Four weeks after a crushing defeat in the November elections, Republicans got a reason to smile a bit, as Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia won his runoff election, ending the hopes of Democrats to gain 60 seats in the Senate in January.

With a much lower turnout than back in November, Chambliss won easily over Democrat Jim Martin, giving the Georgia Republican a second term in office.

The outcome means that Democrats will either have 58 or 59 votes, depending on the outcome of the recount in the Minnesota Senate race.

A number of smaller towns and cities in Minnesota start their recount work today, as only 200 votes separate incumbent GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken.

Franken picked up some votes yesterday after the discovery of some uncounted ballots in St. Paul. 

It never ceases to amaze me how ballots just show up at certain times!  It makes me cringe to think of all the problems that are out there in our vaunted election system.

Back to Chambliss in Georgia.

It was probably a good move by Barack Obama to stay out of Georgia, since a personal appearance would have led to higher expectations that ultimately would have been smushed.

Bill Clinton made that mistake 16 years ago, helping to end his honeymoon before he even took office.

In the end, Democrats will still have a good chance to squelch GOP filibusters on certain issues, because there are a few GOP Senators who might join with the Dems on certain items.

They include both Maine Senators, Collins and Snowe, and Specter of Pennsylvania, just to name three right there.

Then again, there are three Democrats that might be just as apt to act as a check on their leadership by not letting the Dems go too far to the left.

Those include Landrieu of Louisiana, Nelson of Nebraska and Tester of Montana.

So, even with a loss last night, Democrats are still sitting pretty for the new Congress.

It sure beats having only 51 votes.