The candidate, immersed in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, said down for lunch with reporters yesterday and had this to say on the Iraq war: "It didn't work. . . . We didn't prepare for the peace." On the response to Hurricane Katrina: "A monumental failure of government." On the national mood: "There's a palpable frustration right now in the country." It's all fairly standard Democratic boilerplate -- except the candidate is a Republican . "For me to pretend I'm not a Republican would be a lie," he reasoned. But to run as a proud...