佐治亚州盖恩斯维尔。副总统迈克·彭斯周五，我与佐治亚州的两名共和党参议员一起竞选，试图在1月5日的决胜选举中阻止他们的民主党挑战者，这将决定当选总统乔·拜登政府开始时谁控制参议院。

此行凸显了共和党人和彭斯的一个关键时刻，他正试图平衡自己的政治未来和对一位尚未承认失败的总统的忠诚。

彭斯与参议员大卫·濮培德和凯利·雷夫勒一起出现在亚特兰大郊区。同一天，佐治亚州共和党国务卿证实拜登是自1992年以来第一位获得该州提名的民主党总统候选人。

尽管彭斯和唐纳德·特朗普总统一样，尚未向拜登让步，但副总统星期五坚持使用更谨慎的语言，而不是总统一再毫无根据地声称普遍存在选民欺诈。

彭斯在亚特兰大北部城镇坎顿和盖恩斯维尔发表了一篇事先准备好的演讲，他说:“随着我们的竞选活动在佐治亚州和全国各地的法院继续进行，我会向你保证。”。“我们将继续战斗，直到每一张合法选票都被计算在内。我们将继续战斗，直到所有非法投票都被否决。”

随着越来越多的州认证选举结果，甚至特朗普任命的联邦法官也拒绝总统关于选举舞弊的似是而非的说法，这一立场变得越来越令人担忧。彭斯本人几乎肯定是未来的总统候选人，他还不能与特朗普保持距离，但也必须小心不要与破坏对美国选举信心的不可信的人为伍。

当彭斯在佐治亚州乘坐公共汽车旅行时，威斯康辛州出现了部分重新计票。同样在周五，总统召集密歇根州的共和党立法领导人参加了白宫会议，这一非同寻常的举动引发了人们的疑问，即总统是否在向共和党州官员施压，要求他们选择选举团的选民名单，这些选民可能会在投票箱上颠覆选民的意愿。

彭斯周五的重点是通过帮助濮培德和雷夫勒分别击败民主党人乔恩·奥索夫和拉斐尔·沃诺克来确保共和党在参议院的多数席位。在新国会赢得50个参议院席位后，共和党需要再多一个席位来控制局面。民主党在佐治亚州的决胜选举将产生一个50比50的参议院，让副总统当选人卡玛拉·哈里斯(Kamala Harris)获得打破僵局的投票，使众议院向民主党倾斜。

具有讽刺意味的是，共和党在决选中的主要论点是警告不要让民主党完全控制局面，这一立场默认拜登将于1月20日宣誓就任总统。彭斯周五表示，“共和党在参议院的多数席位可能是我们所做一切的最后一道防线。”

在彭斯之前，濮培德明确承认拜登的胜利，他警告说，如果佐治亚州不选举他和雷夫勒，民主党将“拥有白宫、参议院和众议院”。他们想干什么就干什么。”

濮培德在大选中领先奥索夫，但差一点就错过了佐治亚州法律要求赢得全州选举的多数席位。沃诺克和雷夫勒在前参议员约翰尼·伊萨克森任期的最后两年里，在一次各党派的特别选举中名列前茅。去年伊萨克逊宣布退休后，共和党州长布莱恩·肯普任命雷夫勒担任此职。

彭斯是继佛罗里达州参议员之后，来到佐治亚州的一系列潜在未来共和党总统候选人中的最新一个。马尔科·卢比奥里克·斯科特和阿肯色州参议员汤姆·科顿。像那些参议员一样，彭斯没有对自己的未来点头，但他一再炫耀他的2024年潜在主要竞争对手都没有的东西:与特朗普如此密切的联系。

“我带来了美利坚合众国第45任总统唐纳德·特朗普总统的问候，”彭斯在盖恩斯维尔自豪地说，并向人群保证特朗普“有点嫉妒”他周五不能亲自来格鲁吉亚。

在两次集会上，选民似乎在各个方面都比佐治亚州参议员或副总统更支持特朗普，高呼“再四年”和“停止偷窃”。彭斯向他们保证，他“迫不及待地”要“回到白宫”，并告诉特朗普他们的热情。

“我来这里见彭斯，因为我支持特朗普，”46岁的埃利杰居民约翰·韦弗(John Weaver)说，他参加了坎顿集会。韦弗说，他相信特朗普赢了。

雷夫勒在她的部分演讲中抨击了沃诺克，呼应了最近的电视广告，称他为“激进的激进分子”

“我们站在捍卫大多数人的第一线，但我们也是这个国家反对社会主义的防火墙，”她在广州说。

沃诺克和奥索夫都不是社会主义者，但共和党人认为，这种误导性的、不准确的标签是鼓励保守的格鲁吉亚人投决胜票的最佳方式，也可能是为了赢得倾向共和党的选民的支持，特别是在亚特兰大郊区和远郊，他们支持拜登，因为他们讨厌特朗普。

