Beyond charges, policy differences separate Senate candidates

Walter C. Jones

August 13, 2008

This year's Senate race gives voters three different choices.

Now that Democrats have nominated Jim Martin for the U.S. Senate in Tuesday's runoff, the ballot is set with him, Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Libertarian Allen Buckley. The mudslinging began almost immediately, but there are many policy differences that separate them beyond their attacks.

Chambliss starts with the advantage of incumbency and the campaign contributions that usually attracts, and he's a conservative Republican in a state that hasn't elected a new Democrat statewide in a decade -- or a Libertarian ever.

Martin and Buckley will try to chip away at those advantages, notes Kerwin Swint, political science professor at Kennesaw State University, and Chambliss will try to preempt their attacks.

"I think it's going to be pretty rough," Swint said. "Chambliss may be following a script written for (John) McCain, which is to paint your opponent as out of touch and to put him in a box early. ... I think both sides are going to be willing to engage this year."

Swint predicted that jobs, the price of gasoline, the housing crisis and other aspects of the economy would be the main issue for most voters this year.

To capitalize on it, Martin began hammering the incumbent on federal spending, trying to weaken his image as a conservative.

"But with gas prices so high, good jobs harder to come by, and all of us being hurt by this failed economy," Martin said Wednesday. "I will not let Saxby Chambliss stand in the way any more and continue to push the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration."

Fiscal matters is an area of disagreement Buckley has with both major-party candidates.

"Jim's a nice guy. It's just he tends to want to give people things," Buckley said, noting Martin's comment that someone needs to go to Washington to stand up for the middle class and health care for children. "My approach is that the government should create an environment where they should be taking care of themselves. ... Saxby Chambliss is a long-term disaster for the country."

Chambliss said he's ready for the onslaught against him.

"I always get excited about campaigning," he said.

But even he agrees that the economy will be foremost in the mind of swing voters.

"Certainly, the issue of the economy is going to continue to be at the forefront," he said, taking credit for the recent housing bailout and the stimulus checks sent over the summer.
The focus on the economy may be in contrast to how Martin got his name on the November ballot by defeating Vernon Jones in Tuesday's runoff.

As similar as those two candidates were, the key difference in the runoff was turnout, said Jones, who lost by 20 percentage points even in his home county.

"I don't believe that one issue determined this election," Jones said.

Jones said he plans to support the national Democratic Party, but he held out on giving his support to Martin so soon after the close of the brutal runoff campaign. He said he would discuss that issue with Martin. There's apparently no love lost for the state Democratic Party, which Jones chided as out of touch and too liberal for the average Georgian to support, even though the party's voters handed Martin a resounding victory.

Jones said the ballot-box removal of Democrats from nearly all statewide posts in Georgia in recent years -- from the governor to the Public Service Commission -- should serve as a wake-up call for the party.

"They're not in touch with mainstream Georgians, and I'll tell you the Democratic Party has got make sure its message reaches all families," Jones said.

Jones didn't speculate on Martin's chances against the well-funded Chambliss, other than to say, "I would have taken Saxby out."

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