While most folks (okay, those of us political geeks who can’t get enough) will be riveted tonight to the returns in West Virginia, there is another election worth watching tonight: the Congressional race in Mississippi’s First district to replace Roger Wicker, who left to fill Trent Lott’s Senate seat. This is a district that should be solidly Republican: Bush won it with 60% of the vote in 2000 and 63% in 2004. The fact that the GOP has already spent $1.3 million that they can ill afford defending the seat does not bode well for Republicans. If they lose the seat there are 40 more that are rated more friendly to Democrats up in November. A loss here would come after the GOP already lost Denny Hastert’s seat in Illinois and Louisiana’s Sixth district earlier this year and it would be the first time in more than 30 years that a party would have lost three seats in special elections. The race is a nail biter, so close that Dick Cheney was prompted to fly down for an 11th hour visit yesterday, so it’ll be really interesting to see what happens. Either way, the fact that the GOP has been forced to so vehemently defend the seat shows how bad the political climate is for down ticket Republican candidates.
The Other Race To Watch Today
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