Bush plans another Georgia visit as Senate race heats up

ATLANTA - President Bush will make another campaign trip to Georgia this weekend as the Republican Party makes a final push to unseat Democratic Senator Max Cleland. <br> <br> Bush is scheduled to speak at rallies Saturday in Atlanta and Savannah to raise support for Georgia Republicans, particularly Senate candidate Saxby Chambliss. <br> <br> It will be Bush&#39;s eighth trip to Georgia as president. His most recent visit was October 17 at an Atlanta fund-raiser for Chambliss and gubernatorial candidate Sonny Perdue. <br> <br> So why does the president have Georgia on his mind as Election Day approaches? Political pundits say the Peach State is crucial to the Republican effort to retake control of the Senate. <br> <br> The Senate is now split 49-49, with one independent and a seat left vacant by the death of Senator Paul Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnasotta. <br> <br> Recent polls have shown Cleland leading the race, but Chambliss has been gaining ground. <br> <br> With one week before November 5, Cleland still has the edge, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. But Sabato says the GOP won&#39;t surrender because the margin is closing rapidly and Georgia has a history of tight elections.