Now, Vito Fossella is saying he won’t get out of the race (for NY-13) after all! I still say he’s out by midweek. Blowing a point one seven and then getting bailed out by your baby mama — while your wife’s back in New York — is political suicide.

I will say this, though: Vito could probably stick it out and make it til November (where he’d lose, of course) were it not for the increasingly dire straights House Republicans are facing. But the House Republican leadership is under the gun and can’t afford to give away the seat. The Washington Post has an article about how NRCC head Tom Cole may get sacked if Democrats win Tuesday’s special election in Mississippi.

The stakes in the 1st District special election couldn’t be higher, strategically or symbolically. The loss of a traditionally GOP seat to a Democrat would be the third in a special election this spring and the second in the Deep South after the May 3 victory of Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.).

Rank-and-file Republicans say that would force a day of reckoning for their leadership.

“When you connect three dots in anything, that’s a bad thing. This connects the dots. At that point, everybody’s got to come together and have a come-to-Jesus meeting,” said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a retiring centrist who will help form a new advisory panel at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Surveying the local landscape, I’ve wondered for weeks why Kuhl raises so little money and why the Republicans can’t get better candidates in NY-25 and NY-29. I don’t wonder about that anymore. Democrats hold every advantage in House races going into the fall. If you’re a local progressive who’s interested in changing the make-up of the House, there’s never been a better time to get involved in the process.

I’d also like to add some funny commentary from some House Republicans about all of this:

“When Bush tries to articulate a vision,” Davis said, pausing to choose his words carefully, “he will butcher the Gettysburg Address. Obama, he will make an A&P grocery list sing.”

[...]

I don’t want to tap dance ‘The Good Ship Lollipop,’ ” he (Rep. Jeb Hensarling) said. “But I don’t want to crawl into a fetal position.”