The MS-01 runoff was today.
Mississippi’s first congressional district voted 63-37 for Bush in 2004. There are 110 Republican House seats more competitive than MS-01.
Today, despite a desperate ~$2m in spending from the NRCC and Freedom’s Watch (a big neocon 527), a Democrat won the district, 54-46.
Once again the GOP tried to hang Jeremiah Wright around the neck of a Democrat. Once again, common sense would have indicated that nobody gives a sh*t about Jeremiah Wright. Once again, common sense made a fool out of the conventional wisdom.
There are 150 Republican House seats in play in the fall of 2008. About GOP 10 Senate seats are in jeopardy too.
Republicans can psych themselves up with dreams of Obama’s unelectability all they want. The powerbrokers know better. The empirical results don’t lie.
Embarrasing loss – no way to spin it. I say that as a devoted Republican.
Didn’t the Democrat run as a “conservative” – pro gun, anti tax, etc. Are they stealing our brand?
Everyone steals the other side’s most salient issues in hostile districts. That’s a fixed element of the political landscape.
What matters is that the Democrats got another vote for House Majority Leader in the heart of the solid south.