Republicans regained a spring in their step on Wednesday after Tuesday night’s election victory in Georgia, which denied the Democrats their much desired shot at a 60-seat “super-majority” in the US Senate.

The comfortable re-election of Saxby Chambliss, the Georgian senator, who had been forced into a run-off having failed to gain more than 50 per cent of the vote on November 4, means the Democrats will have 58 out of the 100 Senate seats – or possibly 59 if they win the close Minnesota recount.