Chambliss Credits Palin With Firing Up Base

by Walter Alarkon - 12/03/08 9:45 AM ET

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), fresh off his win in Tuesday’s runoff, said that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) excited the GOP base and helped persuade voters to go to the polls.

“Obviously, you want to peak on the last day, and we had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Governor [Mitt] Romney and Rudy Giuliani, but Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite,” Chambliss said on Fox News Wednesday. “We packed the houses everywhere we want. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up.”

Chambliss, who defeated Democrat Jim Martin 57 percent to 43 percent, said that he thought that popularity of the former GOP vice presidential nominee would endure.

“I mean, I can’t overstate the impact she had down here,” he said. “All these folks did a great job coming in. They all allow you did us to add momentum to where we were in the campaign. But when she walks in a room, folks just explode.

Chambliss called her “a dynamic lady” and said that she had a “great future” in the party.