Chambliss Releases Another 9/11-Themed Ad

Facing the possibility of a runoff election, Sen. Saxby Chambliss has put out a television advertisement that exploits imagery of 9/11.

The spot, titled "Trust," touts the Georgia Republican's ability to get results on issues from homeland security and war to economic turmoil.

But it is the use of video footage from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that could prove politically dicey. Chambliss ran a now-famous ad against his 2002 opponent, Sen. Max Cleland, that placed an image of the triple-amputee Vietnam vet alongside Osama bin Laden.

Chambliss' ability to drum up fears of terrorism once more could go a long way in determining the outcome of the Senate race. Currently, the Senator finds his vote total at 49.9 percent. If that number doesn't nudge to 50 percent -- and there is a large swath of votes yet to be counted -- an automated runoff with Democratic challenger Jim Martin will commence on December 2.

Both sides are preparing for that possibility. A Democratic source in the state tells the Huffington Post that Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee all are likely to raise money or campaign on Chambliss' behalf. Martin, meanwhile, has put out an ad playing off of Barack Obama's victory speech, saying he will work with the president elect "to get our economy moving again."

One of the key determinants of who wins a runoff could be just how disillusioned conservatives in the state are with an Obama victory. A local news station interviewed a few supporters of the Georgia Republican, one of whom actually compared the Obama win to another 9/11, another of whom said "the American people were fooled because we're all gonna suffer."

If Obama were to, say, show himself to be a capable president-elect, in the meantime using his infrastructure to help out Martin, this type of fear-based sentiment driving Chambliss' supporters could dissipate.