What's In a Name?

For much of the country these past two weeks have meant quieter phones, fewer door-knockers, and television commercials reminding us of the impending holidays--election 2008 is officially over. Unfortunately, there are a few states that aren't so luck. Senate races across the country are still going strong: Alaska's was just decided, Minnesota's won't be decided for weeks (pending a recount), and Georgia has a run-off on their hands.

Georgia's senate race on November 4th between incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) and challenger Jim Martin (D) resulted in Chambliss getting 49.8% of the vote and Martin getting 46.8%. But in order to win Chambliss needed to get 50% of the vote, without this there's a run-off. And this run-off is getting a lot of political attention.

On both sides party organizers are doing their best to get their candidates elected. Clinton and Gore separately made trips down to Georgia to fire up support for Martin. Television ads are running that link Martin to Obama, encouraging the idea that, if elected, Martin will help Obama lead the country. On the other side, Chambliss isn't saying no to Republican leaders either. John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney have all made trips to Georgia to help the incumbent Republican retain his seat.

In our otherwise "weak" party system these actions hint that our parties might in fact be getting stronger. However, looking at this race it's important to remember who those voting on December 2nd will be (hint: probably won't be all of the voters who went to the polls on the 4th.) When it comes to a run-off election it all goes back to energizing your base, and for that you bring down big names. In this case, reminding people to vote and getting them to the polls falls on the prominent party players. So for the next few weeks Georgia will continue attracting the Clintons and the Romneys of the political world. There's no room for non-partisan in this run-off race.