By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff

Georgia’s Senate runoff candidates put celebrities and political heavyweights on the campaign trail Monday in a last push effort to get out the vote for a race which both are reminding voters has national implications.

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin , the governor of Alaska, campaigned Monday for Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss , who faces a tough challenge from Democratic former state Rep. Jim Martin. Palin cast Chambliss as someone who will be a key to the rebuilding of the Republican party, which lost Congressional seats as well as control of the White House this year.

“Sen. McCain came back here because he understands that losing an election does not mean we have to lose our way. He is ready to carry on the good fight in Washington, but he needs Saxby to help him do it,” Palin said during a rally in Augusta Monday morning.

CQ Politics looks at the events that led to today's Georgia Senate runoff.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, this year’s GOP presidential nominee, campaigned for Chambliss last month as did former presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, and Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City.

Martin was scheduled Monday evening to hold a rally in Atlanta with hip hop star Ludacris. Democratic former President Bill Clinton and former presidential candidate Al Gore also campaigned for Martin in recent weeks.

Palin remains popular in the conservative state of Georgia where voters favored the John McCain -Palin presidential ticket with 52 percent of the vote on Nov. 4.

As is typical for runoffs, turnout is expected to be the race’s deciding factor. Martin benefited highly from having Barack Obama at the top of the ticket on Election Day and received strong support from the state’s black voters, according to exit polls. Obama did not accept invitations to campaign for Martin but he has given former staff and other organizational support to the Martin campaign.

A Public Policy Polling survey released Monday indicated Martin will need strong support from the African-American community as well as improved support from white voters to win Tuesday’s race. The survey of likely voters, conducted Nov. 29-30, found Chambliss with a 7 percentage point lead, 53 to 46 percent. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 2.7 percent.

A Research 2000 survey conducted Nov. 23 to Nov. 25 for the liberal Web site Daily Kos showed Chambliss with a 6-point lead.

National strategists had pegged Chambliss as a solid favorite to win a second term. But that all changed this fall when Chambliss concedes voters began to take out their frustration with the national economy on Chambliss, who voted for the financial “bailout” program.

Polls taken just before the Nov. 4 election showed Chambliss barely edging out Martin, who was not the party’s original top choice for the seat. Martin was not well-known statewide when he entered the contest and he faced a difficult primary race and primary runoff against DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones that created some divisions within the party and sapped energy and funding from the Martin campaign.

Chambliss was forced into a runoff with Martin after he failed to capture a majority of the vote on Election Day. He received 49.8 percent, Martin received 46.8 percent and Libertarian Allen Buckley received the remaining 3.4 percent.