For the third time this election season, the Democrats have stolen a House seat from their Republican counterparts. This time, it happened in Mississippi, where Travis Childers beat Greg Davis to send a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. Bush easily carried this district in 2000 and 2004, but that was before his popularity numbers plummeted.

Davis and the RNCC had run negative ads featuring the Reverend Wright and Barack Obama in an attempt to solidify white support. For the second time this year, the tactic failed.

In the towering wake of yet another defeat in a contest in which the GOP poured a great deal of resources, NRCC chairman Tom Cole fired off an S.O.S. to any Republicans who'll listen:

"...the political environment is such that voters remain pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Republican Party in general. Therefore, Republicans must undertake bold efforts to define a forward looking agenda that offers the kind of positive change voters are looking for."

In other words, the GOP needs to re-invent itself. Come up with some catchy, forward-looking buzzwords. Maybe even tinker with a proposal or two. All that negative change just isn't working out. Go figure.

UPDATE: You just can't make this stuff up. What has the Republican brain-trust decided on for a new slogan?

"The Change You Deserve."

Aside from being strikingly similar to Obama's "Change You Can Believe In," the funny thing is that slogan was already adopted by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals for their anti-anxiety drug Effexor. Perhaps the GOP can kill two birds with one stone on this one. Pass out Effexor to all their candidates up for re-election, and borrow the slogan as well. Wyeth makes out like bandits and everybody's happy! Or at least until the drug wears off, anyway.

When I did a story about John McCain's release of his tax returns a few weeks ago, I somehow missed out on the glaring fact that Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain has a prenuptial agreement with second wife Cindy McCain. Well, at least she let him keep his maiden name.

From Tfitz on DailyKos:

It seems that when his totally hot, totally rich, second wife Cindy said yes to his 'big question', she also let him know that his job wasn't finished until the paperwork was done. This tough bride, whose financials are none of your damn business thank you very much, made Big John sign a prenuptial agreement. How's that again? A possible POTUS with a pre-nup?

The article goes on to talk about the implications of the pre-nup:

If marriage is sanctioned by God and valid until death does part you cute kids, why go into it with a financial escape clause; a 'golden parachute' of love? Well, the reasons for doing so are obvious and can be fully expressed in two points. Point A: 'This thing may not last and I'll be damned if I'm going to be broken hearted and broke' and Point B: 'I don't really trust this son of a bitch'. In other words, it is all about trust. In other, other words; Cindy McCain doesn't.

When I saw this story, aside from the usual guy-talk ribbing, I couldn't really see much of a point to it. I've never cared much for stories of an embarrassing, personal nature. I almost felt a little bad for McCain. But, then, while researching yesterday's story, I realized that McCain had it coming.

Here's one for our Ron Paul readers. I see you all are back and a welcome sight it is - really. No snark. We missed you.

The Web site Miss Ron Paul is doing it's latest contest for Miss Ron Paul. Apparently I'm late to this - they've been doing it for awhile. Congratulations to the past winners! So vote early and vote often. This round ends May 31. Contestant number 3 looks to be the presumptive winner. I wonder why.

I understand from my reading my colleague David Knowles' post that Congressman Paul might have a little surprise for the convention in September. I'm expecting to be there, so I'll try and meet up with Paul supporters. You will definitely be better company that the McCain supporters, I'm sure.

Oh, and I promised this great group of kids that I met after the Philly Democratic debate in April that I'd post their picture the next time I did a post on Ron Paul.

Note From AOL: Our weekly Straw Poll was restarted again on Monday, May 12 at 2:00PM ET. After voting, check back again next Monday for a chance to recast your ballot.

Former Republican Representative from Georgia, Bob Barr, officially announced his run for president today. Barr will first have to secure the Libertarian Party's nomination. If Barr does get on the ballot in November, he is perceived as a potential drain on John McCain's support among reluctant conservatives.

Barr helped lead the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. He has since broke with the Republican party over a variety of issues, including the Patriot Act and the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which Barr fervently opposes. He has consistently railed against the politics of fear, a theme he hit on again in his statement today, "We believe in an America that is not and should not be and should never be driven by fear as current policies on behalf of both parties are in this country," Barr said.

Barr believes his campaign has the potential to pick up where Ron Paul's primary campaign left off. In March, he told The Atlanta Journal Constitution, "Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle."

