http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-bri... Democrats have completed a trifecta of special election victories in GOP-held House seats, narrowly winning a hard-fought contest in Mississippi's 1st district Tuesday and raising the specter of an expanded playing field in November.
The Associated has called the contest for Democrats, and with 80 percent of the votes recorded, Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers (D) was leading Southaven Mayor Greg Davis (R), 51 percent to 49 percent, in the race to replace Roger Wicker (R), who has been appointed to the Senate.
Following on the heels of Democratic victories in special elections in Illinois' 14th district in March and Louisiana's 6th district 10 days ago, Republicans pulled out all the stops to try to hold on to Wicker's seat, which should be a GOP stronghold. President Bush won the district by 25 points in 2004; he won the Louisiana seat by 19 points and the Illinois seat by 11 points.
Vice President Cheney visited the district to drum up support Monday. The cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee shelled out at least $1.3 million on the contest -- more than it spent on the Illinois seat, which falls in the expensive Chicago media market -- and the conservative group Freedom's Watch also ran several hundred thousand dollars worth of ads.
