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By Monica Langley

ATLANTA-- Sam Nunn, one of the last Georgia Democrats to serve a full term in the Senate, had just finished watching his granddaughter win a soccer game when he turned his attention to a more pressing family contest: his daughter Michelle's run for U.S. senator.

"Keep reminding voters that President Obama's term is up in two years, but you'll be an independent and long-term investment," he counseled his daughter, who is running as a Democrat for an open Senate seat now held by the Republicans.

National Democrats have just decided to pour $1 million into this race in Georgia, a sign of how important a victory here would be to their effort to beat the odds and hold on to control of the Senate. Yet success here actually could come down to Ms. Nunn's ability to distance herself from her party and the increasingly unpopular man who leads it.

Days after the fatherly advice, the 47-year-old first-time candidate squared off against her Republican opponent David Perdue in a debate.

"We have two more years of President Obama, and then we will have another president," she said, "and we need someone who is going to work with and respect whoever is the president to actually get things done on behalf of the American people."

As Ms. Nunn strives to break Republicans' stranglehold on statewide races in the South in recent years, her party affiliation is missing in action. Her campaign website doesn't divulge that she is running as a Democrat, and bumper stickers, buttons and most materials don't list her party. During two recent campaign swings, she didn't mention her party affiliation and used the word "Democrat" only once. She is positioning herself as a bipartisan whose experience running a service organization associated with a Republican president shows she knows how to bridge divides.

Her opponent Mr. Perdue, the 64-year-old former chief executive of Adidas AG's Reebok unit and of Dollar General Corp., doesn't want voters to forget Ms. Nunn's affiliation with the Democratic Party and Barack Obama. "My race is against this failed administration and the wrong direction President Obama has taken this country," he said in a recent interview.

Polls have shown a tight race, with the most recentone the first to give a narrow lead to Ms. Nunn. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee decision to pump $1 million into advertising for the Nunn campaign came as it pulled the plug on further spending in Kentucky, where the Democrat trails in the polls. If neither candidate in Georgia wins an outright majority--a Libertarian candidate also is on the ballot--they would face a Jan. 6 runoff.

To gain control of the Senate, Republicans need to take a net of six seats from Democrats. The party is optimistic it can win six seats now controlled by Democrats, and most analysts think its chances of doing that are better than even. But it can ill afford to give back a seat such as Georgia's, currently held by retiring Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. The South has been particularly congenial to the GOP.

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Southern Democrat Michelle Nunn Tries to Buck GOP Tide