Posted on 04/23/2008 5:06:50 PM PDT by neverdem
In yet another alarming sign for the GOP's prospect's this fall, last night Democrats came within an inch of stealing one of the most Republican districts in the Deep South. In the special election to replace now-Senator Roger Wicker in Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, Democrat Travis Childers fell just 400 votes short of the 50% plus one mark, which would have avoided a run-off and won the seat outright.
Still, Democrats are ecstatic that their candidate won 2,000 more votes overall than the Republican candidate, Southaven Mayor Greg Davis. With 100% of precincts reporting, Childers won 49.4% to Davis' 46.3%. Furthermore, when Childers' vote total is combined with the votes from the other Democrat on the ballot yesterday, Steve Holland, Democratic candidates garnered 50.6%.
That's no small feat in a district that should have been should have been an easy save for the GOP; Wicker won his first election in 1994 with 63% of the vote and only dipped below the two-thirds mark in the 2006 election, when he won 66%. President Bush won the area, based in the northwest quadrant of the state, with 62% in 2004, a twenty-five point margin.
"Mississippi's First Congressional District is ruby red, and the fact that Travis Childers won 2,000 more votes and two-thirds of the district's counties is a major problem for Republicans now and heading into November," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Kyra Jennings told Real Clear Politics.
Republicans blamed Davis' poor showing on a bitter GOP primary. Davis beat his Republican challenger, Glenn McCullough, the former mayor of Tupelo, by just 500 votes out of 32,000 cast, while Childers bested Holland by 14 points. On his website, Holland posted an open letter offering unqualified support for Childers, while McCullough, in a statement, urged Republicans to unite behind GOP candidates...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Egads!
Reps are asleep at the wheel. They deserve what is going to happen to them. Bush malaise syndrome.
Can anyone be a "past" crony of the clintons...unless they die, I mean.
What does this phrase mean? I've not heard it before.
I believe that this year the same thing will happen. The dems will probably easily have over 60 seats in the senate and a veto proof margin in the house.
The GOP just doesn't care and Bush and the previous congress has done more harm to the Republicans than the dems could ever hope to have done.
Why doesn’t the GOP counter this trend by putting forth the most liberal, left of center candidates that they can find, especially for POTUS?
I’m sure that will work....oh, wait.
Hard-fought primaries in special elections almost invariable hurt the candidates who win. There isn’t time to make up. We’ve already lost a couple of seats this time around to that kind of act.
Hopefully, with another 3 weeks before the runoff, people will realise that the winning republican isn’t just walking through to the seat — I’m betting in a 66% district a lot of republicans figured they could stay home to “teach the candidate a lesson”.
The GOP is a party without a leader.
The Democrats didn’t recapture the House after the Civil War until 1874 (and the Senate not until 1879). The highest number of Democrats in Congress wasn’t until after the 1936 elections when the GOP plunged to holding only 89 out of 435 seats in the House and 17 out of 96 in the Senate. That was when FDR attempted a hijacking of the Supreme Court which had a GOP-majority bench, the only thing to keep FDR from absolute dictatorial control. After that, the GOP regained enough numbers in 1938 to put the kibosh on that.
It refers to an anatomical circular formation of the mouth due to excessive sucking and blowing of a male anatomical body part. Democrats readily embrace and support homosexuality and wish to push the activity upon those that find it repugnant and against their principles. Since one of the pillars of the Democrat platform is the acceptance of homosexuality, those that support the DNC are round mouth Democrats.
Maybe not, see this post from this morning regarding liberal political activists targeting the locals—
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2005716/posts
But they have direction, constantly moving to the LEFT.
Gill sounds like a small potatoes Soros. Soros fed tons of $ last election cycle very successfully through the gays to run campaigns to get rid of George Allen and Rick Santorum. Couldn’t have those conservatives moving ever closer to the WH. They were not just defeated, but were DESTROYED since both were young and dangerous and they might come back and run another race someday otherwise.
“The dems will probably easily have over 60 seats in the senate and a veto proof margin in the house.”
Nonsense. Its bizarre that in one post we hear that McCain is a shoo-in and another
THE FUTURE WILL HAPPEN BASED ON WHAT WE DO.
YOUR ACTIONS WILL MAKE CANDIDATES WIN OR LOSE.
I know. I’ve been there. Some Candidates win races by less than 100 votes. One volunteers efforts can win more votes than that.
This Obama-endorsed Childers got a few hundred votes more.
The grassroots effort to get just a few more votes is the difference between victory and defeat.
BTW, *we* are the GOP. Do you care? If yes, support your local GOP candidate. Signs, letters-to-editor, walk-the-block, do all that stuff.
If you do that and others do that, then we wont have a left-wing American Govt in 2009. If you dont, it will happen like you predict. Do you care enough to stop the doomsday scenario?
Nonsense. They have leaders, and they have an agenda. This is just the chickens coming home to roost. Just desserts.
Too true...the Democrats seem to be in charge.
If McCain gets in it’ll only be because the Democrats have someone even worse. What a mess!
