ATLANTA, Dec 3: Relieved Republicans celebrated a resounding win in Georgia’s hard-fought US Senate runoff, a victory that denied Democrats a filibuster-proof majority and cemented the state’s reputation as a Republican bastion.

Sen Saxby Chambliss trounced Democrat Jim Martin on Tuesday night, winning his second term by a margin of more than 10 percentage points. The race dashed Democrats’ hopes of a 60-seat majority immune to Senate filibusters, which would have given President-elect Barack Obama a stronger hand moving his agenda.

A Democrat hasn’t won an open seat in the state since 1998.

Martin hoped to capitalise on excitement surrounding Obama, but was unable to get many of the president-elect’s voters back to the polls one month after the general election.

Obama never came to the state to campaign for Martin, although he recorded automated phone calls and a radio ad for the former state lawmaker from Atlanta.

Chambliss revved up the state’s vaunted Republican turnout operation and kept a parade of ex-Republican presidential candidates traipsing through the state to whip up enthusiasm. He brought in Alaska Gov Sarah Palin, the former candidate for vice president. She headlined four rallies for Chambliss across the state on Monday that drew thousands of party faithful.

Minnesota — where a recount is under way — now remains the only unresolved Senate contest in the country. But the stakes there are significantly lower now that Georgia has put a 60-seat Democratic supermajority out of reach.

With 99 per cent of the precincts reporting, Chambliss captured 57 per cent of votes to Martin’s 43 percent. It was a rare bright spot for Republicans in a year where they lost the White House, along with several House and Senate seats.

Martin called Chambliss to concede before 10pm, then emerged to tell supporters as his voice cracked: “For me and my family and campaign team and all of you this is a sad moment.”

Chambliss portrayed himself as a firewall against Democrats in Washington getting a blank cheque. “You have delivered a message that a balance in government in Washington is necessary and that’s not only what the people of Georgia want, it’s what the people of America want,” he told 500 cheering supporters at a victory rally in Cobb County.

Martin, 63, made the economy the centrepiece of his bid, casting himself as a champion for the neglected middle class.

With most precincts reporting, turnout stood at about 35 per cent. That’s higher than the 20 per cent predicted by a spokesman for Secretary of State Karen Handel, but it’s far less than the 65 per cent who voted in last month’s general election.—AP