The GOP has now lost three special elections this year for congressional seats vacated by Republican House members. First came Bill Foster's victory in Illinois' own 14th District seat, formerly held by House Speaker Denny Hastert. Then, two weeks ago, Democrat Don Cazayoux won in Louisiana's 6th District, which had been vacated by retiring Rep. Richard Baker. And yesterday we saw the third GOP domino fall: Democratic candidate Travis Childers beat Greg Davis to take control of Mississippi's staunchly Republican 1st Congressional District.
The loss in Mississippi has Republican Party leaders feeling, well, a bit antsy. Check out National Republican Campaign Committee chairman Tom Cole's statement last night, in which he warns GOP candidates, in Marc Ambinder's words, to "change or die":
Republicans must undertake bold efforts to define a forward looking agenda that offers the kind of positive change voters are looking for. This is something we can do in cooperation with our Presidential nominee, but time is short.
I encourage all Republican candidates, whether incumbents or challengers, to take stock of their campaigns and position themselves for challenging campaigns this fall by building the financial resources and grassroots networks that offer them the opportunity and ability to communicate, energize and turn out voters this election.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have been biding their time coming up with a catchy new slogan: "Change You Deserve." Too bad they didn't realize this motto is already being used to market the anti-depressent Effexor XR. Huffington Post's Jason Linkins helpfully pointed out that Effexor's common side-effects "are very much in keeping with the world the House Republicans have striven to build: nausea, apathy, constipation, fatigue, vertigo, sexual dysfunction, sweating, memory loss, and - and I swear I am not making this up - 'electric shock-like sensations also called "brain zaps." ' "
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