Greg Davis' (R) loss last night to Travis Childers (D) in Mississippi portends a tough fall for the Republican Party. This is the third straight special election race in which the GOP has bleed a conservative seat to a Democratic contender (the other two were in Illinois' 14th district and Louisiana's 6th district: both were held by Republicans for two decades). This particular seat up for grabs in Mississippi had been a red district since 1995. The big whigs like VP Dick Cheney, Governor Haley Barbour, and Mike Huckabee had all been brought through to campaign for Davis.
It seems like the two big reasons for defeat were a low turnout among conservatives and little difference on issue between the candidates. Thus, the Republican plan to link Childers to the liberal left-wing failed. Hopefully, rather than continue to play the guilt by association blame game, the GOP will get back to its roots of small government, fiscal conservatism, and family values. A core is desperately lacking, and developing a platform to energize the base (something possibly like a contemporary "Contract With America") will be the only successful strategy.
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