MACON, Ga. (AP) — For the final push in Georgia's tight U.S. Senate race, Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue traveled the state Monday to energize supporters in last-minute outreach efforts and persuade any remaining undecided voters.
Perdue visited supporters in seven Georgia cities on a fly-around with Sen. Johnny Isakson and the full slate of Republican statewide candidates, while Nunn traveled from Augusta to Macon in the family minivan with her husband and two children before making the two-hour drive back to Atlanta to knock on doors and call voters.
"What we're trying to do today around the state is we're going to get the vote out and remind people of the choices they have," Perdue said at his first stop in Macon. "And in the Senate race, it's very simple. If you like what's going on in Washington, if you like the direction of this country, then you have no choice but to vote for Michelle Nunn because she's just going to be a rubber stamp for Barack Obama and his failed policies."
A few hours later, Nunn arrived in Macon for an outdoor rally with a few dozen supporters who had largely voted early. She urged each of them to get 10 more people to the polls on Tuesday.
"We stand on the cusp of an extraordinary victory tomorrow," said Nunn, a nonprofit CEO. "Remind them that this is a consequential election, that we have a chance to both embrace our future here in Georgia but also to make history here in Georgia."
Georgia has become a major battleground in the national fight for control of the Senate. Democrats consider Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, one of their best chances to pick up a Republican Senate seat and thwart GOP plans to claim a majority. With polls suggesting a tight race and a Libertarian candidate, Amanda Swafford, on the ballot, a Jan. 6 runoff is possible.
The race has drawn enormous attention from outside groups, with total TV advertising in a contentious Republican primary and now general election reaching $42.5 million, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. That's the second-highest total for a U.S. Senate race this year.
For Perdue, Monday's fly-around was also a chance to gain some valuable statewide media coverage on the eve of the election, as any undecided voters make up their minds. Nunn kept her final focus on three largely Democratic areas, where she will need to drive up support on Election Day. Nunn said her campaign was ending the way it began, by talking to voters.
Perdue, the former CEO of Dollar General and Reebok, once again opened himself up to another attack on his business record by responding to a reporter's question about closing plants with: "Sure, we closed down plants all the time, but it was never a direct relationship to things going on offshore."
That prompted an email from the Nunn campaign referencing the remarks and saying Perdue "boasted casually about the ease and frequency with which he helped close down American plants."
For the better part of a month, Perdue has been the defensive over a 2005 court deposition in which he said he had spent much of his career on outsourcing. Perdue has argued outsourcing doesn't mean shipping jobs overseas and points to retail companies like Dollar General that "source" their goods from other companies. He has blamed job losses on federal policies that have crippled industries.
Perdue spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said the latest attack was another attempt to "distort the facts and take things out of context."
His cousin, former Gov. Sonny Perdue, said Monday the outsourcing attacks have hurt — but only because Democrats weren't telling the whole truth.
"It has been misused and been hurtful in that way because it's been misconstrued," Sonny Perdue said.
