Wednesday morning news digest: bellwether friends editions

Here are a couple of paragraphs we liked in Doug Grow's column about MN-05 Republican Barbara Davis White at Minnpost:

Davis White isn't the only Republican congressional candidate facing a very steep climb this year. Despite the fact that Minnesota is supposed to be less blue from years past, despite the fact that Sen. Norm Coleman seems to be in solid shape in his Senate race, the Republican candidates in four congressional districts face odds similar to Davis White's.

To make matters more difficult for the state party, it faces stiff competition even in districts once considered safe. DFLer Tim Walz snatched a victory from six-term incumbent Gil Gutknecht two years ago and now seems stronger than ever in the 1st District. In the 2nd , Steve Sarvi is expected to make Republicans and John Kline sweat for a fourth term.  In the 6th,   DFLer Elwyn Tinklenberg is moderate enough to give Michele Bachmann a strong run.

Our favorite quote so far about the Democratic win in yesterday's Mississippi special election:

Marty Wiseman, a political scientist at Mississippi State University, said if Democrats can carry districts that traditionally have been safe bets for the GOP, "Republican strategists have to be terrified."

CQPolitics writes:

. . .The Republican committee’s wasted seven-figure expenditures on its three special election defeats have left it with little remaining cash to put into bids to take over Democratic seats in this fall’s election and to play defense against other strong Democratic takeover bids.

The Washington Post reports Miss. Win May be Bellwether.  The article concludes with Boehner touting the "Change He Deserves" rebranding plan that Bluestem linked to a trademarked Wyeth anti-depressant slogan:

This week, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) unveiled a new campaign theme that directly embraced Obama's "change" message by establishing "change you deserve" as the new mantra for the House Republican Conference.

The Mississippi result "should serve as a wake-up call to Republican candidates nationwide," Boehner said in a statement last night. "As I've said before, this is a change election, and if we want Americans to vote for us, we have to convince them that we can fix Washington."

It looks like he doesn't pay any more attention to advice about the rollout from Malkin or Limbaugh than he does to commentary from blogging cows.

The Albert Lea Tribune editorial board says Voters are smarter than GOP thinks about gas prices.

Good  times in Austin this weekend for those of us who dig supporting our troops and birding: Armed Forces Day marked by car show and Austin to host Oak Savanna Birding Festival. Come for the "cool" cars and stay for the peeps at Mower County's famous Great Lakes.

The Farm Bill is likely to come up for a vote today in the House. House Ag committee chair Collin Peterson told the AP he's hoping for 300 votes in favor of the bill.

We're off to the metro area for some hobnobbing with our social overlords, but will dip into the Tubes as we are able, given our interesting the Farm Bill and other congressional antics.

Photos: Depressed elephant  in Portland Zoo (top); Anti-depressant (bottom).

Comments

[Chris Truscott]

Best line in this post! I love it --

. . .The Republican committee’s wasted seven-figure expenditures on its three special election defeats have left it with little remaining cash to put into bids to take over Democratic seats in this fall’s election and to play defense against other strong Democratic takeover bids.

[Jeff Hanneman]

All right Ollie! You got your very own echo-chamber going!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/194991.php

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/14/gops-inadvertently-fitting-new-slogan/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/12/gops-new-slogan-already-b_n_101376.html

The only downside is that you have to dig back three links to find out that you were the source.