Strike Three?

With Travis Childers' (D) MS-01 victory, the GOP was unable to avert disaster for a third special election this cycle, and must now own up to the fact that they enter this fall in a very dire position. Last p.m.'s loss, however, highlighted exactly why the party needs to change, in both strategy and policy.

-- In MS-01, GOPers attempted a rerun of '04, when they counted on their base to carry Pres. Bush. GOPers counted on DeSoto Co. to carry Southaven Mayor Greg Davis (R), and on his 5/12 visit, VP Cheney campaigned strictly in DeSoto Co. But while the turnout was very high there, it was high everywhere else, and that lifted the conservative Childers to wins in the rural battlegrounds of the CD.

-- As the party attempts to recover and to expand its base, both Min. Leader John Boehner (R) and NRCC Chair Tom Cole (R) want to join forces with ticket-topper John McCain to forge the party's new image. But how happy will some House conservatives be with a number of items on McCain's agenda, starting with climate change?

As we've written, this loss is a repudiation of all things GOP, including its message and tactics. Change is necessary. But it certainly won't be painless, and it may not be in time to save the party this fall.