Close to a decade ago, as Barack Obama was cresting toward his first presidential victory, Jim Martin pleaded desperately for his help. Martin was a progressive Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, and for most of the race he had been an underdog, outspent five to one. Then, a month before the vote, things began to change. Wall Street was crashing, the global economy teetered on the brink of catastrophe, Bush’s bank bailout was wildly unpopular. Martin, who had denounced the bailout as a Wall Street giveaway, started to close in on his Republican opponent. Respected pundits began…