Not a Good Time to Be a Republican

So it seems that Karl Rove's plan for Republican ascendancy wasn't quite as foolproof as advertised. We've noted a couple of times that Democrats are winning Congressional races in traditional Republican districts, but now it seems like Republican travails are extending to raising money. If trends continue, McCain is going to have financial problems in the fall, but the most recent manifestation is the reorganization of what was to be a significant joint fundraiser featuring Bush and McCain in Phoenix on Tuesday. This is McCain's back yard, so it probably made sense to think big and book the Phoenix Convention Center. Unfortunately, it seems that they weren't selling enough tickets for a space that size. How many tickets were they able to secure? Nobody's talking, of course, and those kinds of numbers are never made public. But according to Politico, they've moved the event from the convention center to a private home. Now, presumably a number of McCain supporters have large houses--mansions, even--that can hold a lot of people. But how many are anywhere close to the size of a convention center? This is a trend that will bear watching.