John McCain isn't the only one suffering
for his support for the $700 billion bailout. Georgia Sen.
Saxby Chambliss is
paying the price, too:
[Democrat challenger Jim] Martin's surge in the polls coincided
with Mr. Chambliss' support earlier this month of the Bush
administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout package.
"That's when things started to fall apart for him," said
University of Georgia political science professor Charles
Bullock.
Please note that the collapse of support for Chambliss is not
because Georgia suddenly became "progressive." It isn't because
his Democratic opponent is charismatic or has a brilliant
campaign strategy. It is solely because Chambliss
supported the bailout. When people try to figure out what went
wrong in 2008, they should not neglect the fact that the
big-government approach to the financial crisis was
overhwelmingly unpopular. Libertarian
populism, anyone?
