IDu | Nov 7, 2008 2:22:41 PM

chattyway: I agree with you that the election was bought. Acorn played a big part of it with the votes and now is the time to close them down. I do not believe some of those wins that Obama got but its over now. I didn't believe that Bush won the last election and it had to do with Ohio ballots. The same in this election. 200,000 ballots that were suppose to be turned in never were.

Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | Nov 7, 2008 2:23:29 PM

Terrified? Yes, that someone so stupid can become a leader of this great country. As a woman from the north, it doesnt take much to become someone up there and McCain was looking for a token female and found one who was apparently an imbecile and it terrified people that she can be a major decision maker.

Posted by: edweena | Nov 7, 2008 2:25:09 PM

I was not going to post an comment but reading what i just read . Oh boy were to start, chattyway Obama has not been sworn in yet you hopeless backwooded idiot, You can not impeach him at all now g.w. could have been impeached years ago.And by all means have SARAH PALINE run in 2012 it will be an even more short of a night for PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA then it was for McSame.

Posted by: KWOLF443 | Nov 7, 2008 2:28:13 PM

IDu: If you think your smarter than Palin then get into politics and run for governor maybe you will know what your talking about. You and the rest of the people like you are the type that will never accomplish what she did in your entire lifetime.

Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | Nov 7, 2008 2:29:58 PM

saxby will win by a huge margin in the runoff. the presidential election brought out almost twice as many african americans in georgia as in past elections (which i'm not saying is a bad thing..i believe every citizen should vote). however, now that the presidential election is over it is unlikely that as many of them will show up for the runoff vote, which means jim martin will have less democrats coming out overall to vote for him..=a win for the republicans

Posted by: southerngumdrops | Nov 7, 2008 2:32:37 PM

Democrats in Georgia, come out in full force and defend your turf. If you really want to see the GOP's all jump off the bridge. Let them bring in all these heavy hitters and still loose. I would be in stitched over that.

Posted by: barb | Nov 7, 2008 2:35:46 PM

Obamabots are terrirified of Palin and her popularity...........even with will the illegal money Obama used to buy the election, and the bad economy...the race was still very close. Impeach obama, bring Palin back.

Posted by: chattyway | Nov 7, 2008 1:22:47 PM
=========================================

Ha, ha, ha , ha, ha, ha!!!!!!

Chattyway your a JOKE and you always have been. The next thing Palin is qualified to run for is going to be Dogcatcher of Wasslilla!

Now that the Alaskan people have a clear view of what a loser and DOLT she is, she will be lucky if see doesn't get recalled or impeached in Alaska...

She will never be re-elected to the governorship up there!!!

After all that has happened Obama supporters everywhere would be more than happy to give the Dem or Repub that will be running against her a bunch of money, just to see her squashed up in Alaska!

Posted by: Davis | Nov 7, 2008 2:37:57 PM

chattyway, how can you call the race close since Obama turned 8 red states blue. LOL And please, no one but the conservatives want Palin back. She doesn't appeal to many independents if any.

Posted by: annie | Nov 7, 2008 3:06:05 PM

Everywhere I look, I see so-called Republicans blaming Palin for the loss. She drove people away, she's stupid, she's a woman, yada, yada, yada.

Get over it. If you don't want conservatives in your big-government, statist, tax-and-spend Republican party, we will be happy to accept them in the American Conservative Party. "Principles come first."

Posted by: ubu | Nov 7, 2008 3:11:27 PM

So Mariann, are you saying that Acorn was in every single state that Obama won. And it wasn't only the college kids that put him over. According to the news Obama led in every group. McCain didn't have a chance especially with Palin on the ticket.

Posted by: annie | Nov 7, 2008 3:11:47 PM

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