Kyle Bell

Just five months ago Parker Griffith called himself a Democrat. Today, he’s a soon-to-be former member of Congress. The party switcher lost in the Republican primary of his conservative Alabama district. Tuesday’s primary resulted in a victory for Mo Brooks, who received 51 percent of the vote to Griffith’s 33 percent, avoiding a runoff by 600 votes. This follows only two weeks after another party switcher, Arlen Specter, lost the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s Senate race after being a Republican for more than 40 years.

“I know who our general election opponent is: (Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi,” Brooks said, sounding themes for the general election. “Our ultimate goal is not to win the primary. We have to do for America one thing, which is to get a new Speaker of the House. We must, as a people, put a stop to what’s going on in Washington before the nation goes over a cliff. We must stop those who believe socialism is the way to go.”

Republicans tried to use Nancy Pelosi as a boogey(wo)man in Pennsylvania’s special election to replace the late John Murtha. They failed miserably, losing the district by roughly 10 percent. As has been stated many times in the media, this is the only district in the country that voted for John Kerry in 2004 and switched to John McCain in 2008. In other words, there is not a whole lot of love for Barack Obama here. That said, Democrats still managed to hold onto the seat comfortably.

The main problem with going after a Speaker of the House is that most people don’t even know who you are talking about. Worse yet, attacking a 70-something year old grandmother does not come across well, either. It could very well just end up alienating female voters. Considering the Alabama seat is safely in Republican territory (R+12), it is likely that Brooks will be the future Congressman from this rural Alabama district. In other parts of the country that are either swing districts or slightly Republican leaning, it is highly doubtful that such a message will prevail.