Don't Expect Early Result In Ga. Senate Race

A Democratic operative in Georgia checks in with The Crypt to warn us not to expect a quick result from the surprisingly close race between Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin.

"We're in for a long night because the turnout has been extraordinary - two million early voters out of 5.5 million registered," this Democratic campaign aide says. "Anecdotally the lines I've seen today would indicate that it's just going to take awhile to get everyone through."

It may be well past 7 p.m. poll closing time before most of the precincts actually have a chance to let people finish voting, so this race may not be called until later tonight.

On top of that, Martin and Chambliss have been in a statistical dead heat over the past two weeks, and even if the third party Libertarian candidate gets 2 percent, that could force a runoff if the leader doesn't top 50 percent by the end of the night.