With the thin majority held by both political parties in the House and Senate the 2002 elections will decide which political party will have control in congress. In the US Senate the democrats hold a majority by one seat so every election makes a difference. Out of all the different elections the Republicans have focused on a select few to try and gain a majority. One of those select few is the election for the GA senate seat. .
Looking at Georgia's voting history, it would be impossible to predict the outcome of the election. Georgia on the average since the World War II has chosen the democratic presidential candidate (Almanac of American Politics 451). However, in the more recent elections a more divided Georgia emerged. In Clintons first election he won Georgia's 13 electoral votes, but in his reelection he was unable to win Georgia. Then in the election of 2000 Al Gore missed out on Georgia's 13 electors by a thin margin of 12% (Almanac of American Politics 459). As far as other elected offices Georgia has followed a very democratic trend. But that does not always mean that Georgia democrats are the liberal minded ones in Washington. Many of the past Georgia senators have been people like Sam Nunn who where labeled as Democrats but in reality followed the Republicans once in office. The best example would be Sen. Zell Miller; he has supported Pres. Bush time and time again, when the Democratic leadership did not. A southern democrat still acts a lot like a conservative. Surprisingly this swing state has never had a Republican Governor since before the Civil War. In Gov. Barnes first election the democrats ran into their first real opposition in a long time. Even though Barnes won it was not by the same margin that Governors were wining by 20 years ago. (Almanac of American Politics 455).
Today Georgia has two democratic Senators, Max Cleland and Zell Miller. As far as the House of Representatives there are eight republican representatives and three democrats.