WILL TOM COLE RESIGN AS HEAD OF THE NRCC?

Will they run the same failed strategy in Mississippi? Probably

The big news this morning isn't that the Republican Party is demonstrably crumbling, as proven by the actual loss of an actual congressional seat in an actual hard-core GOP bastion (PVI- R +7). Don Cazayoux, running on all Democratic economic issues andagainst the occupation of Iraq, beat a Bush rubber stamp wannabe, Woody-KKKpecker. But instead the media is all abuzz about the tea leaves to be read in Guam, the relevance of Eight Belles vs Big Brown, and, of course, Rev. Wright, Rev. Wright, Rev. Wright, Rev. Wright, Rev. Wright; I almost wish Nancy Grace could find some kidnap victim again. Finally, though, this morning the NY Times took note of the mind-blowing loss for the GOP last night in Louisiana.

A Democrat took an open Congressional seat long held by Republicans in the conservative district around Baton Rouge in a special election Saturday, giving the party an early boost in its quest for an increased majority in the House of Representatives.

Don Cazayoux, a state representative, defeated Woody Jenkins, a small-newspaper publisher and former legislator long associated with religious-right causes in Louisiana, by 49 percent to 46 percent, in a tight race for a seat left open by the retirement of Richard Baker, a Republican.

Mr. Cazayoux portrayed himself as little different from Mr. Jenkins on social issues, overcoming the Republicans’ depiction of him as a “liberal” in lock step with figures like the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Barack Obama, who shared billing with him in a barrage of Republican attack advertisements.

The two parties saw the Louisiana race as an important test for the fall, given how safe the district has been for Republicans for more than three decades. Democrats viewed a potential victory as a measure of Republican vulnerability; Republicans saw it as an indication of how difficult it might be to defend more than two dozen open seats in play in November.

Actually, Cazayoux's campaign was all about the differences-- on Iraq and on economic issues, the two categories voters most care about. Yes, he's an anti-choice Catholic and, like many or even most western and southern Democrats he's "pro-gun." Big whoop; the GOP and a thinly veiled front group spent several million dollars trying to tie Cazayoux to Nancy Pelosi and... believe it or not, Reverend Wright!

Yet when voters went to the polls yesterday, Reverend Wright wasn't on their minds; the Bush Economic Miracle was. As were Iraq, the Republican Culture of Corruption and the revulsion Americans everywhere feel for Bush and the rubber stamps who have enabled him. The NRCC issued a desperate attempt to spin this catastrophic loss into a... well, into a justification for their pitifully failed strategy.

Let's go over the GOP press release, since this is the thinking that we can expect to hear for the next 6 months as the McCain campaign continues to sputter and then, inevitably dies a miserable death, dragging the whole party down with it. Paragraph one:

There is something to be learned from tonight’s results. When Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi were introduced into this campaign, Don Cazayoux was leading by a large margin in the polls. Since then, Republicans saturated the Baton Rouge airwaves in an effort to nationalize this contest and make the election about the real life consequences of a Barack Obama presidency and a continued Pelosi-run Democratic Congress. In that time, Republicans made substantial ground.

Three weeks ago there was an open primary and Democrat Don Cazayoux took 49% while Woody-KKKpecker got 46% of the vote in one of the most Republican strongholds in America. Yesterday, after the GOP spent whatever they could scrape together to poison the airwaves in an attempt to link Cazayoux with Rev. Wright-- something of absolutely zero interest to anyone who isn't a die-hard Rush Limbaugh/Hannity/Coulter fanatic-- and when the votes were counted, Cazayoux had 49% and Woody-KKKpecker had 46%. So what, again, was there to be learned? Paragraph two:

This election speaks to the potential toxicity of an Obama candidacy and the possible drag he could have down-ballot this fall. We have already seen this impact another congressional race as a Democratic candidate for Congress in Mississippi is denying that he was ever endorsed by Barack Obama. In fact, he has referenced any mention of it by Republicans as an “attack.” And, across the country, Democrats in swing districts still refuse to publicly endorse the candidacy of Barack Obama.

Some Democrats favor Obama and some Democrats favor Clinton. They're in the middle of a hard-fought primary. The Republicans, their front groups and their corporate media allies have thrown all they could into the ridiculous meme that Rev. Wright= Obama= Candidate X. No traction whatsoever. The Democratic leaning precincts in East Baton Rouge were energized and turned out massively for Cazayoux yesterday not despite Obama but because of Obama (and Clinton) and because they don't want to see another 4 years of the Bush Regime in the form of a John W. McCain presidency with another rubber stamp Republican Congress. And most of all, they turned out because they agree with the Democrats-- Obama, Clinton, Cazayoux-- on the key issues and disagree with Bush, McCain and Woody-KKKpecker on those same issues... and won't buy into "let's change the subject and remember how racist we are." Take a look at Cazayoux's TV ad. And now watch the GOP ad that lost their man the election. Paragraph three:

By nature, special elections tend to be competitive and their results are not always a harbinger for the November elections, but what we do know is that a Democrat was clearly favored to easily win this election before Republicans invoked the names of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. This should come as a warning shot to Democrats. The elitist behavior of the Democratic frontrunner and the liberal and extremist positions that he and his fellow Democrats in Congress have staked their claim to, do not appear to be as salient as they once hoped.

Apparently the people who came up with the NRCC's failed strategy are desperately trying to keep their cushy jobs. "A Democrat was clearly favored to easily win this election?" I don't think so. It was 49-46% going into it and 49-46% coming out of it, despite all the millions of Republican dollars and despite all the lies and smears-- and in a district where the Democrats didn't even run a candidate in 2002, ran one who got 19% of the vote in 2004, and didn't bother running one in 2006! They talk about "the elitist behavior" of Obama, a middle class man of mixed ancestry who worked his way through college and, based on his intelligence and talent, has risen to the top in his field. He is elitist? And this from the party controlled by multimillionaires in exclusive, isolated, all-white countryclubs-- whose presidential candidate owns 8 homes and married an heiress with her own jet? That's not elitist? No one is buying their crap anymore-- except for people who are too feeble to be able to reach for the channel changer and get O'Reilly off the screen.