One party Democratic rule is good, at least that is what a recent CNN poll states. With the Begich surge in AK and the recount about to start in MN we are close, very close to getting a filibuster proof congress. It may all come down to Georgia and the Senate race between our candidate Jim Martin and the 'Shameless one' Saxby Chambliss. You may remember this despicable ad Shameless ran against Max Cleland a Vietnam veteran who left 3 limbs on the battlefield while Saxby claimed he had other things to do and got deferment after deferment to avoid service. Otherwise known as a Chickenhawk.
Some of you know me from my days with the Loudoun County Democratic Committee. Now I live in Gwinnett county Georgia and we need your help!
The metro Atlanta area inside the perimeter is a treasure trove of votes for Jim Martin, similar to the beltway in NoVa. But the real surge in votes is out in the suburb and exurb areas of Gwinnett and Cobb counties. In 2004 Kerry got 81k votes in Gwinnett while Obama received 128k this year. Cobb had a similar surge going from 103k votes in '04 to 141k votes this year. The best part...republican numbers stayed flat. Turning out almost the same numbers this year as in 2004.
How can you help? By making phone calls, sending contributions and considering heading down to Georgia for a couple of weekends to help us win this seat. We are in the process of setting up the phone banking system now for out of state help. If you email me sndeak [at] gmail.com, I can get you in contact with the coordinator for this effort in our area.
Last night I dropped by our office to start getting things ready and found 5 volunteer field directors from Missouri in the office making calls to our Obama volunteers organizing a meeting for this Sunday. It was great to see the energy and commitment from people who have no ties to Georgia coming in to help. I understand more are on the way.
Having an army of callers from out of state allows us to focus on getting boots on the ground to canvass and make face-to-face contact. With a turnout of about 15% expected, it will all come down to the ground game.
One last thing....We have 2 partisan races in this statewide run-off. Jim Powell, a Navy veteran and 20 year Energy Department senior executive is running for the Public Service Commission. There are no Democrats currently on the commission. They are in the pockets of the big energy companies and we desperately need a consumer advocate on the PSC. Please consider showing Jim Powell some love while making phone calls.
I'll be dropping by from time to time to give you updates of how things are looking on the ground.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Most of the field folks dropping into GA have their own networks that they are tapping into now to bring a large force of phoners onboard from across the country.
We are currently at 57 (including Holy Joe). Begich makes 58, Franken winning in the recount would be 59, and Martin winning in Georgia would make 60.
If I were Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership, I'd be negotiating with Olympia Snowe so that we could boot Lieberman to the curb. She's the ranking member on the Small Business Committee -- offer her the Chair of the Committee if she switches caucuses (she can officially become a Dem or just caucus with us, a la Bernie Sanders), or even the Chair of the Commerce Committee. She's been more with us on the war and a number of other crucial matters than Lieberman (she might accurately be said to be the only authentic moderate Republican left at all).
If Franken wins and we can win that Georgia seat (and I fervently hope that the President-elect finds a way to campaign for and motivate the African-American base in Georgia to stand in line for Jim Martin), getting to 60 would make the Republicans in the Senate damned near irrelevant -- as long as our conservative Dems are made to understand that they may vote against legislation, but may not filibuster it (I'm looking at you, Mary Landrieu).