Sarah Palin Rallying Support for Saxby Chambliss in the Run-Off Election

Georgia Republican Incumbent Saxby Chambliss won his long contested race for reelection to the US Senate versus Democratic challenger Jim Martin yesterday. The final verdict on the contest came in the form a run-off election after neither Chambliss nor Martin managed to win over 50% of votes as required by Georgia law to decide a victor in a Senatorial race.

The oversimplified media narrative that has quickly evolved around Chambliss’s victory is that it has denied the Democratic party a “supermajority” in the Senate by preventing them from attaining 60 seats. Depending on the outcome of the Al Franken - Norm Coleman recount in Minnesota, the maximum number of seat the Democrats could control in the Senate now stands at 59. It is true that sixty seats are required by Senate rules to prevent a bill from being filibustered - an arcane parliamentary technique which inexplicably allows a minority of Senators to end discussion on a bill, in effect derailing it before it ever even receives an up or down vote. However filibusters, should they be pursued by the minority party in the Senate, are voted on a case by case basis - and Senators often cross party lines in both directions. Meanwhile the organization of the Senate, which decides who will hold the Chair positions on all committees and subcommittees is decided by a simple majority, one the Democrats will win easily, with plenty of room to deal on all policy initiatives.

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LINKS:

AJC: Chambliss: Victory could be model for GOP

Christian Science Monitor: With Chambliss, Republicans win one in the South

AP: Victorious Chambliss urges GOP to return to basics