Obama Campaign Supports Senate Candidate In Ga.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

It's Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep with Renee Montagne. John McCain's election defeat is sealed, but he did a little more campaigning in a state that he won. McCain showed up in Georgia to campaign for one of his fellow Republican senators. Saxby Chambliss fell short of 50 percent of the vote, so he faces a runoff election next week against his leading challenger. This race is not going to affect who controls the Senate, but it could move Democrats closer to 60 votes, a number that makes it harder for Republicans to block them. Top Democrats have turned up to campaign for Georgia's Democratic challenger. His name is Jim Martin, and he came to the phone this week.

You got to share the ballot with Barack Obama the first time around. This time around in the runoff, you do not. What are you doing to make sure that the enthusiasm of his supporters carries over to get people to the polls a second time?

Mr. JIM MARTIN (Democratic Senatorial Candidate, Georgia): Well, we have a very similar message, which is that the policy of the Bush administration for the last eight years, with the support of Saxby Chambliss over the last six years he's been in the Senate, hasn't worked. And my message is making sure that the decisions that are made in Washington help middle-class Georgians and help deal with the economic crisis that they're facing. And it is not based on a notion of trickledown economics that provides money for the very wealthy Americans on the assumption that the economy is going to prosper as a result of that.

INSKEEP: Have you been in touch with the president-elect or his staff and said, hey, excuse me, I'm still running here. Can you guys, you know, place a phone call, come down, make a visit, anything?

Mr. MARTIN: Well, I'm honored that President-elect Obama has done a radio commercial for me that is being very well-received in this state. And we have the support of the organization that we worked with him on in the general election. It's still in place. And we have volunteers from across the country who are now coming in to work along with the field operation we already had to get the voters out. So there's a lot of cooperation between our campaign and President Obama's campaign.

INSKEEP: Let me ask another question about that because, of course, one thing the Democrats would love to have is 60 votes in the United States Senate, which would make it much harder for Republicans to sustain a filibuster. Are you telling audiences as you campaign, hey, vote for me, we can still get to that 60?

Mr. MARTIN: You know, I haven't been talking about that. I've really been talking more about what President-elect Obama said the night he was elected, which was that these issues that this country faces are not partisan issues, but they require bipartisan work. Frankly, people are concerned about partisan politics. And I think the new president has set a wonderful tone about working across party lines to solve these problems.

INSKEEP: Well, Mr. Martin, I'm sure, like many political candidates, you're paying close and respectful attention to what your opponent, Senator Chambliss, is saying on the Republican side. Is he telling audiences this vote for Jim Martin could give Democrats 60 votes and that that could be a terrible thing and give Democrats too much power?

Mr. MARTIN: Well, I don't know exactly what he's been saying. He's been saying that he wants to go to Washington to prevent the president from being successful on a lot of his policies. And I think that's a mistake.

INSKEEP: Do you think, as an experienced lawmaker on the state level, that that 60 votes could make a big difference in how much the new administration can get through Congress and how much it can't?

Mr. MARTIN: Well, you have to look at the last eight years and to see the effectiveness of a threat of a filibuster in the Senate to prevent meaningful change. And so, yes, it does make sense to have a Congress and a United States Senate that will work with the new president effectively to solve problems. So, I guess another way to say it is that people want the gridlock in Washington to be broken. They want us to start dealing with some enormous problems that this country faces. The people are saying, we need to move forward with solutions to those problems, and we want the Congress and the president to do that.

INSKEEP: Jim Martin, thanks very much.

Mr. MARTIN: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: Jim Martin is the Democratic candidate in Georgia's runoff Senate election set for December 2. And we have also given several invitations to Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss to speak on this program. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

INSKEEP: Jim Martin, thanks very much.

MR. MARTIN: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: Jim Martin is the Democratic candidate in Georgia's runoff Senate election set for December 2. And we have also given several invitations to Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss to speak on this program.