Hotline After Dark -- Hope Floats

Dem hopes of gaining a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate were squashed when Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) was projected to win reelection in the GA SEN runoff.

CNN's Bash: "This is a very rare moment of glory and victory in a very, very bad year for Republicans. So, the national party, they are looking at this particular race, this particular victory ... and saying, you know, wow. This gives us a little bit of hope now" ("AC 360," 12/2).

Washington Post's Bacon: "Barack Obama did not come here, but he left his 25 campaign offices open and they became Martin for Senate offices. So it appears that Obama's network, you know, which did a good job for him both in Georgia and around the country, was not able to elect Jim Martin down here" ("On the Record," FNC, 12/2).

Time's Cox: "It's pretty well recognized among Democratic circles or in Democratic circles that Martin was not an especially strong candidate. He made it as far as he did because of the 'Obama machine.' And I would call it an 'Obama machine' and not a Democratic machine. ... What this does suggest, however, is that in 2010, the mid-terms are going to be a struggle because Obama's name will not be on the ballot" ("Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 12/2).

After the jump, more GA SEN and govs. discuss Obama meeting.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

FNC's Hannity: "There was a really interesting dynamic that emerged. Saxby Chambliss had Governor Palin, four separate stops. And who did Jim Martin, the Democratic Senate candidate, have? He doesn't have Barack Obama. Ludacris. ... Now, that's a ludicrous idea. ... It seems that Barack Obama didn't have the political courage that Bill Clinton had and was not willing to put any political capital on the line" ("Hannity & Colmes," 12/2).

CNN's J. King: "Remember, Saxby Chambliss said he wanted to be a firewall. Southern Republicans want a firewall. Many other Republicans from other parts of the country think the best move for them politically, at least early on, is to try to work with Obama, not reflexively say they will be against him. ... When Saxby Chambliss goes to Washington and says, 'I have a mandate to stand up to Barack Obama,' what do the other 40 Republicans in the room say when he says, 'Let's fight?' Many of them early on will say, 'Let's talk first'" ("AC 360," 12/2).

Cox, on whether it'd have made a difference if Obama had campaigned in person for Martin: "It might have made a difference but I think it was looking pretty bad for Martin from the beginning. And so, I think, there were probably two things that went into the Obama's camp thinking in deciding not to campaign very hard for Martin in Georgia. One of them is pretty obvious which is that it didn't look good. ... And, right now, look at all the good press that Obama is getting in introducing his cabinet, right? ... To go back to Georgia and campaign for someone that would wind up losing might tarnish that just a little bit" ("Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 12/2).

CITY OF GOVERNORLY LOVE

Govs. Bill Ritter (D-CO), Jennifer Granholm (D-MI) and Mark Sanford (R-SC) appeared together on "NewsHour" last night to discuss their meeting with Obama in Philly.

Ritter: "What we wanted most of all was to have ... the president-elect of the United States listen to governors' input about what we would like to see go into a stimulus package. Most states are looking at serious problems as we go forward into the next fiscal year and even in the present fiscal year. We have to balance our budgets in the present year, meaning we have to make present-year cuts. And so we were hoping for an ear. And he did. He listened to us. He asked us what we would like to see go into it. We had conversations about infrastructure, how we could build out infrastructure and do it fairly quickly, get shovels in the ground, put money into the economy, create jobs that way. We talked about the safety net and the state's responsibility, along with the federal government, to maintain the safety net. We talked about renewable energy."

PBS' Woodruff: "But you also heard, Governor Granholm, the president-elect say, 'We can't keep printing money. There isn't enough money to do everything.' So where are the priorities in all of this?"

Granholm: "The first priority is get this economy in order. ... The governors came today and said, 'How can we help in your plans, Senator Obama, President-elect Obama, in making sure that we do put people to work?' Well, that's what infrastructure projects do."

Sanford, on why he thinks the recovery program is misguided: "From the standpoint of scale, this thing has grown to be well beyond what's happening within our borders to what is, frankly, a global problem. ... I think stimulus is well beyond simply printing money and spending money out of Washington, D.C. What we're talking about is borrowing money to, in essence, solve a problem that was created by too much debt."

Granholm: "The National Governors Association today, in presenting our case for a stimulus package that is a broad-based package, I think there were probably 48, 47 governors who were in favor of it. And, you know, our respected colleague on the other side there was not one of them" (PBS, 12/2).