In the wake of their third special election loss in three months last night, House Republican leaders are rushing to embrace their presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, as their hope for staving off disaster in November.
“Candidates who hope to succeed must show that they’re willing and able to join McCain in a leading movement for reform,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Republican, said in the wake of Democrat Travis Childer’s victory in Mississippi’s first congressional district a seat that had been firmly Republican.
Eighteen months after they lost control of the House, Republicans are still shedding seats. They have now dropped below 200 seats in the House, leaving Democrats with a 236-199 edge.
“There is no district that is safe for Republican candidates,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who pointed out the historic nature of Democrats’ performance this year, noting it’s been three decades since Democrats last won three new seats in special elections.
Republicans put an extraordinary effort into trying to keep the Mississippi seat, including sending Vice President Dick Cheney to campaign, and spending what Mr. Van Hollen said was 20 percent of House Republicans’ campaign committee budget.
Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Democrats have succeeded in running conservatives immune to being tied to the national Democratic Party. He said the solution for Republicans is to work with Mr. McCain to define a new agenda.
The McCain campaign also pointed out that Mr. Childers sought to distance himself from Sen. Barack Obama, who is leading the race for Democrats’ presidential nomination. Mr. Childers even ran an ad protesting being linked “to politicians I don’t even know” and proclaiming himself “pro-life and pro-gun.”
Mr. McCain is lending his own imprimatur to House Republicans later today, deploying top adviser Carly Fiorina to join with them as they announce their “American Families Agenda” — part of a five-point plan Mr. Boehner has in mind.
Brian Rogers, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said the Mississippi loss is “another indication that we as Republicans have a lot of work to do,” but said Mr. McCain is in a position to do well even in this environment.
“We do have the candidate that cut through all of that,” he said.
Republicans are meeting this morning to talk about their path forward, but calls for change in leadership are likely to grow.
For now, fissures are growing between top leaders themselves. In an interview with The Washington Times on Tuesday Mr. Boehner criticized Mr. Cole’s approach to the elections.
“The NRCC took the position we’re not going to get involved in primaries. It seems clear now that may not have been the smartest move,” Mr. Boehner said.
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