So what are you saying their agenda is? Record gas prices and food hoarding?
O’Reilly just said gas will be $6/gallon in a year. Hard to laugh that off.
Correct. the left destroys effective conservatives. Meanwhile, suicide conservatives sit on their a88 and whine about how there are no good leaders... DOH! *OUR INACTION LET THE GOOD LEADERS GET TAKEN OUT!* George Allen was quite possibly our Presidential nominee. Thompson was the stand-in (didnt make it), Romney tried to make like he was Allen (no dice)... so we get McCain.
George Allen would have made a great nominee (just dont step in the macaca).
Sure. Thank the Republicans.
High gas prices? Years of Republican control, and how many new refineries did it get us? How much local exploration and drilling? How many "off limits" resources put back on the table?
High food prices? Mostly attributable to "growing" Ethanol Were the Republicans standing against it? No, they were the ones pushing it... I remember how Bush said switch grass was going to change the bottom line, and ethanol was going to make the difference... well, it has. Much as the common sense Conservatives have been saying it would.
Today’s Republicans are becoming Democrats and Democrats are becoming Socialists.
And the American public, for the most part, either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
These are dangerous times we’re living in.
Under the “follow the money” rules I have to imagine that the oil companies are behind most of this. I’ve even started wondering if they are against any new drilling - at this time - because they wanted the price to go up.
Yep. That is why it is so important to hold out for a Conservative. There will be one to vote for, be e independent or 3rd party...
And the American public, for the most part, either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
Americans notice, and they care- They just don't have anyone to get fired up about. The Republicans have been ignoring their base for far too long. Immigration was the final straw, and folks just don't trust them any longer.
I have been saying so all along- Either the Baker wing must fold up it's big tent and cede power, or the Party would crash and burn. This is just the beginning. If the Pubbies can't keep a hold on the deep South, How do you think they will do elsewhere.?
Still buying into that swing to the middle and pick up the indies crap folks?
These are dangerous times we’re living in.
Indeed. That's why we need to support Conservatives, and especially for POTUS.
Too close to the big city of Memphis. The district has been infected with liberal thinkers.
I would say it is a product of the entire 'globalist' structure. The 'let them eat cake' attitude toward national economies may be fine for brokers and stockholders, but I think it entirely unsustainable.
"I sought for the key to the greatness of America in her harbors...; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." -Alexis de Tocqueville
Very relevant to the ultimate source of our problems.
Isn't it though? Hmmm... I seem to remember seeing those two quotes together somewhere else.. :D
I’ve been optimistic on the house front, looking at those open seats and thinking most of them aren’t really that vulnerable and predicting a net gain. Looks like I could be wrong.....
Monica lives in Mississippi now?
“Today’s Republicans are becoming Democrats and Democrats are becoming Socialists.”
That is an astute observation.
I was fired up about Duncan Hunter, but since the average voter wants the MSM to spoon feed them candidates, DH never got off the ground.
If Americans really cared, they wouldn't allow the current system to continue putting forth "moderates" for consideration. They'd actively seek out conservatives and support them.
Using the "follow the money" rule, it's clear that the government is the big winner here.
After everything is said and done, the oil companies make about 10 cents pure profit on every gallon of gas.
The government is taking about 45 cents per gallon right off the top, without having to do any of the work that the oil companies are doing.
You look at the big bottom linr for Big Oil and think they must be gouging.
But Big Government is the real profiteer.
This area is filling with folks escaping from Memphis. It’s kinda like Northern Virginia, in that regard.
CONSERVATIVE Republicans have never had 'control' of the Senate. They may have flirted with the House back in the "Contract with America" days, but there have always been too many RINOS willing to block what Republican Presidents have wanted to do.
No, but there are plenty of women in this voting district that wish they had been Monica and admire her deeds to Bill Clinton and will tell you so..
OK, but the taxes are fixed at a per gallon amount, not a percentage of the sale price, right? And the oil companies are making unheard of profits.
So now that the price is at 3.50 and climbing, who is pocketing the difference in the price increase?
What does the government do?
Prices are climbing. The oil companies pay more for crude. All other expenses increase also.
What does the government pay?
I'm not trying to shill for Big Oil, but our spend,spend, spend federal government has a firm grip on the teet.
Seems to me that they're a bigger cause of the price being what it is.
And I didn't even get into all the 30-some different blends that cities and states require the oil companies to make, all in the name of “global warming” and air quality.
“Sure. Thank the Republicans.
High gas prices? Years of Republican control, and how many new refineries did it get us? How much local exploration and drilling? How many “off limits” resources put back on the table? “
Idiot. The Senate *DEMOCRATS* blocked ANWR and offshore drilling multiple times. More Democrats=higher energy prices.
“OK, but the taxes are fixed at a per gallon amount, not a percentage of the sale price, right?”
Wrong. Think about the money Hugo Cavez, the Saudis, the Russians, the Iranians, etc. make. Off the top.
