Let the leftist bitching and whining begin...
What's Really at Stake in Georgia's Senate Runoff
By Michael Grunwald Tuesday, Dec. 02, 2008
...Like many Republicans in Washington, Chambliss has trumpeted the idea that the GOP's electoral difficulties are the result of insufficient conservatism and can be reversed only with a stronger defense of traditional values and more consistent opposition to government spending. But it's not as if Republicans in Washington have failed to defend traditional values; they got two conservative Justices on the Supreme Court, passed all kinds of laws restricting abortion and stem-cell research and practically shut down the government to try to save Terri Schiavo. And while it is true that Republicans spent taxpayer dollars like drunken sailors when they controlled all three branches of government — Chambliss was not a notable abstainer — there is little evidence that Americans soured on the GOP because of its profligacy. They don't seem to be crying out for austerity and deregulation. McCain is one of the most principled spending hawks in the GOP; how did he and his crusade against earmarks do?
That's one more reason today's runoff is a big deal. A Chambliss victory would not send much of a message to the nation; it would just confirm the obvious fact that Georgia is more conservative than the nation. But it could reinforce the dangerous message that recent electoral results have been sending to Republicans. GOP moderates like Connecticut Congressman Christopher Shays and GOP pragmatists like North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory keep losing, while most Republican survivors have been conservatives from conservative districts and conservative states. So the party keeps looking more like Chambliss and moving further in his direction — even more white, even more to the right, even more eager to fight.
It's a defensible electoral strategy — if you're trying to win elections in the Deep South. But the rest of the country isn't likely to embrace Chambliss any more than it has embraced Bush.
LINK (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1863231,00.html)