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Even though Election Day is over for most Americans, the outcomes of two Senate races hang in the balance and could finally be resolved this week. Democrats Al Franken in Minnesota and Jim Martin in Georgia are fighting uphill battles against their Republican counterparts to deliver a Senate “supermajority” for their party. Currently the Democratic Party holds 58 seats in the Senate. Two more seats would deliver a filibuster-proof majority. In Georgia, the runoff election between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin happens today. Chambliss initially won his seat on the Senate in 2002 in a Lee Atwater-style race against war veteran Max Cleland. That race sparked questions about Diebold voting machines being used to flip vote counts in Chambliss’ favor. Now the GOP’s new superstar, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been stumping hard for Chambliss prior to today’s runoff against Martin. In Minnesota, the former Saturday Night Live star and Air America radio host Al Franken says he is trailing his rival Norm Coleman by only 73 votes. Last week, the Minnesota canvassing board unanimously rejected Franken’s request to examine rejected absentee ballots. The vote recount that could determine the race is expected to finish this week but most analysts predict that no matter what the outcome, it is the result of legal challenges from either side that will ultimately determine who gets to represent Minnesota.

GUEST: Paul Hogarth, managing editor of BeyondChron.org.

Read Hogarth’s article about the Senate races here: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=6336