DownWithTyranny!: Another Blue Dog Made The Natural Transition To The GOP-- Will Gene Taylor Beat Steven Palazzo In Tomorrow's Republican Primary?

Sunday morning we asked what it's like to be a Blue Dog in America today. And the picture that emerged was far from pretty. When looking at the natural progression from Blue Dog-- the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- to plain old Republican, we focused on the freak from Kansas who led the anti-gay and anti-Choice forces of hatred and bigotry in her badly afflicted state, Janice Pauls, finally finding her natural home in the GOP. But tomorrow-- primary day in Mississippi-- another failed Blue Dog, defeated congressman Gene Taylor is looking for a comeback… as-- what else?-- a Republican.

He's ignoring FEC rules that require him to report the source of the quarter million dollars he's spending on the race. Is he getting covert support from the Blue Dog caucus in the GOP primary. No one will know before tomorrow, that's for sure. The biggest newspaper in the southeast Mississippi district, MS-04-- PVI is R+21 and Obama won 31% of the vote in 2008 and 2012-- endorsed Taylor. It's a crowded primary and the Tea Party has a couple of crackpots in the race even more extreme that Steven Palazzo or Taylor (which ain't easy). Although the open primary allows Democrats to vote in the GOP contest, Taylor is unlikely to beat Palazzo and even forcing a June 24th run-off is a stretch.

When asked to explain his transformation from a Blue Dog to a Republican, Taylor has no trouble at all. It's perfectly natural and may Mississippi Republicans are former Blue Dogs themselves. “I’ll make it very simple. When I first went to Congress, almost all of the southern Democrats were pro-life, almost all of them were for 2nd Amendment rights, almost all of them believed in a strong national defense, and almost all of them believed in a balanced budget. Over the years that changed."

It's been a quiet race compared to the bitter primary between Establishment Republican Thad Cochran and far right extremist, neo-fascist Chris McDaniel for Senate. (There's also a defeated Blue Dog in that race, Travis Childers, who's hoping McDaniel wins and that he get slip into office as a result of the GOP civil war, something like Indiana Blue Dog Joe Donnelly did when a neo-fascist took out Dick Lugar in the Republican primary.)

Taylor, who served 11 terms as a "Blue Dog" Democrat starting in 1989, switched parties to take on Rep. Steven Palazzo in the Republican primary.

But Palazzo, who topped Taylor in 2010, is in the catbird's seat now, according to Stephen L. Rozman, professor of political science at Tougaloo College in Jackson.

"It's difficult because Palazzo is entrenched," Rozman said. "Palazzo is still going to recall Taylor's past, looking at him as opportunistic, trying to get in as a Republican. It's an uphill battle."

In addition to 44-year-old Palazzo of Biloxi and 60-year-old Taylor of Bay St. Louis, three other GOP candidates seek the seat-- 48-year-old Tom Carter of Carriere, 24-year-old Tavish Kelly of Picayune and 73-year-old Ron Vincent of Hattiesburg.

…"So, what does Taylor do? As a Democrat, he lost the last time, and momentum is going against a Democrat winning. So, he's doing what he has to do. He's doing it in the primary."

..."People aren't being fooled," Palazzo told the Associated Press. "You can't be a lifelong Democrat and wake up the day of the qualifying deadline and say, 'I'm a Republican.'"

Taylor, though, says people thank him for running.

"I think people have realized they want a congressman that's accessible to them, that they can talk to face-to-face," Taylor told the AP.

When Palazzo unseated Taylor, his margin of victory came from support in three inland counties, Pearl River, Lamar and Jones. Taylor says he's focusing more attention away from the coast this time around.

Taylor has hammered Palazzo repeatedly for his 2012 vote to approve the Biggert-Waters flood insurance law, under which the Federal Emergency Management Agency proposed expensive rate increases.

"He voted to raise peoples' flood insurance rates by unlimited amounts," Taylor told the AP.

Palazzo said "no one" foresaw how FEMA would administer the proposed changes. "Congress' intent was for them to do an affordability study," he said.

Palazzo voted in March with most other members to defang that law, which he says is his top achievement.

Taylor also says Palazzo isn't doing enough to protect the district's military bases and criticized him for balking at supporting money to pay flood insurance claims following 2012's Superstorm Sandy.

Taylor says the Sandy vote will hurt Palazzo's ability to seek hurricane aid for the Mississippi coast in the future. Palazzo disputes that, though, saying even as one of the House's more conservative members, "I can still get things done."