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Imperial Sugar Co. CEO John Sheptor defended the conduct of Saxby Chambliss on Wednesday, saying the U.S. senator from Georgia has "behaved appropriately with character and integrity at all times."

The comments came after Imperial Sugar executives and workers broke ground on a new packaging warehouse at the Port Wentworth plant, damaged in the Feb. 7 explosions and fire that killed 14 workers and injured scores more.

Savannah -- Sen. Saxby Chambliss is fighting an attorney's subpoena seeking to question him in a lawsuit by victims of the deadly explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery, prompting fresh attacks by Democrats hoping to oust the Republican senator in a heated runoff.

Savannah attorney Mark Tate -- who calls himself a "partisan Democrat" -- has subpoenaed Chambliss to submit to questions Thursday about whether Imperial Sugar executives enlisted him to help the company avoid blame in the Feb. 7 explosion that killed 14 workers and injured dozens more.

A Brunswick crowd pledges to work for the U.S. Senate candidate.

BRUNSWICK - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin exhorted a crowd of about 30 Saturday to work hard to get out the vote in his Dec. 2 runoff election against Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Jim Martin asked voters Saturday to send him to the U.S. Senate to work with President-elect Barack Obama "to move this country forward."

With a little more than two weeks to go before a Dec. 2 runoff against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss, the Democratic candidate made four stops in Chatham County.

Martin addressed about 50 people from the flag- and bunting-bedecked back porch of a big bungalow that serves as party headquarters.

The challenger portrayed Chambliss as an obstacle to changes that Obama advocates.

Saxby Chambliss is resisting an order to give evidence in a lawsuit by families of victims killed or hurt in the Imperial Sugar Co. explosions and fire earlier this year.

News Three was the first to tell you Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss had been subpoenaed by Savannah Attorney Mark Tate in the case against Imperial Sugar.
Tate, who represents families of the deceased, subpoenaed Chambliss because he believes Chambliss has pertinent information for the case. 
In a News Three follow-up, we've gotten word that Chambliss' lawyer is moving to quash the subpoena. 

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin slammed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package Wednesday during a stop in Savannah.

"Nobody was really asking the financial community to give up anything," the former state representative told reporters.

Martin is locked in what surveys say is a close race with freshman Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who voted for the plan.

Democratic candidate Jim Martin is almost even with incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a new poll due out today.

Results of the latest Strategic Vision survey show Chambliss had 47 percent and Martin had 44 percent, with Libertarian Allen Buckley at 4 percent.

The margin of error for the poll was 3 percent.

The survey represents a decline of 15 percentage points for Chambliss relative to Martin since a Strategic Vision survey released Sept. 12.

The sampling of 800 likely voters also tracks with other recent polls that show a tightening race.

Gillespie thinks circumstances are in his favor to beat the incumbent.

ATLANTA - Any defeat of U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, an eight-term Savannah Republican, would be a political stunner. But Bill Gillespie, a military veteran and political novice, says he's ready for the challenge.

Kingston is the rare politician with enough of a sense of humor about himself to make more than one appearance on Comedy Central's political talk-show satire The Colbert Report.

Does Jim Martin have a chance?

The answer seemed easy a month ago.

Most polls showed the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate trailing Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss by double digits. A month before, it was closer to 20 percentage points.

A chance? Hardly a prayer. But that was then.

Two surveys out this week have the former state House member and commissioner of human resources nearly even with Chambliss.