Missing Boxes of Votes in Georgia

The sun shines on Georgia's Senate race this morning with Saxby Chambliss (R) holding a slim lead over Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Here's what Jim Galloway reported at 6:30 this morning in his Political Insider column at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 06:30 AM: Republican Saxby Chambliss continues to cling to a slim lead in the U.S. Senate race, a cushion of 138,511 votes. A handful of missing boxes in both Carroll and DeKalb counties may give us the answer of whether we have a Dec. 2 runoff. Democrat Jim Martin is at 46.2 percent.

Here are the latest numbers from AP, with 98 percent of precincts reporting:

Saxby Chambliss — 1,768,378 — 51%
Jim Martin — 1,629,867 — 46%
Allen Buckley — 120,840 — 3%

I was living in Georgia when Saxby Chambliss first won his Senate seat by challenging the Democratic encumbent Max Cleland in a nasty race in which Republican ads questioned the patriotism of Cleland, a Vietnam veteran who had lost his legs and one arm in the Vietnam War. I'm no conspiracist, but where are those missing ballots this year?

Robo Calls

A couple of days ago I received my first robo call of the election, a strange woman's voice telling me I should vote for Amendment 2 on the Georgia ballot: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize community redevelopment and authorize counties, municipalities, and local boards of education to use tax funds for redevelopment purposes and programs?"

Then, yesterday I received my second robo call, and the recorded voice was that of Barack Obama's. Obama was requesting that we vote for Jim Martin, the Democrat running for the Senate against Saxby Chambliss. Obama described the reasons Martin should be elected. There was no dirty mud-slinging, no claims that Saxby Chambliss was un-American or irreligious or a socialist. Just a steady and reasoned call for my vote.

Imagine.