(WSB Radio/AP) -- Democrats and Republicans are hoping their voting bases will be motivated to head to the polls today for a U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia.

The Republicans brought in Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to drum up support for Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Palin told a crowd of 2,500 in the central Georgia town of Perry that they can help Republicans rebuild.

Democrat Jim Martin held rallies around the state and capped off the day in Atlanta with the help of hip-hop stars T.I., Young Jeezy and Ludacris.

In the general election, Chambliss fell short of crossing the 50 percent threshold in a three-way race against Martin and a Libertarian candidate.

All signs from early voting for the runoff pointed toward Chambliss holding the seat.

The contest has attracted almost 500,000 early voters and some 36 percent are white males, typically a solid Republican constituency in the state. In the weeks leading up to the general election, white males cast about 27 percent of the more than 2 million early votes.

Less than 23 percent of the early voters for the runoff are black a drop from the surge of black voters in the run-up to the general election. Black voters made up more than 34 percent of the 2 million early voters before the Nov. 4 contest when President-elect Barack Obama was on the ballot.

Poll are open until 7 p.m.