Fall Preview: Yet ANOTHER GOP Stronghold Falls Into Democratic Control

[jpeyton]

Text

JACKSON, MISS. ? Mississippi Democrat Travis W. Childers won a special election to Congress on Tuesday, helping his party to a third victory this year for seats that had long been in Republican hands.

The victory puts Childers into the House seat vacated by Roger Wicker, a Republican appointed to the U.S. Senate when Trent Lott resigned. The win also gives the Democrats a 236-199 majority in the House -- if only for a few months, until November's general elections.

With 99% of the precincts reporting, Childers had 54% to Republican Greg Davis' 46%.

Earlier this year, Democrats captured the Illinois district long represented by former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who resigned. And earlier this month, Democrats claimed a Louisiana seat that Republican Rep. Richard H. Baker had relinquished.

In Mississippi, the Republican Party sought to link Childers to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The party had tried a similar strategy against the Democrat in Louisiana.

At a rally Monday for Davis in Southaven, Miss., Vice President Dick Cheney also tried to nationalize the race.

"These are decisive times for America," Cheney said. "And whether the issue is the economy, or energy, or national security, the right answers are coming from Republicans -- not from Nancy Pelosi, or [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, or the rest of the Democratic leadership in Washington."

Both parties invested more money in this race than in any other special election this year. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $1.8 million, and the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $1.3 million.

The Mississippi seat had been in GOP hands since 1994.

Very interesting to note that GOP efforts to link candidates to Obama have backfired two times in a row. Will Obama's name at the top of the fall ticket lead to more sweeping victories in Congressional races for the Democrats? I think so.

 

[Queasy]

It's not Bush. It's the Republicans in Congress themselves since the end of the Gingrich led Congress. Instead of continuing to push for smaller government, less spending, etc they've progressively become big government big spenders. The GOP leadership STILL has not learned this lesson and the Republicans are in disarray because of it.

All the big Dem wins like this one have been won by "Blue Dog" (ie conservative) Democrat candidates since 2006. I think that likely had a lot more to do with it than Obama.

 

[senseamp]

Originally posted by: Queasy
It's not Bush. It's the Republicans in Congress themselves since the end of the Gingrich led Congress. Instead of continuing to push for smaller government, less spending, etc they've progressively become big government big spenders. The GOP leadership STILL has not learned this lesson and the Republicans are in disarray because of it.

All the big Dem wins like this one have been won by "Blue Dog" (ie conservative) Democrat candidates since 2006. I think that likely had a lot more to do with it than Obama.

GOP was only acting fiscally conservative under Clinton because there was a Democrat in the White House, so it wasn't in their political interest to rubber stamp him. Once Bush came in, they threw that to the wind. This is a great victory for the Democrats, IMO, and hopefully a sign of things to come in November, but at the same time a caution that too unchecked power in the hands of one party can corrupt and damage its brand for a long time.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: senseamp

Originally posted by: Queasy
It's not Bush. It's the Republicans in Congress themselves since the end of the Gingrich led Congress. Instead of continuing to push for smaller government, less spending, etc they've progressively become big government big spenders. The GOP leadership STILL has not learned this lesson and the Republicans are in disarray because of it.

All the big Dem wins like this one have been won by "Blue Dog" (ie conservative) Democrat candidates since 2006. I think that likely had a lot more to do with it than Obama.

GOP was only acting fiscally conservative under Clinton because there was a Democrat in the White House, so it wasn't in their political interest to rubber stamp him. Once Bush came in, they threw that to the wind. This is a great victory for the Democrats, IMO, and hopefully a sign of things to come in November, but at the same time a caution that too unchecked power in the hands of one party can corrupt and damage its brand for a long time.

If that's the case, you'd think that the Republican leadership would have reversed course after they lost both houses in the 2006 elections. Instead, they continued with their big government, big spending ways.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: Queasy
It's not Bush. It's the Republicans in Congress themselves since the end of the Gingrich led Congress. Instead of continuing to push for smaller government, less spending, etc they've progressively become big government big spenders. The GOP leadership STILL has not learned this lesson and the Republicans are in disarray because of it.

All the big Dem wins like this one have been won by "Blue Dog" (ie conservative) Democrat candidates since 2006. I think that likely had a lot more to do with it than Obama.

I agree much of the problem does lie with Congressional repubs, but Bush is the de facto leader of the Republican party. His failure to lead a true conservative agenda like Reagan did so succesfully and Gingrich as well is the root cause of todays republican butt kicking by the dems.

And with McCain, I only see more of the same which is why I am voting dem for the first time in my life this November. McCain will finish off the republican party if elected. By losing in a landslide, perhaps the GOP will come back to its roots.

 

[Arkaign]

LOL! Reading the thread title, I misread it :

FAIL PREVIEW: Yet ANOTHER GOP (etc). I guess I just see GOP in the title and FALL turned into FAIL in my head.

 

[Vic]

Somebody tell McCain to vote for Obama and make it unanimous.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: dphantom

I agree much of the problem does lie with Congressional repubs, but Bush is the de facto leader of the Republican party. His failure to lead a true conservative agenda like Reagan did so succesfully and Gingrich as well is the root cause of todays republican butt kicking by the dems.

And with McCain, I only see more of the same which is why I am voting dem for the first time in my life this November. McCain will finish off the republican party if elected. By losing in a landslide, perhaps the GOP will come back to its roots.

You do realize that Reagan and GWB are almost interchangeable? That neither ran a conservative agenda even though they preached it every chance they got.