Northern Mississippi Goes Democratic

Bright and early this morning, CNN called Tuesday’s special election for a northern Mississippi congressional seat for the Democratic candidate, Travis Childers. Childers’ win is just the latest in a series of special election wins for the Democratic party and it’s being held up as an omen of things to come in the general election, when the Democrats are expected to win a clear majority.

Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District (Childers’ new seat) has been solidly Republican in the past. The Republican Party even treated this campaign as a testing ground for strategies they are planning for the general election, including spending close to $1 million on ads linking Childers to Obama. While it’s nice to have an opportunity to test out campaign strategies before the general election, I can’t help but think that, if the Republican Party had gone with a bit more traditional strategy, they might have had a better chance. There’s no question that some voters think that the ads linking Childers and Obama — especially after Childers’ campaign demonstrated that claims about an Obama endorsement were essentially made up — went too far.

It looks like the Democratic Party will have an opportunity to pick up a number of seats in districts previously considered entirely conservative — the odds are good that they’ll have a very sound majority after this fall. What do you think that will mean for the political issues you consider important?

Photo courtesy ChildersforCongress.com