Re: Va. salutes Guns in Restaurants

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0512/p01s04-uspo.html

In congressional races, Republicans are losing ground
GOP leaders urge a new agenda after several key losses.

By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the May 12, 2008 edition

Wa****ngton - The prospect of a special-election loss in yet another seat 
this week is fueling calls for House Republicans to radically ****ft course
- 
or face losses in November that could lock their party in the minority for
a 
generation.

Strike one: A Democrat wins the seat vacated by former House Speaker
Dennis 
Hastert (R) of Illinois, a March 8 stunner.

Strike two: A Democrat wins a May 3 vote in a Louisiana congressional 
district that President Bush in 2004 carried by a 19-point margin.

Tuesday's runoff election in Mississippi's First Congressional District 
could be strike three. Democrat Travis Childers already nearly defeated 
Republican Greg Davis in an April 22 special election to replace GOP Rep. 
Roger Wicker, falling just 410 votes short of a majority. The idea that a 
Democrat could win the runoff has shocked national party leaders into 
overdrive.

"This seat is a very im****tant one. It's been in conservative hands for a 
long time, and we'd hate to see the liberals gain control," said Vice 
President Dick Cheney in a phone interview released by the White House.
The 
vice president is headlining a get-out-the-vote rally for Mr. Davis in 
Mississippi on Monday.

Citing recent special-election losses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 
issued a "Plea to Republicans" last week. "Without change we could face a 
catastrophic election this fall," he wrote in the conservative weekly
Human 
Events. "Without change the Republican Party in the House could revert to 
the permanent minority status it had from 1930 to 1994."