彭斯周五的远郊之旅凸显了共和党在佐治亚州的数学:两者都在共和党占主导地位的县，发展迅速。

亚特兰大靠近市区的郊区已经转向民主党人，他们也搬到了远郊。为了赢得这些决胜选举，共和党人必须最大限度地发挥他们在远郊地区的剩余优势，就像民主党人必须争取亚特兰大和更近郊区的每一张选票一样。

Pence pitches Georgia senators as last line of GOP defense

GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- Vice President Mike Pence campaigned with Georgia's two Republican senators Friday, trying to hold off their Democratic challengers in Jan. 5 runoffs that will determine who controls the Senate at the outset of President-elect Joe Biden's administration.

The trip highlights a critical juncture for the Republicans and Pence, who is trying to balance his own political future against his loyalties to a president who has yet to concede defeat.

Pence appeared with Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler on the outskirts of metro Atlanta's sprawling footprint, on the same day Georgia's Republican secretary of state certified that Biden is the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state since 1992.

Although Pence has joined President Donald Trump in not yet conceding to Biden, the vice president held fast Friday to more careful language than the president's repeated and baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.

“As our election contest continues, here in Georgia and in courts across the country, I’ll make you a promise,” Pence said in a prepared speech he delivered in Canton and Gainesville, towns north of Atlanta. “We’re going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. We’re going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out."

That position has grown increasingly fraught as more states certify election returns, and even federal judges appointed by Trump reject the president's specious claims of a fraudulent election. Pence, almost certainly a future presidential candidate himself, cannot yet afford to distance himself from Trump, but also must be careful not to attach himself to mistruths that undermine confidence in U.S. elections.

While Pence was on a bus tour in Georgia, a partial recount loomed in Wisconsin. Also Friday, the president called Michigan's Republican legislative leaders to a White House meeting, an extraordinary move that raises questions over whether the president is pressuring GOP state officials to select slates of electors to the Electoral College who might subvert the voters' will at the ballot box.

Pence focused Friday on securing the Republican Senate majority by helping Perdue and Loeffler defeat Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively. Having won 50 Senate seats in the new Congress, Republicans need one more for control. A Democratic sweep of the Georgia runoffs would yield a 50-50 Senate, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote to tilt the chamber to Democrats.

With some irony, the Republicans’ chief argument in the runoff contest has been to warn against giving Democrats complete control, a position that tacitly acknowledges that Biden will be sworn in as president on Jan. 20. Pence implied as much when he said Friday that a “Republican Senate majority could be the last line of defense for all that we’ve done."

Speaking before Pence, Perdue explicitly acknowledged Biden’s win when he warned that if Georgia doesn’t elect him and Loeffler, Democrats will “have the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They’ll do anything they want.”

Perdue led Ossoff in the general election but narrowly missed the majority that Georgia law requires to win statewide elections. Warnock and Loeffler were the top finishers in an all-party special election to fill the final two years of former Sen. Johnny Isakson's term. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to the post after Isakson announced his retirement last year.

Pence is the latest in a flurry of potential future Republican presidential candidates to come to Georgia, following Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. Like those senators, Pence gave no nod to his own future, but he repeatedly flaunted something none of his would-be 2024 primary rivals have: such a close association with Trump.

“I bring greetings from the 45th president of the United States of America, President Donald Trump,” Pence boasted in Gainesville, assuring the crowd Trump was “a little bit jealous” he couldn’t come to Georgia himself Friday.

Voters at both rallies seemed at various points more amped for Trump than the Georgia senators or the vice president, chanting "Four more years” and “Stop the steal.” Pence assured them he “couldn’t wait” to “get back to the White House” and tell Trump about their enthusiasm.

“I’m here to see Pence because I support Trump,” said John Weaver, a 46-year-old Ellijay resident who came to the Canton rally. Weaver said he believes Trump won.

Loeffler devoted part of her speeches to attacking Warnock, echoing recent television advertising by calling him a “radical’s radical.”

“We are on the front line defending the majority, but we’re also the firewall against socialism in this country,” she said in Canton.

Neither Warnock nor Ossoff are socialists, but Republicans believe the misleading, inaccurate labeling is the best way to encourage conservative Georgians to cast runoff ballots and perhaps to coax support from GOP-leaning voters, especially in the Atlanta suburbs and exurbs, who backed Biden because of their distaste for Trump.

Pence's exurban itinerary Friday underscores Republican math in Georgia: both are in heavily Republicans counties that are growing fast.

Atlanta's closer-in suburbs have flipped to Democrats, who have moved into the exurbs as well. To win these runoffs, Republicans must maximize their remaining advantages in the exurban ring in the same way that Democrats must wring every vote from Atlanta and nearer suburbs.