There is nothing like a coordinated message to demonstrate the effectiveness of a well-oiled political machine.

From today’s Washington Post:

But Obama’s strategists also note that special House elections have repeatedly swung their way, and that could make a much more material difference keeping control of the House. On Tuesday, hours before the polls closed, administration officials were observing how close the Pennsylvania House race appeared. “If this is a Republican landslide year, then why is it too close to call hours before the polls close? If they can’t win one race, how will they handle 100 of them?” one senior official said.

Right on cue, a noted Republican moderate chimes in. We’ve noted former Virginia Representative Tom Davis’s general propensity to be an asshat previously (here | here) so we shouldn’t be surprised by this:

Tom Davis, a former Republican House member and top party campaign strategist, saw the win by Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to Mr. Murtha, over Republican Tim Burns as a serious blow to the Republican claim to be within reach of the 40 seats needed to recapture the House.

“If you can’t win a seat that is trending Republican in a year like this, then where is the wave?” asked Mr. Davis, who said Republicans will need to examine what went wrong. “It would be a huge upset not to win this seat.”

This type of behavior is so typical of Republican moderates. They vote against us when they are in office. They badmouth us when they are out of office. And when you beat them in the primaries they either endorse the Democrat or run as an independent.