“So now that the price is at 3.50 and climbing, who is pocketing the difference in the price increase?”
Foreign Governments.
I am not bitter toward the American electorate about that. It has always been the case. Even the vast majority of conservatives do the same- They rely upon those who are politically active to make the primary choice, assuming the more politically active to be more astute, and counting upon their judgment, rely upon them to do the right thing.
It should be no surprise that a candidate such as Hunter could not succeed, because the object of the exercise was to keep his name away from the general electorate, as the entire primary system is designed to do.
If Americans really cared, they wouldn't allow the current system to continue putting forth "moderates" for consideration. They'd actively seek out conservatives and support them.
I think they would, and they will, but one must somehow get the candidate into the general, and shine enough light on him to get him seen. That is an impossibility, however, or nearly so, as the RINOs have the advantage in the primary.
I don't accuse conservatives. I accuse Republicans. Conservatives are complicit only in allowing themselves to be duped, placing faith in those who are against them, and in the proportion that they participate in Republicanism when the conservative 'shot at it' has failed.
Regarding your statement, I would consider it quite the other way around- Conservatives have never been a force great enough to push the agenda. They have only had enough weight to block (temporarily) the agenda of the RINOs and the RINO/Democrat presidents.
It is the Globalists' agenda that we have supported, hoping against hope for a bit of conservative yeast to leaven the dough. A very small chance of that, when looking in retrospect.
If we had a president who believed in conservatism and had attempted to develop a minimal speaking ability, those Rinos would have been pressured to move to the right, but sadly a dufuss was elected and it was not to be. After all, an effective president can pressure his political opposition to support his legislative endeavors but this one wholly failed to pressure his own supporters.
Again, and again, conservatives are so screwed.
Resorting to name-calling so early WOSG?
The Senate *DEMOCRATS* blocked ANWR and offshore drilling multiple times.
Funny how they can block Conservative issues at the drop of a hat, but yet the Globalist agenda somehow always goes sailing on through... Methinks Republicans doth protest too much.
More Democrats=higher energy prices.
Baloney. Gas prices have been bumping up the ceiling every summer for a very long time. Republicans have done *nothing* to fix it. At some point, failure becomes less likely than malfeasance.
You started the name-calling by attacking Republicans.
It’s tiresome, false and boring.
Simple logic tells you that “More Democrats=higher energy prices” is not refuted by your bashing of Republicans.
A Democrat majority in Congress, and energy prices are higher. The Democrats propose nothing that will make energy less expensive.
“Funny how they can block Conservative issues at the drop of a hat” The Democrats had 45 votes to block ANWR drilling, which they did with filibusters and a few RINO votes.
Now that Democrats run Congress, ANWR drilling has been off the table and evne harder to get through.
If we want ANWR drilling we need a GOP majority back.
“Republicans have done *nothing* to fix it.” False. The GOP-passed 2005 energy bill did many things to improve ability to build refineries and increase domestic drilling. All of it was hated by the eco-extremist left.
Now a large part of higher energy prices is due to higher demand from China and a strong global economy. So, no the GOP didnt nuke China and send the global economy into depression, so you can blame them for that.
We got a pretty good 2005 Energy Bill out of GOP Congress.
So good that the Democrats are doing their best to dismantle it bit by bit.
Just wait until, two years after a "win", McCain shows Mr & Mrs Small-Town-America what they can expect from a "Republican".
You ain't seen not'in yet. Anybody with a 'R' after their name won't be able to get a floorsweeper's job in the Capitol building.
Simple logic tells you that “More Democrats=higher energy prices”[...]. A Democrat majority in Congress, and energy prices are higher. The Democrats propose nothing that will make energy less expensive.
Simple history will show that gasoline went from around 1.75/gal to 3.50/gal during Bush's reign, and in large part during Republican control of all three houses. Now you would ignore that and blame Democrats for what is happening now.
If we want ANWR drilling we need a GOP majority back.
Obviously not true. Been there, done that. What we need is a Conservative majority. That is not to say GOP. Two different things.
Now a large part of higher energy prices is due to higher demand from China and a strong global economy.
Yes. Directly attributable to failures to get domestic drilling and refining back on track. Domestic oil, tied to the domestic dollar, rather than being beholden to global economy in the least, not to mention the whim of our enemies... For that, you may thank Republicans every bit as much as the Democrats.
If not, why else would the Republicans be aiding and abetting the Global Warming hoax? Why promote ridiculous hydrogen and ethanol schemes instead of putting money and time into real energy independence- clean coal and shale oils, of which we have an unlimited supply?
“Again, and again, conservatives are so screwed.”
We are if we let Dmeocrats win these races.
Letting the party of Pelosi, Hillary, Obama and Kennedy win seats that should go to conservatives is screwing conservatives. Most conservatives are Republicans and most Republicans are conservatives. Stay-home ‘suicide’ conservatives are a huge gift for the socialists - we are handing power to the leftists on a silver platter.
Here’s a guy who could be a freeper. we should support him:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2q1uMDrX8Do&feature=related
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