A Little North of Philadelphia ... Mississippi

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The outskirts of cities of brotherly love were important in two elections Tuesday.  Everyone knows about the Pennsylvania presidential primary, but few know there was a very interesting special Congressional election Tuesday in the 1st district of Mississippi.  And, the race in counties north of Philadelphia, Mississippi is a much better predictor of what will happen in November than the contest in Pennsylvania.<> <>Mississippi's 1st Congressional district is a rock-ribbed Republican district. Bush beat Kerry  62.24% - 37.03% in this Congressional district in 2004. Yet, in a multi-candidate special election, a Democrat lead with 49% of the vote. And, this was not just any Democrat. Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers, is one of those, you know, whackos who urges SCHIP expansion and says that he opposes Social Security privatization and wants to expand in-home care programs for seniors. All Democrats in the contest combined received more than 50% of the vote. The lead Republican,  Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, received 46%. Childers and Davis will face each other again in the May 13 run-off.<> <>Despite this being such a red district, the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spent almost $300,000 to secure a Republican successor to now-Senator Roger Wicker. Wicker first won the seat in the 1994 Gingrich "revolution" and gave it up a few months ago, when he was appointed to fill Trent Lott's seat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), flush with funds, spent less than $150,000.There's more...