A day after Vice President Cheney flew in for a get out the vote rally, voters in Mississippi's First Congressional District did something unthinkable a few weeks ago, as they elected Democrat Travis Childers to the U.S. House.

This was a district that was Solid Republican. It went for Bush 62-37 over Kerry in 2004.

But it was much the same story earlier in Louisiana, where the Democrats won a seat held by the GOP since 1975. It was much the same in Illinois, where Democrats picked off the seat that had been occupied by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

GOP strategists blamed bad candidates for the first two losses. They grumbled when former Speaker Newt Gingrich warned them about a third straight loss. They found excuses for why none of this means anything, which is the usual answer for the party that's losing special elections.

In Mississippi, GOP strategists again tried to use TV and radio advertisements tying the Democratic candidate to both Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

That didn't work in Louisiana and it didn't work in Mississippi, two states where the word "liberal" is more like a cuss word.

This tells me that Democrats could be on the cusp of major gains in this year's Congressional elections. They had no business winning the seats in Louisiana and Mississippi. By the same token, the GOP had no business losing those seats in the House either.

The results raise the prospect of Democrats defeating a number of GOP incumbents who might otherwise think they were somewhat safe this election year.

Democrats should also have the advantage in a number of "open" seat races, where the GOP incumbent has decided not to run for re-election.

Republicans have almost thirty of those in the House and five in the Senate. Democrats have but a handful of open seats in the House and none in the Senate.

These possible Democratic gains tell me that they election playing field is tilted much more towards the Dems than most people realize right now.

This might turn into a "wave" election after all. The GOP better hope it doesn't, or a number of familiar faces in the Congress may be looking for new jobs after November.