For the moment, at least, it appears that the Republican minority in the Senate still has some teeth:

ATLANTA — Saxby Chambliss, a first-term Republican senator, was re-elected by Georgia voters on Tuesday in a substantial victory, ending Democratic hopes for a 60-vote majority in the Senate that would make it difficult for Republicans to filibuster the Obama administration’s legislative agenda. With 96 percent of the state’s precincts reporting in the runoff election, Mr. Chambliss had 57.5 percent of the vote, and his Democratic challenger, Jim Martin, 42.5 percent. The margin was far greater than the three percentage points that separated the two men in the Nov. 4 election, when neither won the required 50 percent. Many of the Democrats who turned out last month in enthusiastic support of Barack Obama apparently did not show up at the polls on Tuesday. “For a lot of African-American voters, the real election was last month,” said Merle Black, an expert in Southern politics at Emory University. “The importance of electing the first African-American president in history generated enormous enthusiasm. Everything else was anticlimactic.” A little more than two million people voted in the runoff, compared with 3.7 million on Nov. 4. In heavily black Clayton County, just south of Atlanta, Mr. Martin’s vote was less than half what it was in the earlier election. Only 9.2 percent of registered Georgians cast early votes in the runoff, compared with 36 percent in the general election.

Which is why the assertions being made this morning by some that this election somehow constitutes a personal defeat for Barack Obama are largely without merit. Unlike Bill Clinton in the 1992 runoff between Wyche Faircloth and Paul Coverdale, Barack Obama did not personally campaign for Martin during the four weeks between Election Day and the runoff. Yes, he made a few radio commercials for Martin, but he never campaigned personally and never gave Martin access to the mailing list and other resources Obama had built up during the election:

[I]n the midst of a closely-watched transition, Obama decided not to expend any political capital on a tough race and only taped a one-minute radio ad and a robo-call on Martin’s behalf. Instead, Martin relied on the help of several famous politicians and celebrities – from Bill Clinton to the rapper Ludacris – but none were able to drive voter turnout like an Obama visit would have.

Therefore, the assertion by some, that yesterday’s results somehow count as a victory by Sarah Palin, who campaigned for Chambliss, over Obama are, quite honestly, absurd. For his own reasons, Obama decided to let Martin sink or swim on his own merit, Martin’s loss means absolutely nothing about Obama’s political capital.

Moreover, the loss in Georgia and a possible loss in Minnesota aren’t going to have a significant impact on the Democrat’s agenda:

Even with 58 seats, Senate Democrats would have their largest majority since the late 1970s, putting them in a strong position to advance their agenda on economic recovery, health care, labor organizing and climate change. Democrats say they should be able to peel away a stray Republican or two to overcome procedural obstacles. Nevertheless, Republicans were desperate for Mr. Chambliss to pull out a victory and hold Democrats below that symbolic 60-vote level.

And, with yesterday’s news that Florida’s Mel Martinez will not be standing for re-election in 2010, the Republican math in the upper house doesn’t look very good in the mid-terms:

[T]he fact that the GOP exodus is continuing just one month after the 2008 election is bad news for Republicans, with their deficits in both chambers appearing insurmountable in the near term and 30 House members and six senators already having retired last cycle. For a Democratic Party aiming for 60 seats-plus, things are heading in the right direction: Martinez is the second GOP senator to step aside for the 2010 cycle, joining Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.). Brownback’s seat appears to be less likely to switch from red to blue, but Democrats have been closely contesting races in other deeply red states. They could make the Kansas race instantly competitive with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), who remains a term-limited free agent without an appointment, thus far, to the Obama administration. The GOP also has to deal with more seats to defend (19) than Democrats (16) and a less appealing target list. When the 111th Congress begins, four of the five oldest GOP members will be facing reelection. Most of them have already insisted they are running, but questions remain about some of them.

A two-seat pickup in 2010, which is certainly within the realm of possibility, would give the Democrats’ their 60 seat majority, and would deny Republicans the use of the filibuster in the two-year period before the 2012 elections.