GA-Sen: Martin Raises $346,675 in Under Two Weeks

by Jonathan Singer, Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 01:50:10 PM EDT

I noted early last month that popular former Democratic State Representative Jim Martin was thinking about a Senate bid in Georgia against freshman Republican Saxby Chambliss, who is probably best known in these circles as having run the ad blending Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein into Democratic Senator Max Cleland. As it so happened, Martin did get into the race later in March, and over the course of less than two weeks raised some serious money.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin jumped out to a quick fundraising start in his bid to unseat Republican Saxby Chambliss, but he still lags far behind the incumbent.
Martin is a former state lawmaker from Atlanta who joined a crowded field of Democrats in the race on March 19th. He raised $346,675 in less than two weeks before the first-quarter filing period ended March 31, according to his latest campaign finance report filed this week.
But Chambliss raised almost double that amount -- $637,251. The Republican senator has accumulated some $3.6 million in his campaign treasury.

Martin still has a lot of ground to make up, both in the money race as well as the race to attract voters. What's more, Georgia was one of the few states that appeared to be moving toward, rather than away from, the Republican Party in 2006, so this race is not fully on the map -- yet.

But Martin seems to have a real opportunity here. Chambliss isn't terribly popular, and Martin, as his party's Lieutenant Governor nominee in 2006, actually outran his running mate. What's more, Martin has a great profile: Vietnam veteran, 18-year state representative, state Commissioner of Human Resources, Chief Legal Officer of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.

If you want to help out in this race and make sure that the guy who put up this despicable ad will face a credible and sufficiently funded challenge this year, head over to Martin's campaign website or his Act Blue page today.

Tags: GA-Sen, Georgia, Senate 2008 (all tags)

Comments

7 Comments

Sort by

permalink

Awesome

that's really good news.

It would almost (but not really) make up for 2002 if the despicable Norm Coleman and Saxby Chambliss both lost this year.

by bawbie 2008-04-23 01:55PM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Awesome

Oh wow, wouldn't that be great? Also, Franken beat Coleman might make Bill O'Reilly scream himself hoarse.

I'm thrilled that Chambliss is finally unpopular, for a long time he was popular and I'd just shake my head.

by bosdcla14 2008-04-23 01:57PM | 0 recs

permalink

Wait just one second here...

...Before Jim Martin can even think about taking on Saxby Chambliss, he must first get past the Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County, Vernon Jones.

Vernon Jones is an African-American and for the first time in Georgia history, a majority of the voters in the Democratic primary were African-American as well.

Identity politics is running rampant this year and to be honest with you, Jim Martin's going to have a tough time running in a Democratic primary where a majority of the electorate looks like his main opponent.

by Andre Walker 2008-04-23 02:15PM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: GA-Sen: Martin Raises $346,675 in Under Two We

There is almost nothing I want more than to see Saxby Chambliss sent packing. I doubt it will happen since he likes to cheat, but I would literally do a happy dance if he goes away.

by Denny Crane 2008-04-23 08:53PM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Vernon Jones

As DeKalb CEO, Vernon Jones could have shown some real readership on the Grady Hospital issue, showing he was serious about public health care. What did he offer. Silence - stone cold silence. He has lost any chance of getting my vote, and in the increasingly likely event of a runoff between Martin and Jones, my money is on Martin to win.

Don't discount Rand Knight, though. He's running an interesting race.

by CLLGADEM 2008-04-24 02:14AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: GA-Sen: Martin Raises $346,675 in Under Two We

Saxby isn't going anywhere. His favorability ratings are similar to Sonny Perdue who managed to get 58% of the vote in '06. Also, Martin did do better than Mark Taylor but he still lost in a landslide in an open race that was just held by a Democrat. Moreover, our SoS Candidate did better than Martin and she did nothing (literally), was unqualified, and had no money so don't put too much stock in his performance.

by edhula3 2008-04-24 05:57AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: GA-Sen: Martin Raises $346,675 in Under Two We

A note from the ground: I drove from Tallahassee, FL to Atlanta yesterday. Along my trip on US-319, US-19, GA-300, and I-75, I saw four huge Vernon Jones for Senate billboards, including a few in some pretty rural areas.

by freepursuits 2008-04-24 06:31PM | 0 recs