John McCain's campaign has a new ad out on the economy running in Iowa. The :30 second spot is titled "Accountable."

John McCain today is launching a climate change video entitled, "A Better Way." Although it does little by way of letting viewers know what McCain would do to fix the problem, it does refer to how "one extreme" thinks "high taxes, and crippling regulation" is the solution, while another "denies the problem even exists."

"I believe climate change is real," a casually-dressed McCain on a mountain says. "It's not just a greenhouse gas issue, it's a national security issue."

The ad comes as McCain travels to the Pacific Northwest to talk about the generally oft-neglected topic. In Portland today, he will deliver what his campaign is calling "a major speech" outlining his plans to combat the threat of global climate change and "re-establish America's environmental leadership in the world."

He's going to propose a domestic cap-and-trade system his campaign says will mobilize market forces to develop and commercialize alternatives to carbon-based fuels. Tomorrow, he will participate in a discussion in Seattle with environmentalists, conservationists and the business community on how to combat climate change.



After the jump, the new pro-Hillary video featuring the White House-scorned duo of Joe and Valerie Plame Wilson.

Calling St. Paul. Come in, St. Paul. It seems there may be some trouble brewing for this summer's GOP convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. You see, another Paul is looming large on the horizon, threatening to stir up mischief at the August coronation of John, the would-be Baptist of that new and improved sect of Republicanism--Bush-Lite, for lack of a better term. As Paul's supporters learned from Guy Fawkes, surprise is the name of the game.

From The LA Times:

Virtually all the nation's political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there.

But in the meantime, quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in St. Paul at the beginning of September.

Yes, he was dissed by Fox News, taunted by his rivals, scorned in the press, but Ron Paul is not ready to stop preaching the gospel to his followers. In fact, the proselytizing continues apace, and St. Paul's stage is set to provide the Texas Congressman with ample microphone time.

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain's hand-picked choice for convention manager, Doug Goodyear, resigned after Newsweek ran a story about his lobbying work and involvement in 527 groups in 2004 that were fined for improprieties.

McCain has denounced 527 groups as recently as this past February.

Goodyear, CEO of the DCI group, a consulting firm that lobbies for ExxonMobil, General Motors and the military junta that runs that great democracy Burma, said in a brief statement, "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign".

Astonishingly, the McCain campaign's first choice, Paul Manafort, was nixed due to HIS lobbying efforts for foreign heads of state that included Ferdinand Marcos and personal relationship with Russia's Vladmir Putin. The campaign was concerned about the appearance of McCain being to closely tied to Washington lobbyists.

Does John McCain NOT have anyone close to him that ISN'T a lobbyist? Does his staff need introductory courses on how to vet people? I'm sure they'll run and take my advice, but they might just want to expand their circle of influence before he starts getting called on this stuff in earnest.

Carly Fiorina, whose term as CEO of HP was an absolute disaster, is now speaking up for John McCain. GOPers must be hoping that she doesn't apply any of her management magic to her stump for McCain routine. But hope fails, and Carly starts by emphasizing that McCain is not Bush, by emphasizing that McCain is not a conservative!

Kyle Kutuchief's comments from the Point:

As this campaign plays out, it is going to be difficult for John McCain to energize a Republican base while trying to be the maverick moderate. ABC's This Week had McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina as the guest this morning. She began the interview by saying, "I've heard a lot that John McCain is a third Bush term. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was John McCain after all who spoke loudly for four long years saying that Don Rumsfeld was the worst Secretary of Defense in history, that the prosecution of the War in Iraq was going badly, and we are now executing a new strategy because of John McCain. John McCain has differed with George Bush on global warming, climate change, on how we should deal with high fuel prices right now saying that we should stop the fill of the strategic oil reserve for example."

It is remarkable to see the Republican nominee for president already sending surrogates out to trash the Bush Administration record on the Sunday morning shows. Carly Fiorina was armed with talking points to distance Senator McCain from our unpopular president. President Bush's approval ratings have been around 30% for a long time. That 30% wants President Bush to have a third term. How is that 30% going to respond to Senator John McCain constantly bad mouthing President Bush's record? At some point, McCain is going to have do something for that 30% because he needs that support. Changing his position on abortion appears to be his first overture to the base.