Ambinder on the ‘meaning’ of Saxby’s win
Saxby won because there are more Republicans than Democrats in Georgia, and because Jim Martin was a lousy candidate.
Yesterday morning, The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder published an excellent post about the significance of Saxby Chambliss’s re-election on Tuesday.
Two key points:
“Habitual voters tend to vote in special elections; in Georgia, there are more Republican habitual voters than Democratic habitual voters; the minds of Republican habitual voters were no doubt focused on Chambliss’s sudden cameo as the bullwark sic against an overweening Democratic majority. But these habitual voters are an ideologically charged subset of the electorate. On November 4, 3.7 million Georgians voted. Yesterday, about 2.1 million Georgians did.”
“The Obama political team chose to stay out of Georgia for the most part, and they did so for several reasons, not the least of which was their desire to send a message that mere politics isn’t what’s important right now. Also, candidly, some Obama advisers didn’t think Martin had a chance to win, and they didn’t want to expose Obama to a losing campaign.”
Obviously winning is better than losing, but Ambinder’s post makes clear that Republican attempts to spin Saxby’s win as a large-scale repudiation of Obama are just silly.
While we’re on the subject of Tuesday’s run-off, be sure to check out Erick Erickson’s passionate filleting of Saxby and his campaign at Peach Pundit.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)