6 NOV 08: LET'S PLAY TWO

Obama-mania overwhelmed parts of Columbus Wednesday, in the wake of the presidential election. WLTZ reported Barnes & Noble ran out of several newspapers within 30 minutes of its opening. So Barack Obama already is turning around the economy -- at least for the Ledger-Enquirer.

But just when you thought the campaigning is over, it's not. It appeared likely Wednesday night that we'll have a U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia. Dave Platta coined a phrase for this several years ago - News Overtime.

The latest numbers from the Georgia Secretary of State show Senator Saxby Chambliss below the required majority by about 9,000 votes. That's not exactly the strikeout Jim Martin's supporters urged in those campaign commercials. If anything, Chambliss fouled off a 3-2 pitch.

Libertarian Allen Buckley seems to have received enough votes to force Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin into a runoff. Buckley received nearly 1,800 votes in Columbus - or nearly all the eligible voters who can pick up Neal Boortz's talk show on WRCG.

This would be Georgia's second U.S. Senate runoff in 16 years. The last one found Democrat Wyche Fowler leading the general election, only to have Paul Coverdell win the runoff three weeks later. But that race is remembered more for something else - the old woman on TV singing, "Let's put Paul Coverdell in the Senate and kick Wyche Fowler out!"

Georgia Democrats were so upset by Paul Coverdell's win that they changed the state election rules. The standard for winning a race dropped from a majority vote to 45 percent. When Mary Sue Polleys won a tight Muscogee County School Board race through that rule, only the Ledger-Enquirer realized it for several days.

When Republicans took control of the General Assembly a few years ago, the victory standard went back up to "50 percent plus one." So the G.O.P. may not raise your taxes, but it might raise other things....

Paul Coverdell seemed to benefit in 1992 from Libertarian voters drifting to him. Based on that theory, Saxby Chambliss should have the advantage in a Senate runoff. The Libertarian vote Tuesday may reflect a protest against Chambliss's support for the federal bank rescue bill. You could say those voters were G.O.Peeved.

But Jim Martin suggested Wednesday President-Elect Obama could come to Georgia in the next four weeks, and give his runoff campaign a boost. Martin couldn't say this with 100-percent certainty. But if Mr. Obama really lives by his book title "The Audacity of Hope...."

Of course, the President-Elect will be busy with other things over the next few weeks. Mr. Obama has a cabinet to name, an inaugural speech to prepare - and with the campaign over, he probably can't use all that donated money to fly to Hawaii for his grandmother's funeral.

I'm hearing the Saxby Chambliss campaign approached Columbus media outlets on Tuesday, about buying commercial time for a runoff. Oh goody - we'll have several more weeks to hear how Jim Martin killed children to hoard state money, while Chambliss killed soldiers in Iraq so we could have a tax cut.

There actually will be a couple of other races on the Georgia runoff ballot 2 December. There's a close fight for a Public Service Commission seat, between Democrat Jim Powell and Republican Lauren McDonald. McDonald doesn't call himself "Bubba" anymore - which may show he's hung around downtown Atlanta a bit too long.

A runoff also is needed for an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals. Troup County lawmaker Michael Meyer von Bremen ran for this seat, but wound up last in a seven-way vote. In fact, he was last in Troup County. Not even John McCain was embarrassed that badly Tuesday night....

E-MAIL UPDATE: We promised leftover e-mails about the election - and it turns out two "write-in" candidates, well, wrote in. The first has become familiar here in recent months:

"Richard, no one gives a cr*p about your poll" or what it's results came out to be, let me remind you the entire community of Columbus decides who the next Sheriff will be, not you. John Darr is great person but he lacks the leadership abilities to lead a large agency the size of Muscogee County Sheriffs Department and in time our assessment will prove we to be true. I think congratulations are in order for Richard; you have won the Idiot of the Week Award again for the second time this year. "See you again in four years"

www.marklajoye.com

So there you have it - a gracious, humble concession speech from the third-place candidate for Sheriff....

Mark LaJoye may consider me an idiot for offering a Big Blog Question on the Sheriff's race. (No, I did NOT cast a vote in it.) But did you notice the outcome in "the entire community of Columbus" somewhat matched our poll's result? Give each individual voter on Tuesday an Idiot of the Week prize, and LaJoye could be busy for the next 100 years.

To be fair: Mark LaJoye must have realized he faced an uphill fight by waging a write-in campaign. If he's leaving military service as he has claimed, he'll be able to file normally for Sheriff in 2012 - and he'll probably receive more votes. Why, even Bert Coker picked up 30 percent of the vote in a Columbus Council race.

As for the Sheriff-Elect, John Darr said Wednesday he hopes to make the office more responsive to the people. One way he plans to do that is by holding more community forums -- which makes me wonder if he learned Ralph Johnson's lesson from a week-and-a-half ago.

Then there's the man who ran a campaign Tuesday, which I never even knew about:

"Sir" Richard:

Well, election day has come and gone - and with it my hopes for a successful Write-In victory at the polls and another four years as Constable. The man who succeeds me is Tom Smith. He opposed me four years ago - simply because he didn't want me to have the position.

Tom Smith has been unsuccessful in several endeavors here in "Hurt'sboro. He has run a video rental store, dabbled in coon hounds, delivered pizza, worked in an auto parts store, tried his hand at the horse breeding business and finally left the volunteer fire department in disgrace. I doubt that he will do much better as Constable. He most certainly will not keep you posted on the "events" that occur here in the "hood."

As for me. Leopard's do not change their spots, and I intend to continue the quest to "air" out Town Hall. It certainly needs it!

As surely as the sun has set on my political career and activities as a constable; I'm certain when the sun rises tomorrow, it will be the first day of activity as a "concerned" citizen, and I will wait with bated breath for the appearance of "Big" Tom in full uniform, with blue lights flashing. God help us all!

R.J. Schweiger

Isn't this amazing? Robert Schweiger never told us he was trying to win back the Constable's job, after losing a race for Russell County Commission. Maybe he needs to call Mark LaJoye, and schedule a meeting on how to publicize a write-in campaign better.

Even if Robert Schweiger doesn't, we wish Tom Smith well as Hurtsboro Constable. Maybe he'll make a big comeback - and become the 2009 version of Abraham Lincoln, if not the Atlanta Falcons.

Now for other things we noticed on The Day After:

+ District Attorney-Elect Julia Slater said one change she plans is a separate trial schedule for less complicated cases. She calls it a "rocket docket." Now there's a way to get more visitors to the Space Science Center....

+ The Muscogee County School Board had a special meeting, and reduced the list of candidates for Superintendent to a final three. But we still don't know who the finalists are -- so how are students supposed to vote by text-message for the winner, like they do on TV?

(School board members revealed only that 43 people applied for the Superintendent's job. I can't help wondering how early in the process Bert Coker was eliminated....)

+ Columbus Police arrested Archie Washington, and claimed he's responsible for 64 different car break-ins. If this is true, Washington clearly missed his calling - and he should do community service time helping stranded fans after Cottonmouths games.

+ Delta Air Lines announced it will begin charging 15 dollars to check a bag. That's OK - I may begin charging myself 12 dollars in gas to drive to Birmingham, and fly Southwest.

+ Instant Message to WRBL sports anchor Shawn Skillman: The agency is called United Way. What you showed on the screen has nothing to do with that -- but "United Away" would make sense for a story about the airport.

COMING SOON: Why has a radio station moved all the way across the dial? We're asking about it....

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