ANALYSIS — ABC’S JEFF ZELENY: The Republican Party has been far more strategic and wise this year, with lessons from the 2010 and 2012 Senate races seared into its collective memory. But a remarkably divisive Mississippi contest, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen, is poised to add a sour note to an otherwise well-orchestrated mid-term election cycle. If Sen. Thad Cochran didn’t win the race out-right last night, how can he survive a three-week period of overtime? That is the question top Republicans are asking today. (As well as this: Why didn’t he just retire like everyone expected he would last year?) But outside groups have already doubled-down to an unprecedented degree. There’s no turning back or time for a truce now. It still remains an open question whether a Democrat could even win the Mississippi seat in the fall, but the ugliness of the race could spill into other campaigns, which could make the GOP path to winning 6 seats — and the majority — more difficult than it needed to be.
ABC
6/4/14
Magnolia Tribune
