Georgia’s US Senate race is heading to a runoff, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports today, as Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss is just shy of the 50% plus one vote needed to defeat Democratic challenger Jim Martin. Both candidates wasted no time to launch campaigns for the vote that would be held Dec. 2; Martin has already contacted President-elect Barack Obama. The results won't be officially certified until sometime next week.
Chambliss scored 49.8% of votes, Martin 46.7%. With perhaps tens of thousands left to be counted, Chambliss held a lead of about 114,000 votes. The Republican said he’s “in full campaign mode” today, and blamed “voter fatigue” with the presidential race for a disappointing turnout from GOP-leaning Georgians. (More Election 2008 stories.)