Check your coattails at the door.

“In a runoff election with no presidential candidates on the ballot Tuesday, Peach State voters sent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) back to the Senate by what looks to be a resounding margin just four weeks after he led the general election by three points.

In the runoff, he was ahead of Democratic former state Rep. Jim Martin 59-41 with 84 percent of precincts in. That margin could narrow with many precincts in Atlanta still outstanding, but Chambliss outdid his general election performance in nearly every major county in the state – including some by large margins.

Chambliss’s margin of victory looks to exceed almost all runoff polling on the race, suggesting that the turnout models used in the polling overshot Democratic turnout without President-elect Obama on the ballot.
Martin appeared to suffer mightily from a lack of African-American turnout, which dropped from 30 percent of early votes four weeks ago to around 20 percent in the runoff.

In Atlanta-based Fulton County, Chambliss was almost even with Martin with half the precincts reporting. Martin defeated him nearly two-to-one in the county in the general election.

In DeKalb County, another populous county based in Atlanta, Chambliss increased his take from 21 percent in November to 27 percent this month, with 84 percent of precincts in.

Many counties mirrored that shift, according to returns on the Georgia secretary of state’s website.”

Chambliss trounced Martin resoundingly by more than 10 percent over his November performance. This can only mean that the Obama Effect was limited to November 4th, and will carry over to subsequent races down the road.