http://www.democrats.com/node/10097?And party-switchers figure in two marquee races this fall. Former Kansas GOP chair Mark Parkinson has joined Democratic governor Kathleen Sibelius as her choice for lieutenant governor on her re-election ticket. In Virginia, longtime Republican and Reagan-era secretary of the Navy Jim Webb is challenging incumbent U.S. senator George Allen, a voting-rights foe sometimes pegged as an '08 White House hopeful, in his hard-fought reelection bid. "National security policy under the Bush-Cheney Administration is in total disarray," Webb said in an August speech. "There is no end in sight to the conflict in Iraq ... and homeland security is being neglected."
The shift throws a wrench in the Republican machine as it rumbles across a troubled political landscape. The results of special elections for state legislature in the past year have showcased Democratic voting strength, even in areas the GOP has long dominated (see "GOP Trashed in Special Elections," April 2006). Now another gauge indicates Republican political power at risk.
Twelve years ago, GOP leaders trumpeted a host of Democratic office-holders who had jumped ship as a grassroots rejection of Bill Clinton and his party. They went on to post huge gains in the '94 mid-term elections. Now, as Nov. 7 nears, a similar dynamic of popular disaffection with Republicans is taking shape.-snip-
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