Another GOP seat lost

Over the weekend Democrat Bill Foster won the special election to fill former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s seat. The congressional district has been held by a Republican for decades and voted for Bush 55% in 2004. Both the RNCC and DCCC poured their resources into this race in order to set the stage for November. The Democrats can now continue to frame the elections as a referendum of change. If the Republican candidate had won, the Party could have contented that ‘06 is behind us and we are going to make gains in November. Perhaps more loses are what the Republicans still need. Hopefully we will now find candidates that have moderate views that more closely reflect the majority of voters. Maybe now the pandering to the extreme right will end, a plan that continues to back fire. It seems that the only way for real change to happen is for the Party to hit rock bottom and then we can build it back up with focus on common sense solutions.