The implications of a vote in Mississippi

Wed, May 14, 2008 - 11:27 AM

With a Democratic win in Mississippi’s special election in the First Congressional District, the conventional wisdom appears to be that the Republicans might be facing some trouble come November.

The District has been a long-time Republican stronghold, but Democrat Travis Childers beat out Republican Greg Davis by 54 percent to 46 percent. Davis and Childers will face each other in the general election in the fall.

The seat was vacated by Roger Wicker, a Republican who was appointed to Trent Lott’s post in the Senate.

Davis had brought in Dick Cheney to campaign to keep the seat in Republican hands and attempted to cast Childers as a liberal connected to Barack Obama.

What the implications are for the fall’s elections remain to be seen. But it is the third seat in recent special elections to change hands from Republican to Democrat.

And, as one would imagine, Democrats crowed about their victory:

From Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the chairman of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

“After three consecutive Special Election defeats in districts President Bush twice won easily, it is abundantly clear the American people have turned their back and shut the door on the special interest driven agenda of the Republican Party. There is no district that is safe for Republican candidates because President Bush's failed policies have hurt every community in America.”

But if you expected the Republicans to fire back, you would be wrong.

House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, is sounding the alarm bell to his fellow Republicans:

“The results in MS-01 should serve as a wake-up call to Republican candidates nationwide. As I’ve said before, this is a change election, and if we want Americans to vote for us we have to convince them that we can fix Washington.”

-- Amy Dominello