If Democrats are going to have any hope of getting 60 Senate seats in the new session of Congress, then they need to pull off an upset in a runoff election in Georgia today.

GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss is defending the honor of the Republican Party, as he went for broke yesterday by bringing in Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, just about the only real rock star left in the party after this year's elections.

If Chambliss wins, Palin will have taken her first steps towards a run for President this week in Georgia.

If Chambliss loses, Palin will be blamed by some in the GOP who see her as too limited in her appeal.

The Democrats are pinning their hopes on Jim Martin, who got into the runoff because Chambliss just barely missed getting 50% of the vote, thanks to several percent that went to a third party Libertarian candidate.

Usually in the South, the candidate that finishes second does very well in runoff elections.  But those are usually in the primaries, not the general election.

Back in 1992, it was the exact opposite, as a Libertarian forced Democratic Sen. Wyche Fowler into a runoff against Paul Coverdell, the Republican.

Coverdell won that race.  We'll see if the underdog wins again today.

If the Dems do win with Martin, they will be at 59 seats in the Senate, which means everything will focus on Minnesota, where Al Franken trails Sen. Norm Coleman by about 250 votes.  That recount likely won't end until just before Christmas.

Chambliss should win by a few points, but a Martin victory won't surprise me in the least.

Stay tuned.