Democrat Wins Special Election in Mississippi:...

I am re-posting this article as proof of the profound changes in American politics that were occurring while the right wing-nuts of Gather were promoting Hillary Clinton (!), using specious "historical" arguments to show that Obama could not win, and predicting a landslide win for McCain when the "truth" about Obama was revealed by internet mass mailings of ridiculous allegations.

Now, of course, the Neanderthal Wing of the GOP is still talking about "birth certificates"!

The ground is shifting in American politics, and the Republican noise machine (including the local contingent of deluded right wingnuts on Gather) is oblivious to the change.

Just two weeks after a "rock solid" Republican seat was lost to the Democrats in a special election in Louisiana, another "rock solid" Republican seat falls to the Democrats in the first Congressional district of Mississippi.

This district has not elected a single Democrat in thirty years, and the Republican National Committee spent 20% of their available cash to defend this seat.

Everyone expected the margin of victory to be razor thin, but Travis Childers walked away with more than 54% of the vote.

This is the third consecutive victory for Democrats in special elections this year.

One seat was won in Illinois, one in Louisiana, one in Mississippi. This is a portent of things to come.

The November election will see at least thirty Republican seats vacant due to retirements or resignations. This eliminates the advantage of incumbancy for these seats, and Democrats are widely predicted to pick up a large number of them.

Once again, desperate and unprincfipled Republicans attempted to sway this special election through an expensive media smear campaign.

Just as they did unsuccessfully in Louisiana, Republican strategists attempted to link the Democratic candidate to Nancy Pelosi (a powerful woman, particularly frightening to insecure macho poseurs) and to Barak Obama (a smart and sophisticated African-American, particularly humiliating to under-educated and insecure rednecks).

(That's for you, Sheryl)

Still, Republicans claim that Democratic candidates are "out of touch"; that they are taking positions that most Americans do not accept.

None of this is true.

The Democratic "wedge issues" this year are health insurance, balanced budgets, and a sane national energy policy - and they have huge popular support.

The avalanche of news about systemic corruption and the rot at every level of the Bush Administration will only accelerate as Congressional investigations continue their slow but thorough pace.

A few desperate Republican apologists point dementedly at negative assessments of the Congress as though this means anything. Congress has always been held in low esteem, and the left hates this Congress as much as any christo-fascist does.

To that kind of bleating, one only needs to note that, when votes matter, Americans are replacing Republicans with Democrats whenever they get a chance.

As DNCC (Democratic National Campaign Committee) Chairperson, Chris Van Hollen noted in a press release:

"... (Childers') victory has sent a political thunderbolt across America tonight. It is yet another rejection of the House Republican agenda, the Bush Administration's misguided policies, and John McCain's campaign for a third Bush term..."

Exactly.

This election year will not be easily compared to earlier years; nor will the campaigns this year be like previous campaigns.

Many historical precedents are about to be overturned.

Except, of course, that any Presidential candidate from Arizona will lose in a landslide.