What's that spell?
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/14/1018632.aspxFrom Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Last night’s bigger story: So what event last night was more consequential: Obama’s substantial defeat in a state few had considered a general election battleground until Clinton declared it so last week? Or the Republicans losing a third-straight special congressional election in what was considered a solid GOP seat -- this one a Mississippi district where Bush won 62% of the vote in 2004? It was none other than NRCC chair Tom Cole who seemed to answer this question. “The political environment is such that voters remain pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Republican Party in general,” he said in a statement last night. “Therefore, 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.” Yes, Obama might indeed have a problem with some white working-class voters, although crosstabs from national polls and key state polls, not exit polls from a Democratic primary, might offer better clues to this. And, yes, McCain is better positioned than any other Republican out there to compete in this environment. But the Republican Party’s poor brand and its voters’ lack of enthusiasm right now tell us a WHOLE lot more about the overall political climate than last night’s West Virginia results do.
*** Staying with the bigger story a minute longer: How are congressional Republicans reacting? If our email boxes and voicemail boxes are any indication, there are two guys on the firing line: House GOP leader John Boehner and the NRCC’s Tom Cole. The two may attempt to shoot at each other a bit (watch Eric Cantor; he's already be looked to by some as the NEXT great savior of the House GOP), though the person who may ultimately be blamed is Bush. After all, Republicans aren't running Congress anymore so if voters are still punishing the GOP, they are punishing them for Bush. If this isn't proof that 2006 was about Bush and not corruption, we don't know what else you need. Remember, not a single Democratic incumbent lost in ’06. Cole, in his statement last night, is advising Republicans to become change candidates. It's tough to break through the presidential clutter to do that. And the thing that ought to scare the GOP even more is that if a Democrat is elected president, he'll appear to have massive coattails and that, in turn, will create the appearance of a mandate, a la Reagan in 1980. No wonder Clinton isn't ready to throw in the towel just yet: If Democrats win this presidential election, it will be the biggest mandate any Democrat has had for governing since LBJ in '64.