http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21973397/

Chalk up Trent Lott as yet another Republican who is giving up his seat. This now means the GOP will have to defend 23 Senate seats, as compared to 12 seats the Democrats have to defend.

Too bad quitting doesn't start from the top down. If it did, the GOP Senate and House members would quit jumping ship.

PS: We gotta give a lot of credit to the Democrats for hanging in there during the first few years of the Bush admin.

Actually, this will help the republicans, it will increase the republican turn out in Miss, a very republican state.

"it will increase the republican turn out in Miss, a very republican state."

That's providing that the residents in Miss who have the lowest literacy rate in the nation, can read the ballot and tell an R from a D.

At least they can fill out a ballot correctly, unlike the demos in Dade county Fl.

Nwokie writes:
Actually, this will help the republicans, it will increase the republican turn out in Miss, a very republican state.

So which races in 2008 do you think will be helped for the Republicans by more turn-out in Mississippi? Were Democrats seriously in contention in any races there?

Face it, it's another distraction for Republicans that they don't need and more money to spend that won't be spent on other races.

Andrew

Every little bit helps.

IMHO, they are gonna have to spend more in Mississippi now, than they would have otherwise. The Democrats are going to do the 50 state strategy again this time around.

Used to be, some races were ignored to focus on key ones. Now, with a more aggressive grass roots, people powered politics movement up and running, solid challenges are possible in far more races.

That means the typical GOP, Dump 'n Trump™ strategy of just pouring cash into one race, isn't always on the table anymore.

They will see a better response than they would have before, and they just don't have as much cash either, because they've gotta run a lot more close races than they did before.

Every even remote chance seat will see an aggressive challenger this time around, backed by a lot of local and national funding support, a growing portion of which comes from Internet supporters.

(that was the Dean plan and it's a very, very good one!)

That's right!
Drain the bastard's coffers!

You know it!

It's gonna be an interesting year. If the Internet based stuff proves to even be as potent as it was last year (at least 3 freshmen dems know a big chunk of their seat goes to those efforts), the GOP could find itself spending a lot of money on just defense.

They've got a lot of media advantages, but in the face of a lot of educated and eager face to face efforts, I'm not so sure it all balances out.

If you like watching that part of things, this coming year is gonna be just sweet!

The GOP is just gonna love dumping a truckload of cash in Mississippi to retain a Senate seat that was previously a cakewalk. On the other hand, it will be good to see the accidental bigot (Lott) leave the Senate.

Cue "got out in the nick of time" scandal in, three, two, one....

Rachel Maddow reported an almost scandal, involving a NOT BOY FRIEND (male prostitute) NOT TALKING to Mr. Lott.

That's pretty close! The real goods coming soon, count on it!

@Skep That's Howard Dean's idea working for the Democrats nicely. He got a TON of push back on that from the establishment, old school Democrats. Had he not pushed hard for it, we very likely would not have seen the sweep we did last year.

Notably, that effort also helped the net roots (blogs, mailing lists, concerned people) deliver a few freshmen to us as well. Really hoping to see more of that, honestly. Been very interesting to watch those new guys mix it up a little, reminding the party of it's roots.

Now that the party has seen how all of that works, they are ready to do 2008. Democrats have significant radio presence now, lots of dollars, helped in part by those same net roots efforts, challengers lining up, because they have a lot better chance of seeing support now, than they did pre-Dean.

The only real hobbler is most of the mainstream media. If those guys can give the GOP a pass, they do! Major bummer. Still, there is just a ton of good activity now. Plenty to get it done, IMHO.

I'm eager to see how the GOP dodges the accountability coming their way for rubber stamping so much of the crap we've seen. All of their front runners, save Ron Paul, are Bush style Republicans. He may not be running, but the rubber stampers are still there.

Haven't seen the Dems hammer that point home yet. Wonder why? Maybe that's something better saved until the cycle starts proper, next year.