FORSYTH, Ga. — As Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin sought to link his incumbent opponent to the financial crisis, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., touted his leadership on energy issues and military affairs while vowing that the U.S. economy would recover in robust fashion.

Both candidates spent Wednesday campaigning in Middle and South Georgia.

“It’s a tough time all across America, but we’ve weathered tough times before,” said Sen. Chambliss, who supported the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package, during a campaign stop in small-town Forsyth, Ga., near Macon. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I do know this: America is a very resilient country.”

But Mr. Martin, a former longtime state representative and head of the Georgia Department of Human Services, said the current credit meltdown is the result of eight years of President Bush’s economic mismanagement, supported by Sen. Chambliss.

“The last eight years have proven that the philosophy of the Republican Party and how they managed this economy has been wrong,” Mr. Martin said in rural Danville, Ga. “Eight years of believing in an economy based from the top down. (It) doesn’t work. We’ve got a terrible economic crisis in this country, but we’re going to fix it.”

With five days to go before the Nov. 4 election, Sen. Chambliss and Mr. Martin are locked in a tight race, with many polls showing the upstart Democrat either tied or slightly behind, a dramatic shift from a month ago when polls showed Sen. Chambliss about 20 points ahead.

At his campaign stops Wednesday, Mr. Martin hammered on the economic issue, saying the country is ready for a change in leadership.

“There’s something sacred about Main Street. It’s about community, it’s about the things that bring us together, and that’s not what’s being represented in Washington,” Mr. Martin said in Dublin, Ga. “There’s nobody up there that’s watching out for Main Street. They’re watching out for Wall Street, and that’s wrong.”

During a brief coffee break in Jeffersonville, the geographic center of Georgia, United Steel Workers International organizer Cecil Walters urged Mr. Martin to support policies that would keep jobs from being outsourced.

“We need to stop these tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas,” said Mr. Walters, who works at a paper mill. “It’s awful.”

“Well, we need someone to stand up for working people and the middle class,” Mr. Martin said. “Our people can compete with any country in the world if we have fair trade policies.”

“Amen,” Mr. Walters responded.

Sen. Chambliss, in his stump speeches, stressed the need to allow more domestic oil production.

“We can’t continue to send hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to people that don’t like us to purchase oil,” said Sen. Chambliss in Gray, Ga., about 15 miles north of Macon. “It’s time we started drilling more in America.”

He also said he strongly would oppose any efforts by Democrats to reduce the country’s defense budget.

“I’m here to tell you as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the only way that will happen is over my dead body,” he said to applause.

Forsyth resident Nancy Harvey, 56, a plumbing contractor and farm owner, said she is supporting Sen. Chambliss because she disagrees with Democratic philosophies on bigger government.

“We need more Republicans, and I’d actually like to see him become more conservative in his next term,” she said. “I’m a small business owner and I own a farm, so I’m concerned about my hard-earned dollars and my children and grandchildren’s future.”