Last night, Travis Childers, the Democrat running to represent the first congressional district of Mississippi, defeated the Republican, Greg Davis, by eight points. As you may know, this was a very red district that George Bush had won in 2004 handily. The Republicans tried everything to bring Travis Childers down, they tried to tie him Senator Obama and Jeremiah Wright, that didn't work, they tried to tie him to Nancy Pelosi, that didn't work, how about sending Dick Cheney, Haley Barbour, and Mike Huckabee to rile up support? That didn't work.
   The Republicans are going to need their "change you deserve" pills because this is a very bad year for them. There have been three special elections in Republican districts this year and the Democrats have won all three of them. In two of these districts, the Republicans tried to tie the Democratic candidates with Senator Obama and instead of turning off conservative white voters, they managed to increase black turnout and they lost the district. It's increasingly becoming obvious that Democrats in the fall will need high turnout from African American voters as well as young voters in order to defeat John McCain. The Democrats have tried the 50+1 route and have lost twice, it's time they tried a new strategy if they want to win. So, far it looks like Howard Dean is doing a bang up job and Democrats have reason to be confident this year.