Mississippi: The Poll That Counted

and notice the reference to Blue Dog Democrats.....
excerpt:House Takeover in Mississippi Shows Good Things Come in Threes for Dems

The GOP rolled out every big gun that it could in trying to prevent the Mississippi loss, with Cheney preceded in Davis’ campaign efforts by prominent Mississippi Republicans such as Gov. Haley Barbour , Sen. Thad Cochran and former Sen. Trent Lott, whose resignation last December to join a lobbying firm prompted Barbour’s appointment of Wicker as his successor and set in motion the chain of events leading to Tuesday’s special election win by Childers.

Childers successfully courted crossover votes by positioning himself as a “pro-life,” “pro-gun” Democrat who opposed new trade agreements that could threaten the Mississippi job market and would represent district interests regarding education.

Republicans attempted to cast Childers as a liberal by tying him to Obama as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry , the Democrats’ 2004 challenger to Bush. But Childers found support from conservative Democrats such as Rep. Gene Taylor of southern Mississippi’s 4th District and the Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats who share fiscally conservative principles.