Chambliss strategist says senator 'not paying any attention' to primary talk

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) appears to be the senator most likely to face a competitive 2014 primary — but his chief political strategist says he's "not paying any attention" to such talk.

"He's not paying any attention to a primary race two years down the road right now," Tom Perdue, Chambliss's longtime campaign manager, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He wasn't doing that the five or six days that everybody was talking about it, and he's still not, and that's the way it should be."

Perdue said the controversy Chambliss triggered when he suggested he was open to breaking with conservative activist Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge had been a "real net positive" for him, and dismissed talk that Chambliss could face a top-tier challenger as "rumors."

Republicans who haven't ruled out a bid against Chambliss include Georgia Reps. Tom Price and Paul Broun as well as former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.

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