The Republicans are suffering from being too successful in the last election. They snuggled up to the far right despite their better judgement, and now the far right expect payback (on abortion and gay rights issues, for example) .. and rightly so. Easier said than done, with most moderate Republicans dragging their feet on such issues and wishing their far right constituents would simply go away. They won't.

Now we have the usual political scandals, with the latest being with DeLay. The Dems won't let this go away. If DeLay is proven to be a sleazeball the Republicans will outcast him in a second, but the damage will already have been done.

And let's not forget Iraq and related noise (abuse issues at Gitmo). Stuff like this stick.

So no, I don't think the Republican party is imploding ... not by a long shot. But the euphoria of the 2004 elections is over. All is not well with them but with the likes of Karl Rove around I expect they'll do wonders in the next election.

_Lazza

PS - however if gas prices do not drop I'd say the Republicans are in really deep doo-doo.