Georgia votes in key U.S. Senate run-off election

By Matthew Bigg

DULUTH, Ga., Dec 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. state of Georgia votes in a run-off election for U.S. Senate on Tuesday that will help decide whether Democrats gain a big enough majority in the chamber to ram through legislation virtually at will.

Polls make incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss a slight favorite to beat Jim Martin and block Democrats from holding 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate.

Such a majority would enable them to overcome procedural hurdles mounted against their legislative agenda by Republicans -- an advantage made more potent because Democrat Barack Obama won the presidential election on Nov. 4.

Chambliss fell short of a simple majority of the vote in November in which Democrats made gains around the country that gave them 58 Senate seats -- 56 held by Democrats and two by independents who caucus with the party -- as well as an expanded majority in the House of Representatives.

The remaining seat in Minnesota is subject to a recount.

Presidential politics was never far from the agenda at an election rally held by Alaska governor and rising Republican star Sarah Palin on Monday on behalf of Chambliss in Georgia. Palin rose to national prominence as John McCain's running mate before he was defeated by president-elect Barack Obama.

"Palin - 2012" read signs at a rally of several thousand in Duluth, Georgia, north of Atlanta, referring to the next presidential election. As she walked onstage, Palin received a cheer that dwarfed that accorded to Chambliss a few minutes earlier.

"The stakes (in this run-off) are so high," said Palin. "This is about the future of the United States of America, my friends .... America's counting are you."

Several supporters said they would vote for Chambliss but hoped Palin runs for the presidency in her own right.

During her speech she received applause from the nearly all-white crowd when she called for the defense of pro-life positions and gun rights, reflecting priorities of the Republican base.

Georgia is a southeastern state in the most conservative part of the country that backed McCain, a senator from Arizona, in the presidential election.

Republicans needed to "walk the walk as well as talk the talk" and work toward returning the party to a "pro-working class, conservative cause" to revive its fortunes, she said.

Later, Martin held a rally on the steps of the state capitol in downtown Atlanta with hip-hop artist Ludacris and civil rights leaders. Former president Bill Clinton has also campaigned for Martin.

The election will turn on which party can get more voters to the polls as much as on the issues, said Alan Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta.

"Georgia is still a Republican leaning state. It will be difficult for the Democrats to reproduce that large African American turnout that we had in the first election," Abramowitz said in reference to black turnout on behalf of Obama, who will be the first black president.

But Abramowitz argued that the presence of Palin in Georgia could prove a double-edged sword.

"When you bring down a polarizing figure such as Sarah Palin it brings out the other side as much as your own base," he said. (Editing by Philip Barbara)