The hope of 60 seats in the Senate is now dead:

Relieved Republicans celebrated a resounding win in Georgia’s hard-fought U.S. Senate runoff, a victory that denied Democrats a filibuster-proof majority and cemented the state’s reputation as a GOP bastion.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss trounced Democrat Jim Martin 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.

I wasn’t entirely sold on 60 seats meaning we had a filibuster proof majority. It’s hard to get 100% of the caucus to vote with the party all the time. Of course that can also apply to the Republicans now. If the Democrats put forth good legislation and get a couple of the more moderate Republicans on board, then filibusters can be broken.

Of course this also leads the Republicans to the cusp of the abyss. Mitch McConnell is a filibustering fool. In the elections this year, we saw the controlling party of the worst approved Congress make major gains in seats. The voters understand that the current Congress performed so poorly because of the obstructing Republicans. If they continue down this path then 60 seats should really be a viable option in 2010. I believe some of the more sensible Republicans in Senate will also see this and that will force them to break with their caucus on some filibusters.